Seven Wonders of the Commonwealth

To celebrate the start of the Commonwealth Games,

we're going to show you the Commonwealth

as you've never seen it before.

We've travelled to the ends of the Earth.

To explore seven of the natural wonders of the Commonwealth.

There are so many treasures within its 53 countries,

we've chosen just some that give an insight into our shared history

and the Commonwealth today.

It's magnificent.

The gateway to heaven.

We'll take you on a remarkable journey

to the richest coral reef on the planet.

It is incredible.

That is beautiful.

A forest in an ocean. How's that for a wonder?

From the oldest desert on Earth...

It just goes on and on and on.

..to the world's greatest waterfall...

I can't believe I'm doing this!

..revealing the most unspoilt rainforest on the planet...

That is what you call shaking your tail feather.

THEY CHANT

-..and a landscape...

-Oh, wow.

..thought by many to be the most spectacular fjords in the world.

And I'll be exploring a surprising treasure on our own doorstep

that matches anything the rest of the Commonwealth has to offer.

The Commonwealth may have its origins in a colonial past,

but today it's founded on the coming together of 53 independent nations

from all around the globe,

united by shared values of equality and democracy.

One of the founder members of the Commonwealth is New Zealand.

It's the location of our first natural wonder.

The remote south-western coastline is home to Fiordland.

Historian Dan Snow is setting out to explore it.

I'm a child of the Commonwealth.

My dad's from Britain but my mum was from Canada

so I grew up in a world divided by geography

but united by language and culture.

And this is one remote corner of the Commonwealth

that I've always wanted to visit.

I'm following in the footsteps of the great explorer Captain Cook,

the first European to reach here in 1770.

I'm about to kayak down the fjord Doubtful Sound

and then head 50 miles up the coast into Milford Sound,

one of the marvels of the natural world.

My guide is local kayaker Fiona Lee.

Wow, it's just so beautiful, isn't it?

I wasn't expecting it to be this lush.

Yeah, we get up to eight metres of rain a year, which is phenomenal.

Kind of thing you'd expect in Scotland.

I suppose that's the funny thing about the Commonwealth.

You can travel halfway across the world

and see a landscape, hear a language, meet people who are familiar.

But the first people to explore these fjords

arrived about 1,000 years before the Commonwealth existed.

The Maoris were so impressed

this landscape became part of their mythology.

There was a demigod in the North Island.

His name was Tu-te-raki-whanoa

and he was sent out to create an inland passageway.

He planted one foot and then the other

and used his magical axe to carve into the landscape.

Ah, this is just the best pastime -

kayaking through Fiordland.

Oh, what am I seeing over there? Do you see them?

-Yeah, the bottlenose dolphins?

-Yeah.

Yeah, I can see them jumping. Oh, my goodness.

Some bottlenose dolphins we've just seen ahead of me.

Oh, wow.

Come on, dolphins.

If you paddle really quick, Dan, you might be able to surf with them.

OK. Here we go. They want to surf in the bow wave? Let's see.

-Ah.

-Ah, look at that.

Yeah, they are, they're right underneath me!

Woo-hoo!

That's the bottlenose dolphins that live in Doubtful Sound.

They're really amazing.

How many of them would there be in a pod?

Oh, the pod is around about 60 in size.

It's actually pretty intimidating.

-They're big animals, aren't they?

-They're really big and fat.

They are about three or four metres long.

Oh, amazing.

Woo-hoo!

-Wow!

-Wow.

Oh, my goodness, that's cool.

-Not a bad day at the office, really.

-Amazing.

I've never done anything like that at all.

What an amazing thing to do on a day like this, in these surroundings.

-Yee-hah.

-Is that reg... Do they always do that?

Just a treat for us today.

Hello, boys!

Doubtful Sound got its name from Captain Cook.

He didn't dare enter here for fear the steep sides of the fjord

would becalm his sailing ship

and would make it doubtful he could ever get out again.

For the next part of our journey,

we're hitching a lift on a fishing boat.

We're now following in Cook's wake

as he travelled north along the coast.

Nearly 250 years ago,

his historic voyage first brought New Zealand and Britain

into contact with each other.

These are the conditions that Cook would have loved -

pushing his Endeavour as it became the first European ship

to circumnavigate New Zealand back in 1770.

He was looking for the fabled southern continent.

He didn't find that exactly.

What he did find was just as good.

New Zealand and the east coast of Australia,

both of which he claimed for the British Government.

It was a seminal moment in the formation of the British Empire

and of course that led to the Commonwealth.

Our fishermen are hauling in

one of the most lucrative catches in the world.

That was a bumper, that last one.

Yeah, every pot's a bit different, you know.

These crayfish sell for over £50 a kilo

and they export them all around the globe.

And how many pots do you look to do in a day?

-About 130 at the moment.

-Oh, wow.

We can do up to... Oh, we can do as many as we want.

Up to 200 sometimes.

The boat can make over £50,000 a day.

At that price, I feel it's only polite for Fi and I to devour some.

Here we go, guys.

I'm very grateful,

this is like 1,000 worth of crayfish, here.

Let's see what these people are paying the big money for.

Go for it.

Ah, nice work, team. Cheers. Good day out.

Mm!

-Not bad, mate.

-Fruits of our labour.

I can see why you make a good living from this.

That's to die for.

I don't really eat it much.

We live on steak and roasts and stuff!

It's time to leave the crayfish behind,

as we're now approaching our destination.

Just coming round the corner, here, into Milford Sound,

widely regarded as the absolute gem in Fiordland.

Captain Cook, perhaps the greatest explorer of all time,

actually missed this jewel.

It's easy to see why.

The entrance lies hidden behind these rocks.

Wow. Well, that's incredible.

-What a reveal.

-Welcome to Milford Sound.

Oh, my goodness!

The cliffs are even more finely cut than Doubtful Sound.

According to Maori legend,

this is where the demigod perfected his carving skills.

The centrepiece is the 150 metre high Stirling Falls.

It's fed by the abundant rains here, six times the UK average.

It's quite impressive, isn't it?

Whoa! It's like being in a storm.

Wow, you've really got to lean over against the wind.

Wow, just incredible.

Woo-hoo!

This journey has exceeded all my expectations.

An incredible mix of a unique landscape, Maori myths

and European explorers.

The author Rudyard Kipling said

that this, Victoria Falls, the Himalayas and the Grand Canyon

were four wonders of the natural world.

He wasn't wrong.

The modern Commonwealth came into being in the 1940s

and has been evolving ever since.

18 countries are represented from Africa alone.

Namibia chose to join in 1990 when it gained independence.

It's one of the newest members.

It's also home to the oldest desert in the world.

Anita Rani is setting out to travel from its harsh interior

to the treacherous coast.

And meet some of the people who live in the most sparsely populated

of all the Commonwealth countries.

It's three times the size of the UK and has a population of two million.

I've not seen a soul!

It's quite simply stunning.

I feel like I'm on Mars.

Stepping out into such a hot desert is immediately daunting.

The average rainfall here is as little as 2mm a year.

And temperatures sometimes reach over 50 degrees Celsius.

So, it was suggested that I should climb one of the dunes.

Naturally, I was well up for it.

But I thought a quick scramble to the top

of something like Camber Sands,

that's what I had in my mind.

But these sand dunes are some of the highest in the world.

It's more of a mountain range.

I mean, it is spectacular

but I've still got 1,000 feet to go. And it's not that easy.

Oh, whoa!

It's not just the scale of these dunes that's impressive,

this place has been a desert for 55 million years.

I'm meeting up with research scientist Ruusa Gottlieb

to find out how dry this environment really is.

Wow, Ruusa. What is this place?

-This place is known as Deadvlei.

-Deadvlei. What does that mean?

Deadvlei just means dead valley.

Dead valley. Gosh.

Yeah, dead valley because of all the dead trees that you see.

yeah, I can see. This one - it's incredible looking.

Yeah, you can see that the wood is so dry and hard.

It's really dry, it's really hard. How old is it?

It's known to be 900 years old.

But in the UK trees die all the time,

but you don't see them standing here for 900 years.

Well, because in wetter areas normally it would rain

and then the thing starts to rot.

But because it's dry here

the tree can't rot, because there's no moisture.

From the world's largest dunes to ancient dead trees,

this place is both unforgiving and mesmerising.

But to get a true sense of the size of the desert

I need to go up.

I've never seen anything like this. It's so magnificent.

360 degrees around me, to the horizon,

all I can see is desert.

I'd expected the Atlantic coast to offer some respite from the desert,

but in fact the shore is littered with shipwrecks

and is known as the Skeleton Coast.

It's a reminder of just how tough it is

to survive in this desert.

I want to find out how people not only live

but flourish in what must be

one of the most inhospitable environments.

It just goes on and on and on, nothingness.

-That's right.

-No people, no traffic jams, here.

HE LAUGHS

My guide, Oanee, is from the Himba tribe,

masters of Namibia's harsh environment.

He's taking me to a Himba village

to show me some of the secrets

that help his people cope in this unforgiving place.

-Moro, Moro, Moro.

-Moro, Moro, Moro.

Moro. Grivi, Nawa.

-Nawa.

-Pleased to meet you. Anita.

You look amazing. THE INTERPRETER RELAYS, SHE RESPONDS

-INTERPRETER:

-Thank you.

-Wow.

To help with the burning sun,

the women cover their skin in a paste of red ochre and butter.

I've been told it's a natural sunblock.

Now, my mum will be delighted with this

because the one thing my mum will do before I'm about to travel anywhere

is phone me up to remind me to take my sunblock,

which she calls "factor".

So here you go, Mum,

I'm dousing myself in some natural "factor"!

What do we think this is?

About SPF 50? Probably SPF 100.

-We're about the same, now.

-Mm.

-Yeah!

The Himba have another secret for surviving on the desert's edge.

The women purify their bodies using perfumed smoke.

Hm, it does smell nice.

You know, they're in a very dry, arid landscape

and water is scarce.

So when water's scarce you've got to think of alternatives.

Let's do mine.

Hm, it smells good.

I'm just going to hang here

and try and attract some men that are walking by,

now that I'm all beautified.

THEY LAUGH

Namibia is a country of contrasts.

You've got this developing African nation

that's a member of the Commonwealth

where some people still live this ancient way of life.

You've got this landmass, the Namib desert,

55 million years old,

where it's so dry that trees don't decompose,

where you get some of the highest sand dunes in the world,

and where the coast is so treacherous

that it's lined with shipwrecks.

And yes, it is some of the most barren, austere,

harshest landscape in the world,

but it's also incredibly beautiful.

Now, I use this adjective far too much in real life,

but for once I'm absolutely justified.

Namibia is awesome.

Some member nations of the Commonwealth

are surprisingly remote.

Nowhere feels more exotic

than the tens of thousands of tropical islands

found in the South Pacific.

1,000 of them make up Solomon Islands.

The ocean here contains

three quarters of the world's coral species.

It's said to be ten times more biodiverse

than the Great Barrier Reef.

Reggie Yates is flying in to dive a little deeper.

It's hard not to smile when you turn up in a place like this.

On my way over, the pilot stuck his head out of the cockpit

and said "You're not in a rush, are you?

"Because I've got a few things I need to drop off on the way over."

And when we actually touched down,

a group of kids had to disperse

cos they were playing football on the runway.

That was the journey in and we've not even hit the water yet!

Who knows what we're going to see when we get out there.

Solomons got their name from the first explorers

who thought they'd discovered the source of King Solomon's wealth.

But the bounty here isn't gold,

it's the riches of the ocean.

I'm heading to the island of Tetepare,

a global centre for marine conservation.

This is the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific

and it's going to be absolutely stunning.

This reef is part of the Coral Triangle

that stretches from Indonesia to Solomon Islands.

It's larger than the Great Barrier Reef

and it's the richest marine environment on the planet.

There's more marine life in a typical reef here

than there is in the whole of the Caribbean.

These islands are such a natural paradise

people have fought over them for centuries.

I'm heading to the ominously named Skull Island with local guide Sunga

to find out more about the dark side

of this tropical paradise.

Sunga is one of the few people

allowed to take me to this sacred site,

the final resting place for local tribal kings.

That's fantastic.

So, that's where they keep the kings' skulls,

and their families down at the bottom.

And the one on the left

that's King Hinguva, died in 1934.

Right.

These people, they do the head-hunting

and they're cannibals, they eat people.

The victims of these cannibalistic head-hunters are also kept here.

Displaying these trophies

was an important part of the head-hunting cult.

So by eating them as well as keeping their skulls

they would see that as a way of gaining their power.

-That's right.

-Right.

If they don't do that

the power's going to go to somebody else.

You seem to know lot about Hinguva. What's your relationship with him?

Hinguva is my great-great-grandfather.

Right.

I'm so proud to see my great-great-grandfather's skull

-still remain on this island.

-Yeah.

SUNGA BLOWS CONCH SHELL

Before missionaries stopped the practice

at the end of the 19th century,

head-hunters had driven the people of Tetepare from their island.

Today, its descendants use this deserted paradise

for more peaceful purposes.

They've turned it into a centre for marine conservation.

What we're about to get into is going to be very exciting.

They call it the turtle rodeo.

Basically it's conservation, but the turtle rodeo sounds a lot more fun.

Let's check it out.

The ocean is so rich here

it's home to five out of the seven species of marine turtle.

Monitoring and tagging the island's population

is an important part of the conservation work here.

So Tony is stood at the end of the boat right now, spotting.

It's his job to try and identify where the turtles are

and the minute he sees one, he's in.

THEY SHOUT TO EACH OTHER

I think we might be on.

I think we got something, I think we got something!

We've caught ourselves a turtle.

Not bad going.

And he's a beaut, as well.

It turns out that he's actually been tagged already.

So in terms of conservation, the work is already done.

So the only thing left to do with this bad boy is to let him go.

'Then they spot another one.

'Cue the belly flop.'

Wow, look at that! No way.

'And this is a huge green turtle.'

Whoa. Look at the size of it!

'And it hasn't been tagged.'

My goodness.

I tell you what - she's beautiful, but she doesn't half reek.

Four of the marine turtle species that live here are endangered

and the green turtle is one of them.

The team measure, weigh and DNA test this female.

It helps build a picture of population health

and movement throughout the vast South Pacific.

And they've asked if I'll tag this wonderful creature.

OK.

OK. So number is, T00022.

T00022.

'Then it's time to release her.'

She's heavy, isn't she?

THEY MUTTER

The scientists say she's 20 years old

and hasn't even reached sexual maturity yet.

With a life expectancy of over 80,

she might even outlast me.

It's not every day you do that before lunch, is it?!

What a morning.

And there she goes.

She's tagged, she's been weighed, DNA's been taken

and apparently it'll be about two years before they see her again.

Even on the most remote of these 1,000 islands

there's still a fascination with the Queen.

In both her roles as the Head of the Commonwealth

and Queen of the Solomons

she's seen as a benign figurehead.

In 1982, when the Queen last visited,

Mary, a leader of the Tetepare Descendants,

travelled to the capital to pay homage to her Queen.

As a small girl, I thought of the Queen

-as somebody really big for my country.

-Yeah.

So I was very excited, with the other students,

to meet the Queen.

And when she came, we were very happy.

We sing her songs.

We saw her for the first time and we thought,

"This is historical for us."

Do you remember the song that you sang?

# Come again and visit us

# Come again, our Queen

# We will all remember you

# Remember you, dear Queen

# From our heart we say

# With happy memories of this day

# God bless you As you travel on your way. #

On anyone's list of the wonders of the world

is Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It's the greatest waterfall on the planet.

Olympic and Commonwealth champion Denise Lewis

is about to canoe to the falls.

I've been to lots of Commonwealth countries,

but it's almost always been to compete.

So you can imagine I've seen lots of stadiums,

I've met a lot of Commonwealth members,

but rarely have I had the opportunity

to experience anything like this.

So it's going to be a real adventure for me.

To reach the falls I have to navigate the Zambezi.

And, rather worryingly, the river is at its highest

and in full flow.

Luckily I'm not going alone.

-Dominic.

-Hi.

-Hi, I'm Denise.

-Dominic.

-Really nice to meet you.

-Pleased to meet you.

I cannot believe how much it's moving. It's so fast.

We have all the time to check for animals.

Yeah, so we don't rush.

Because, if we rush, we will miss the exciting things.

-So when you say animals...

-Yeah.

-Crocodiles?

-Crocodiles, yeah.

Then the other thing is the hippos.

I think you're going to be on your own today, Dominic.

-I'll see you soon.

-No, no, no!

No, I've been on this river for a long time.

-This is why I'm still alive.

-Yeah.

I don't know why I was worried about crocs.

I think these rapids might get me first!

SHE SHRIEKS

I can't believe I'm doing this!

Keep on checking these areas, the bare ground under the trees.

-Yeah.

-OK.

That's where, at this time of the year,

the crocs could be, you can see.

-Is that him? That long thing?

-That's a croc, there.

No way. Oh, he's moving.

-He's moving. He's moving into the water.

-Yeah!

It's coming, like, this way.

Yes, it can just surface under our canoe.

You're making fun of me, Dominic.

I don't want to raise alarm, but I thought I saw some nostrils.

-That's a...

-No, I'm serious, look! What's that?

-That's grass. That's grass.

-Oh. Phew.

Um...

-That's a piece of wood floating.

-That's wood. Now I'm paranoid.

-Now I can see crocs everywhere.

-Yes.

I wasn't very cool about the crocs.

I'll have to try harder with the hippos.

Wow, he's a biggy.

Zambia is home to 40,000 hippos.

They may look placid

but they're killers.

This is like travelling through an animal minefield.

So how far have I actually paddled today?

Ah, you've paddled for more than 30km.

It feels like it.

I can't begin to tell you how glad I am

to see land again.

SHE SIGHS

-Commonwealth champion!

-Yeah.

Oh, my arms, my legs!

The river was just the most amazing thing I've ever seen

and I still haven't seen the big thing yet.

So I've just been totally amazed.

But the thing that I'm really dreading tonight

is the camping.

I don't do camping.

I hope nothing creepy comes and drags me out of my tent!

It was possibly my worst night's sleep ever.

So many hippo noises and creatures and minibeasts.

But Dominic promises it's all going to be worth it.

My first sight of the falls,

known in the local Tongan language as Mosi-oa-Tunya,

the smoke that thunders.

I can see it!

I can see just this kaleidoscope of colour

just going into the sky. Is that it?

Yes, that's the smoke that thunders.

Wow!

It's incredible, it really is a sight to behold.

Just all this smoke just going into the air,

definitely worth all this hard work.

I think I'm a bit scared now.

Just hope I don't go over the edge!

No-one is allowed to venture further on the river.

It's just too dangerous.

Oh, my goodness!

I didn't know what I would feel when I got to this point,

but it's breathtaking.

It's kind of...

rendered me spellbound.

The beautiful rainbow is...

It's almost like if you were religious

this would be the gateway to heaven. It's magnificent.

This is the largest curtain of falling water in the world.

It's over a mile wide

and about 500 million litres of water plummet over the edge every minute.

The huge cloud announcing the falls

is a spray plume that rises up half a kilometre.

On my travels with Dominic

he said to truly say I'd been to Zambia

I have to get myself immersed in the Mosi-oa-Tunya.

So that's what I'm going to do,

I'm going to get very wet!

Oh, my goodness.

SHE CHEERS AND LAUGHS

I am so ridiculously wet at the moment.

I can just about open my eyes.

It's the best shower I've had in ages,

but it's so exhilarating.

Woo!

The first European to see the falls

was the Victorian missionary and explorer David Livingstone.

When Livingstone was here he said,

"Scenes so lovely could only have been gazed upon

"by angels in their flight."

Well, Livingstone couldn't do that,

but I'm hoping to get this angels' view.

I've survived the crocs and the hippos,

not to mention a night in a tent.

I've been soaked by the smoke that thunders

and now I feel like I'm in heaven, with the angels' view.

Two billion people,

one third of the world's population,

live in the Commonwealth.

And nowhere on the globe is more packed

than the Indian subcontinent.

But there's a mysterious natural wonder here

that's barely touched by humanity.

The Sundarbans forest straddles the border of Bangladesh and India.

It's the largest mangrove swamp on the planet.

It's also the realm of 400 Bengal tigers.

Ever since the British came here in the 17th century,

the man-eating tiger has loomed large in our imaginations.

Dan Snow is exploring this dangerous wilderness.

I want to get close to a tiger

and find out what it's like

for people to live cheek by jowl with this fearsome animal.

In fact I'm now heading to a place

where I'm most likely to come face-to-face with one.

Kotka is where the swamp meets the Indian ocean.

Mangroves are one of the few trees

that can survive in salty tidal waters.

It's also home to enough wildlife

to sustain what is perhaps the world's largest tiger population.

WHOOPING AND HOLLERING

My guide, Tanjil Rahman, promises I'll get close enough to the beast

to justify the armed guards.

We're heading into the swamp's dense ferns,

the favourite haunt of the tiger,

with conservationist Abu Naser.

-So this is where they rest up during the day?

-Yeah.

There's two ways and one way is here...

'Setting a camera trap is our best chance to see a tiger.'

'But we may be closer to one right now than we've bargained for.'

RUSTLING AND SHOUTING

Be careful, something is moving.

Tell everyone make loud noise.

THEY HOLLER

I definitely heard something.

SHOUTING

These guys are pretty sure we heard what sounded like

a pretty heavy beast running through the undergrowth just there.

And this is exactly where tigers would be spending

the warmest part of the day.

Back on our houseboat,

Naser shows me what a close shave we had.

So this is stuff that you've shot previously.

-Yeah. It's a night capture.

-Wow, look at that.

Is it the place where I was terrified

-when we heard the feet in the bushes?

-Yeah!

-Very nice, you can see how sleek it is.

-Yeah, exactly,

get a sense of its power and its movement, there.

And this is another place.

-You can see the deers.

-Yes.

-Whoa!

-You see.

-Look at that.

What an amazing thing,

to see it in its natural environment like that.

-It's like a ghost stalking across the landscape.

-Yeah.

And if proof were needed that there are tigers close by,

Naser finds more evidence on the river bank

yards from our house boat -

fresh tiger footprints.

-These are huge pugmarks, aren't they?

-Yeah, huge.

And it seems to be the male tiger.

Look how massive that is.

How old do you think these are? How long ago were these made?

Yeah, it's only...

Yeah, 24 hours.

So within the last 24 hours a big male tiger has come down here

and swum across this little canal.

-Do you have any doubt, sir?

-Nope.

In the forest, the biggest footprint is from tiger

so you cannot miss it.

So wherever you go in this swamp

you might be just feet away from a tiger.

That's food for thought as I begin the next part of my journey.

For two months each year

local fishermen dare to venture

into the heart of this vast, untamed wilderness

to harvest wild honey.

I'm joining a group on their annual expedition into the mangroves.

Every year, tigers attack honey hunters,

often fatally.

The threat is so great

they do everything they can to scare the cats away.

MAN CHANTS

ALL JOIN IN

You know, the honey collection is the most dangerous job in the world

and that is because of the tiger.

And in some bad years...

maybe say more than 100 honey collectors

can be killed by tigers in the forest, in two months.

Tigers aren't the only problem.

The honey the men are after is guarded by

some of the largest and most aggressive bees in the world.

I'm extremely nervous.

I don't know what I'm more nervous about,

the fact that we're all looking around nervously for tigers

or the fact we're about to go and disturb a bunch of bees

who'll be very angry about it,

wearing, well, not exactly modern safety kit.

Like a bank robber, a honey robber.

It's a heist, isn't it?

The men smoke the bees from the hive.

They believe it mimics a forest fire, forcing the bees to flee.

THEY SHOUT

How about the tigers? What do they think about the smoke?

When it's really smoky,

that is also a dangerous time for tiger attack,

-because you don't see much around.

-OK, great.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

THEY SHOUT

I can see the hive.

This is the time of greatest danger.

If the bees "flash",

the bee equivalent of a Mexican wave,

they're about to swarm.

Then we need to get out of here fast!

The trick is to get the smoke in quickly

before the bees become too angry.

BUZZING

You can tell how bees are feeling

cos there's something about the noise -

it gets a little bit more high-pitched,

a little bit more angry.

They're definitely beginning to make that noise now.

BUZZING DROWNS SPEECH

Now it's my turn to harvest some.

I haven't collected honey since I was a child

when I did it with my grandfather.

But this is a bit different from the beekeeping he was used to.

Half, half...yeah.

So now you go that way.

-Oh, wow, look at this honey.

-It's that easy.

It's amazing.

That is beautiful.

The men don't harvest all the honey.

It means the bees can re-colonise the hive

without having to make another one from scratch.

We got away lightly.

No bee stings and no sign of a tiger.

How's the nectar?

Chew this bit.

THEY MUTTER

Oh, my god, that's amazing.

Oh, I can see why people risk their lives for this.

Valuable honey and beeswax are their reward,

but it isn't just economics that make these men return every year.

I spoke to many honey collectors.

They said, "When we hear that bees are buzzing,

"it's in our blood." You know?

"We can't really resist to go there,

"despite of all of the tiger accident and life."

That's just how it is.

The closest I came to a big cat was a camera trap,

but we heard later that a honey hunter working close to us

was killed by a tiger on that very same day.

But the danger the tiger poses

has helped preserve this wonder of nature

ever since Bangladesh joined the Commonwealth

some 40 years ago.

Let's hope that in another 40 years

this astonishing landscape, and the tiger, will still be here.

There are some countries

you'd be surprised are part of the Commonwealth family at all.

Papua New Guinea, on the edge of the South Pacific,

is one of them.

The island's isolation and inhospitable terrain

mean its interior remains largely untouched,

leaving an impressively pristine rainforest.

Its people are incredibly diverse.

There are up to 7,000 languages in the world

and 832 of them are spoken here.

And it shelters at least 39 species

of the most exotic and colourful birds,

the appropriately named birds-of-paradise.

Anita Rani is heading deep into the forest

to fulfil a childhood dream.

I've finally made it to Papua New Guinea,

a country I have always wanted to visit,

ever since my wonderful English teacher,

the rather aptly named Mrs Bird,

said that she used to live here.

And it just seemed like the most far away, exotic place on Earth.

I've come here to try and find something very rare

and incredibly beautiful -

the bird-of-paradise.

'When David Attenborough first came here 60 years ago

'it took him six weeks to see a bird-of-paradise.

'I've only got three days to witness its famous courtship display.

'So if I'm going to have half a chance,

'I'll need a local guide to help me.'

This is a path?!

'Samuel is known as the Bird Man of Papua New Guinea.'

Why are they called the bird-of-paradise?

They thought these birds come down from heaven,

fly around, do feeding and late in the afternoon,

they fly up to heaven or paradise.

So that's why they called it birds-of-paradise.

-Wow, because they thought they descended from heaven.

-Yes.

I've never done any bird watching.

What qualities do I need?

Because I'll tell you straight off the bat

I am not patient.

The plan is to trek deep into the forest

to see the lesser bird-of-paradise.

The male's beautiful courtship display

is notoriously difficult to see.

So we'll have to be incredibly quiet,

which isn't going to be easy for a chatterbox like me.

WHISPERING: This is the territory of the lesser bird-of-paradise.

Now, it's not spotted that often,

but if it does make an appearance it should be on that tree, there.

Hopefully we'll be lucky.

WHISPERING: We've been waiting in the sweatbox

for an hour and a half, now.

We can... BIRD CALLS

You can hear the bird but we can't see the bird.

It's like it's teasing us.

I guess this is what it really means to be a twitcher,

just hanging out and waiting.

I can't even wait for a bus!

I can't believe I've done... CALL DRAWS CLOSER

There it is.

Look at that tail.

It's so beautiful, I just want to touch it.

Oh, he didn't stick around to display.

But it was so beautiful.

It makes me really want to see one displaying, now.

I might not have seen the birds

display their extraordinary plumage yet,

but I've heard the people use bird-of-paradise feathers

when they strut their stuff.

I've been invited to a traditional ceremony called a sing-sing

with community leader Pym Mamindi.

The sing-sing involves a lot of dressing up.

It's clear these people prize bird-of-paradise feathers

extremely highly.

-Hello, ladies.

-Hello!

-How are you?

-Fine.

-This is looking pretty impressive, very fancy.

-Yeah.

-So you'll be attracting the guys?

-The guys.

-Yeah. So...

Me. She's going to attract me.

She's going to attract you?

Are you going to attract him?

-Is he the man for you?

-Yes, he is.

You're lucky she said yes.

Now we're getting to the heart of it,

basically this is like a courtship dance.

-You're trying to attract the opposite sex.

-Exactly.

You're telling them you're a somebody. You've got moves.

THEY SING

Adorned with their feathers and paint,

the men and women dance.

First up are the ladies.

SINGING CONTINUES

And then the men join in.

They're using the feathers in the same way a bird-of-paradise would

to attract a partner.

In our society you can get married to two to three wives.

-Two to three wives?

-Yeah. Even more!

He has to put up a good show so that the ladies will say,

"Oh, this man is dancing nicely, and he's got good feathers."

And maybe you can get another wife.

HE YELLS Pym takes me to meet the chief,

who has five wives.

He said he killed three men.

-He's killed three men?

-Yes.

-Who are these men?

-His enemies! I don't know.

-Who are they?

'The chief has a surprising affection for the Queen

'who, for him, is the chief of all chiefs.'

Do you know the Queen?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

'He tells me he once tried to see the Queen,

'but made the mistake

'of travelling to the capital of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby.'

-He thought the Queen lived in Port Moresby?

-Yes!

-And he went to Port Moresby!

-THE CHIEF GIGGLES

He had a chance to go to Port Moresby

and the Queen doesn't live here, the Queen lives in England!

What does it mean to Papua New Guinea

-to be part of the Commonwealth and to have this Queen?

-OK.

It's a big community, Commonwealth is a big community.

So when we are Papua New Guineans, they feel they're secured,

or they feel that there is a network,

there are many, many countries

that are coming together as one under one umbrella

because of the Queen and the Commonwealth.

After the people's courtship dance,

I'm determined to finally see a bird-of-paradise display.

And I've chosen the most iconic of all -

the raggiana.

WHISPERING: 'I've got a direct view to the tree

where hopefully the raggiana bird,

the national emblem of Papua New Guinea,

will come and show me its display.

Now, I've been told that it's on its way

because we can actually hear it in the distance.

So it's just a waiting game.

BIG BROTHER NARRATOR IMPRESSION: Day 75.

Anita's still sweating it out, looking for the bird-of-paradise!

BIRD CALLS There it is! There it is!

I can see the bird is in the tree.

Wow!

Oh, wow.

Well, I knew it was going to be pretty,

but that's just beautiful.

Mesmerizingly beautiful.

HE CONTINUES CALLING

Now that is what you call shaking your tail feather!

I've become a twitcher.

It's quite good fun actually.

There's a noise the raggiana bird-of-paradise makes

that perfectly sums up Papua New Guinea

and that is "wow".

BIRD CALLS "WOW"

With its untouched rainforest,

its people still living the traditional way of life

and their undying devotion to the Queen...

But this is a country that's changing.

As it develops, they are naturally going to embrace the modern world.

So to have experienced it right now, as it is,

has been an absolute privilege.

We could have chosen 1,000 natural treasures

from all around the Commonwealth.

But one of my favourites is much closer to home.

For our seventh and final wonder I've come here to Scotland,

to explore an area of outstanding natural beauty.

And it's a place that's inspired writers and artists and musicians

for generations.

They came to the tiny uninhabited Island of Staffa

to Fingal's Cave.

The cave gets its name from the legend of an Irish giant,

Fionn MacCumhaill,

who built a bridge from Ireland to Scotland.

In 1829,

this place stirred the 20-year-old composer Felix Mendelssohn

to write The Hebrides overture.

MUSIC: "THE HEBRIDES (OVERTURE)"

On the nearby island of Mull

I'm meeting classical violinist Seonaid Aitken

who has performed the overture in the cave.

I want to learn more

about how Mendelssohn was moved by the experience.

He was inspired to write that immediately after seeing the cave.

Apparently he wrote a letter back to his sister

with the opening 21 bars of the overture

and said, "In order to make you realise

"how extraordinarily the Hebrides have affected me,

"the following came into my head there."

And what makes it so evocative of the landscape,

of the place, of the mood?

Well, I think it's the feeling of the unknown.

And Mendelssohn really creates that in his music

and depicts the ebb and flow of the tide, really,

and the crashing of the waves.

And it's really quite dramatic. It's like a storm, you know.

It's brilliant towards the end, that's my favourite part.

I can't wait to go there.

I shall hear your music in my head when I do.

Mendelssohn made his way to the cave under sail.

So I'm doing the same.

Local writer Jan Sutch Pickard is accompanying me on the voyage.

So, Jan, tell me why it's called Fingal's Cave.

And was that always its name?

Actually that wasn't originally its name.

Its original name was Uamh-Binn,

which means the melodious cave

which expressed the wonder of the sound of it.

How is the best way to experience Fingal's Cave?

I think you need to experience it for yourself,

without a big set-up.

Queen Victoria went in in the Royal barge

with the standard flying.

But I think to simply walk in on your own

and let the cave speak to you with its melodious voice.

Just emerging from the mist

you can start to see the black rock of Staffa.

Waves are crashing in at the base.

These rocks were formed some 65 million years ago

when an underwater volcano erupted.

The water caused the lava to crack

and then solidify into these astonishing polygonal shapes.

I feel like I'm following in the footsteps

of some of the great artists of the 19th century.

Writers like Keats and painters like JMW Turner

fell in love with this place.

I can now see why.

It is like walking into the grandest cathedral you could ever imagine.

The scale of it's incredible.

You've got the massive pillars like organ pipes -

very, very smooth and cold and dark.

And then this roof

that looks like it's been sculpted.

Man could never have made this.

You know, it's just too big, too impressive.

And the sound of it as well.

I can hear my voice bouncing back from the wall.

You have to be pretty careful clambering over these

but it's worth the effort

because the further you get into the cave

the more incredible it seems.

And slightly, the feeling of terror takes over

because these waves are getting stronger and stronger.

It's like a natural Jacuzzi down here.

You just think,

"I'm so tiny against these enormous rocks

"that are millions of years old."

It's incredible, absolutely incredible.

It would have been like this when Mendelssohn came here

in the 19th century, and the waves creating this foam.

The sound when the waves hit the rock

and then they come ripping back,

sounds like the timpani in the orchestra.

Boom!

The explorer Joseph Banks said of the cave,

"Compared to this

"what are the cathedrals and palaces built by man?

"Mere models or play things, imitations,

"as his works will always be when compared to those of nature."

So, from New Zealand to Papua New Guinea,

the Solomon Islands to Bangladesh,

Namibia to Zambia,

and here in Scotland,

you've seen some of the wonders of the Commonwealth.

Now it's over to its sporting greats.

Let the games begin.