- Hi, I'm Les Stroud, host and creator of Beyond Survival.

Within the scope of filming this series, I circled the globe eight times in 10 months.

I was never not in a state of jet lag to embed myself with cultures who still either live close to the earth or engaged in practices meant to keep their connection to the earth.

I learned to go beyond the technicalities of hunting and connected to the earth in profound ways.

To go beyond survival.

connected to the earth in profound ways to go beyond survival.

Anchors hauled, sun's gone down.

There's a lot of pirates in the area.

Just a little while ago, a woman tourist actually got shot in the stomach by one of the pirates so, take it pretty serious.

- I'm Less Stroud.

I'm on a mission to seek out the true masters of survival, the last indigenous people from around the world, before they're gone.

Before the past is lost.

Before their world vanishes.

I can learn their ways (woman singing) (intense energetic music) are a chain of islands formed over thousands of years.

12 kilometers off the east coast of Sabah, or a chain of islands formed over thousands of years.

An entire hidden culture of people spread themselves out along these coastlines.

These are resourceful and weather hardened people whose very survival is a daily concern.

To the Bajau, the sea is the mother of life.

We carry her within us.

I'm here to live as they live, learn their secrets of spiritual, cultural, and physical survival.

Survival that's at the mercy of the sea.

The Bajau are a nomadic people and their ancestors have lived on the water as long as history records.

No one really knows why, it's simply handed to them.

They access the land for fresh water and wood or to connect with the markets.

But nearly else they need to survive comes from the sea.

Well, you talk about Waterworld, this really feels like going they will hop onto land for some fresh water, I mean, these people never come off these boats, you know, About the only thing missing is the gills.

maybe some wood and that's about it.

About the only thing missing is the guilt.

You can see the different levels of boats.

There's the bigger boats.

I'm on my way to meet Max Aluuden, a Bajau father And then there's the small boats around that.

I'm on my way to meet Max Alluden, a Bajau father - [Man 1] Oh no, he dropped the the fish.

Here we go.

- [Man 1] Oh no, he dropped the the fish.

(woman exclaims and laughs) - [Man 1] Okay.

- That's dinner.

Holy crap, this is gonna be something.

- Here in Sabah, there are 32 indigenous ethnic groups speaking over 50 dialects and languages.

It's believed that the Bajau have lived on these waters for more than 200 years, originally sailing from the Southern Philippines.

A peaceful people, they would simply float away on their houseboats whenever they felt threatened by groups encroaching in their territory.

Like most Bajau, Max and his family live almost their entire lives on the sea.

everywhere around the world, and making sure that I was helping out so.

As guests, everywhere around the world, when it comes to simply surviving out there, you can be in a different culture and not speak their language.

It doesn't matter.

Sign language works perfect everywhere.

He's expecting me to help out and pull my share because now there's an extra mouth on the boat to feed and that's mine.

With no translator, communicating with the family will have to consist of hand signals and body language.

[boat engine roaring] - Max wasted no time in getting busy.

Bottom line is they still gotta survive, they've got to get out and get their fish and get their fresh water, whatever they need, feed themselves, and stay alive.

So even taking me on the boat was brave, but I was like, all right, let's go.

We gotta get the net, we gotta get out there, we gotta get working.

And then while we were there, because I was helping with the net, Max joked that he's got a new son now.

Little comments like that make a big difference, because that means there's immediate acceptance to having me along.

The best thing is what you could have humor or jokes laid upon you when you're with people, then you know you're accepted.

These people are no different than anybody else.

To survive they're going to need food, and water, and shelter.

Shelter, clothes.

This is it.

This is their whole home.

Water, they're gotta still get close to land, get on the land, get it somehow.

It's the only way they can have water is to find those natural springs on islands here and there.

But as for food, that's what we're out to get right now.

Pretty large depth, got big holes, so we're going after shark, manta ray.

I might get a big shark, feed him down for quite awhile, or share it with the community.

Not sure which how they approach that.

We'll see what we catch.

Hopefully luck will be with Max today and his family.

With no country to call home and no rights, for decades they've been losing their traditional fishing grounds to both legal and illegal fishing vessels.

Max relies on his strength as a swimmer to feed his family.

And he seems to spend as much time in the water and as on it searching for any kind of catch - [Max] Wow - [Les] This one is small, but out here, any sting can turn deadly.

You gotta remove the barb as quickly as possible.

Pretty fast maneuver on a spotted ray there.

Now to get rid of the barb in the stingray.

There we go.

Lunch.

Ah, that's good.

All right, if he's gonna keep fishing I'm going to go in and see if I can see the action up close.

They've offered me a crude spear gun to see how I can help catch lunch.

Max's cousin, along with his family, travel along with us, since it's easier to survive with a few men to do the work.

(intense music) - I got it.

I got it.

Max has told me that fishing here is actually getting better than it was a number of years ago.

But something is missing from these waters.

Sharks.

They've been fished out or caught as well for their fins for the Asian market.

But these Bajau having seemed to made the obvious connection.

They have a better bounty, but the predators are missing.

It wasn't bad at all.

There was a fish hiding down in the coral, took one of the sea Bajau to show me where it was.

But first shot.

This is a puffer fish.

And though it may look pretty harmless, it's one of the most dangerous catches to prepare.

Many of the puffer fishes internal organs contain a toxin that's said to be 10,000 times more poisonous than cyanide.

If it's not prepared correctly, we could die slowly as we chew, almost like being tranquilized, starting with a numbing sensation of the tongue.

It's a testament to the sea Bajau's knowledge and skill of the ocean to prepare this dish safely and without hesitation.

Alright, well, that was a successful venture there.

And, thanks to spear fishing with them, I guess it's just a matter of catches catch can, in the truest sense of the word for these guys as we go along.

I haven't seen the kids eat yet.

Normally they eat maybe once a day.

Hopefully that time will come soon because I haven't eaten yet either.

This is the purest form of what I call hand to mouth existence.

And it includes short trips to the land to give them all the wood they need to cook right here on the boat.

No reason I can't help out with what I know.

And I know chopping wood.

Though the task seems simple, every action is a lesson in survival.

Of course, the boats are leaky, so bailing is an ongoing occupation.

It's eating time.

The cousins have got their fish, their tapioca, their rice, and we've got our fish, and it's just going to be shared about.

I would imagine just like in any remote situation, the only way you can truly survive is to have a sharing system with the other families.

That's certainly the case here.

We're eating puffer fish, which is apparently suppose to be pretty poisonous, but I have no way of asking them I'm in the South China Sea So I'm just eating.

- I'm in the South China Sea and I'm learning to survive with the nomadic sailors, the sea Bajau.

Even though I'm eating all that I can with them, Max Alluden is insisting that I keep eating more.

He keeps sending me the best choice parts of the fish, I guess because I had my part in catching it so there we go.

Thank you.

- [Max] Yeah, yeah - Do you see what I mean?

He keeps feeding me here.

Mmmmmmmm, mmmmmm that is the best part of the fish.

These guys get one meal a day and they're feeding me.

- So that's the way it works.

Pretty much hand to mouth existence.

I mean, come out catch some fish and cook and eat.

It is a complete ocean survival.

You catch it, you eat it, you go try to get some more.

(brush scraping) - Sidious being meticulously clean about everything is really important to get such a small area to work with.

You can't have mess.

It would just be a disgusting pile if you did.

So they're not going to do anything until they clean all the blood off of everything.

Clean, clean the wood and for such a tiny little area they actually keep it really organized.

In return for being able to stay with Max and his family, all he's asked for is a new spark plug.

To sea gypsies this is survival.

Being able to put an engine together with pieces of plastic, cans, and bottles, and rubber and metal wire, and keep that engine rolling.

I've got to get them from feeding ground to feeding ground, we still have to go quite a ways to put down fish nets.

Everything is about just 16 to 20 foot stretch of boat and making sure that everything coexists, everything works and that engine is paramount.

And then they can paddle their way to them too.

That's the beauty of these boats too.

They can actually paddle their way out of trouble if they need to.

And trouble for them could be monsoons, torrential downpours, and powerful winds.

Agility on the water is paramount to their survival.

Okay it's time to revoke the universal welcoming to them.

[harmonica is played] - In the tropics, the only way to get through the heat of the day is to stay in the shade.

Even if that shade is cramped quarters and only seven feet by 14 feet long.

I don't know if they even like that or not.

Maybe it just wasn't my best playing.

(harmonica is played) - Huddled together we wait out midday.

The stench of body odor, fish, gasoline, cigarette smoke, and the sea itself hangs heavy under the tarp.

(people talking) - As it is throughout all third world populations, their belongings are made up of a series of scrounge bits of material and clothing.

Pots and pans and plastic buckets.

Whenever they need something, they'll likely just find it.

The sea has no problem providing them with floats of garbage from a more civilized world.

Beautiful yet dangerous, the water surrounding this area are highly contentious.

A haven for pirates and pillagers.

In April 2000, pirates kidnapped 21 people.

Diving instructors and guests from the world-class diving site called Sipadan island.

Today, military bases dot every coastline, patrolling the waters to secure this fragile peace.

Anchor's hauled, sun's gone down.

There's a lot of pirates in the area.

Even me being in with the sea Bajaun village, military wants to make sure there's an escort not too far away.

Make sure the pirates don't come in.

Knowing that I'm in there and I've got a camera gear.

Just a little while ago, a woman tourist actually got shot in the stomach by one of the pirates so.

They take it pretty serious.

Set me up a special place inside here for sleeping tonight, A place of honor actually, they've given me the most comfortable place in the boat.

I want to say I don't know how they really get through living like this.

After awhile, on the boat, heaves all night long.

You're sleeping on a wooden plank the whole time.

The night seems to go on forever.

It's still dark.

And there's no way of really of getting comfortable in this little boat.

There's actually a fair bit of noise too, I mean people are up talking a lot throughout the whole village and, I don't know, it's a crazy existence.

Night takes its sweet time to pass in the middle of the South China Sea.

And every way it feels very surreal here.

Like you're simply living in another world, on another planet.

Well as near as I can tell, it's morning, I closed the hiding overnight to keep the wind out, keep us a little warmer.

So I put it up now and it looks like he's pulling anchor and we're going to head off probably to the nets.

It's becoming interesting to see how modern world intersects with this primitive existence because Max Aluuden is relying on the engine to get us back out to the nets and the engines not working now.

So if he was relying totally on polling and paddling, be a different story.

(wind blowing) (rope hitting) - Okay, with our engine dead, one of the other local fishermen is going to actually going to tow us out to the net.

It's a long slow tow to the nets, which gives me time to take in my surroundings.

Known as the turtle capital of the world, Sipadan was designated a turtle wildlife reserve in 1964.

It's not uncommon for divers to spot 20 to 30 sea turtles resting on shallow ledges and coral reefs.

Rising to the surface to breathe, the turtles are everywhere and can easily be caught in fishermen's nets or engine blades.

Local dive centers work hard to protect this endangered species and the sea Bajau respect the laws of protection.

All right, well, we finally made it to the next.

And a massive sea turtle caught in the net right at the very edge here, just as we were just checking the net pfff took off, got through.

So now we're just waiting to get things organized here and then we'll start hauling in the net, I think.

Or at least we'll check it out to see what else might be caught on it.

They're hoping for sharks, manta rays, anything like that.

Net fishing, though highly effective, can be an indiscriminate means of catching a meal.

Though we're out to catch smaller fish, the nets drift in waves and it's easy for larger prey, such as sea turtles, to get caught.

This can mean costly repairs to the net and empty bellies come nightfall.

Another sea turtle.

And away he goes.

That's a lot of fish net for no fish.

We got three sea turtles and they don't eat sea turtles.

Big job and to come home empty handed, survival on the sea big time.

What happens next I'm not sure.

For them, it's gonna revolve around getting more food and water.

It has to.

Okay, so we're headed into a little island here called Seamil, see if we can get some coconuts, some fresh water, some firewood.

And then they're right back out on the ocean again.

Max's family still lives a nomadic seafaring lifestyle.

Already, the permanency of land feels foreign to me.

And I think about the slow colonization of the islands, of the sea Bajau, who left the open waters to settle on land in hopes of an easier way.

I've gotta wonder what it must feel like for them to finally get on land when all of their time is spent on the boat.

For me, I always end up land sick.

You can feel it.

I have no idea what it must be like for them but they prefer to be on the water.

So for them, this is just a quick excursion.

Grab some firewood, coconuts and get the heck back on the water.

It's always the same when I get into a situation like this, their feet bottoms are like leather.

It hurts like heck to try to climb up where they are and keep up with them.

This must be a regular place where they come to get firewood.

They already got a trail up in here.

The woods easy, there's tons of it.

And they wouldn't need that much to keep that fire going on the boat.

- [Max] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- [Les] Loggers have been through here, and so the sea gypsies take advantage of the straight cut wood for their own uses.

Max needs a paddle for the next time his engine won't start and he's found some leftovers by loggers that will provide exactly what he needs.

(wood splitting) - All they need is a paddle and yet it's a two day process.

They told me from top to bottom starting now two full days just to get this paddle cut, ready to use on the boat.

(energetic music) - See that, that's just after a few hours.

A lot of chopping and the final finished product.

Well, it's not the finished product, they're gonna smooth this out on the boat.

That's beautiful.

There's a timelessness to being at sea.

One day runs into another.

Surviving on one catch after the next.

A few coconuts, the paddle, and some firewood, and the sea gypsies are back out to life on the waves where they prefer to be.

They're gonna take me into the village now and actually drop me off with another family of sea gypsies who spend their time in one of the stilt houses.

A whole other version of living on the sea.

It's time to move on, to live and learn with the sea Bajau of the water village.

Crazy part of this existence is that these people here are not sea gypsies.

This is a water village, yet right beside them, just out a few hundred feet, are the sea gypsies.

Their houses, their stilt the houses, stay out in the ocean.

They don't connect to the land.

Whereas these people here are absolutely connected to the land.

They certainly interact, but not much.

For the most part, the sea gypsies keeps to themselves.

Only a few Bajau still live in their houseboats, as most have moved into larger, whole house villages.

Only 40 to 50 square feet provides the shade and refuge for 10 to 15 people.

(people shouting) - Hey.

This is my new family.

These are sea gypsies that live here.

In this stilt house and their whole life is also from the ocean on the ocean and out of the ocean, but they made it a little bit different.

They're stationary with this hut.

And they come and go with their boats.

So this is it.

Nine children, husband, wife, nine children.

And one of the children has a child.

And there's quite a difference here.

I mean, I would imagine they can have more belongings, a little bit of storage, that's it.

I don't see all that much more in here than I saw on the boat with a family who existed and lived only on the boats.

The water below is the sink, the laundry tub, and the washroom all at the same time.

Fish, of course, is a daily source of food for them.

And the truth is, their food actually tastes pretty good.

(people talking) - She said you are both friends.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

That's just a little bit of craziness right now.

I'm just essentially hanging out here with the family, getting talked at an awful lot.

The woman here is just crazy full of personality, but tomorrow we're gonna go to work at building or at least repairing this hut so we can see the process it takes for them to stay out here.

Because even though they don't get the big monsoons here, they certainly get huge downpours of rain and they've gotta be able to live and stay up here all the time.

So just like in the boat with the sea gypsies, here they seem to be very, very attentive on staying clean, constantly washing off.

Every time I eat, they actually ask me or tell me to wash my hands.

So definitely I'm going to suggest that as being a pretty smart survival mentality to know that you've got to keep yourself clean in these tight, tight, close situations like this with all these people.

(people talking) This is gonna be interesting sleeping.

It's actually a little bit of a luxury compared to sleeping on that tiny little sea gypsy boat.

See how it goes, cause there's nine kids and a baby \ and three adults in here, so.

(people talking) It's becoming nighttime in the sea Bajau water village, and like anywhere else, people gather to share stories and pass the time.

Paddling through the village at night makes an already surreal experience seem even more so.

Some of the huts have even managed to secure solar power.

And so the sound of radios or even TVs can be heard.

And on the shore, the odd generator runs, providing electricity to stick huts.

On a platform here and there, people work through the night cleaning fish for the market.

In the past, shark finning, cutting off the shark fins for the Asian market, was an occupation that kept these people busy.

But the local shark population has been decimated by over fishing.

(dramatic music) - To see you again.

- Yes, yes.

I hope, I hope, I hope.

(dramatic music)