Episode 3 Wild Burma: Nature's Lost Kingdom

Burma.

Cut off from the outside world for five decades.

A mysterious land. A land of secrets.

Home to half of mainland Southeast Asia's remaining forests.

It's rumoured to be teeming with iconic animals.

This is one big question mark when it comes to scientific exploration.

These forests could be the last refuge

to some magnificent creatures that are being wiped out across the world.

As it opens up to democracy,

Burma will have to choose the fate of its forests.

Now, for the first time,

a team of scientists and wildlife filmmakers are venturing

deep into Burma's jungles.

Did you see that? There they are. I'm shaking.

They will catalogue its forgotten wildlife...

and give Burma's government a report to help get these forests protected.

I feel very, very, very, very, lucky.

It's a race against time, as the world eyes up Burma's natural riches.

We've got fire in front of us and then fire here and then fire behind us.

Oh, God. This isn't good.

What they discover could change the future of Burma's wilds forever.

What's this, what's this, what's this?

Whoa!

This forest is extremely important,

not just to Burma - it's of global significance.

Burma's forests are rich, unspoilt and changing fast.

The team's mission is to survey the wildlife here

and prove beyond doubt that these forests need protection.

This is the final phase of a unique expedition.

For this last leg of their trip,

the team will search for Southeast Asia's most iconic animal...

the tiger.

To have the best chance of finding tigers, the team must split up.

Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan is heading to the forests of southern Burma.

These forests were once home to a thriving population of tigers.

But this region has been isolated by war for over 60 years,

so little is known about the fate of the animals.

Gordon will try to find proof that tigers are still here.

We're incredibly lucky to be going into this area.

This is a complete black spot when it comes to scientific studies.

It's been described as the dark side of the moon.

The rest of the survey team are heading to the far north, to Tamanthi,

gateway to the largest stretch of unspoilt forest in Burma,

one and a half times the size of Wales.

Tigers are thought to live here but no-one knows how many there are.

Big cat specialist Justine Evans will try to capture tigers on camera.

We've come up to the far north of Burma.

We're wading up rivers because there is no road access into the area that we're setting up camp.

It's a huge remote tract of forest

and so little is known about it,

it could be home to some of the world's most iconic species,

such as the tiger.

While Justine searches for tigers,

Smithsonian mammal expert, Kris Helgen, will measure the forest's diversity.

For biologists, Northern Burma is the most exciting place that we could come in the country.

We expect that wildlife may be at its richest

and the diversity of all life will be tremendous.

Entomologist Ross Piper will study the forest's insects.

This will help the team assess the health of the ecosystem.

This forest looks amazing

but how good is this forest and is it functioning as it should be?

To answer those questions, we can look for lots of different species,

to find out if this place is healthy

and if it's functioning correctly.

The team has already spent six weeks exploring Burma's forests.

-Yes, yes!

-They've discovered Asian elephant herds...

breeding populations of sun bears...

and some of the rarest cats in the world.

Now they're searching for tigers.

If they can find visual evidence of this endangered cat,

the case for protecting these forests will be stronger than ever.

The northern team has arrived at their remote jungle base camp,

home for the next two weeks.

Local forest rangers have chosen this location.

They believe this is the heart of tiger territory.

The survey team's first task is to set up their jungle science lab.

Working alongside Ross are Smithsonian scientists Nicole Edmison and Darrin Lunde.

That is definitely bigger than some of my shrews.

This part of Burma is one of those places

where we're very likely to find new species.

We have a very good chance of finding something new here.

Justine decides to head out immediately.

A tiger can travel twenty miles in a single day.

She'll have to cover a lot of ground fast, much of it at night.

I think I'm going to have to think like a tiger

and keep its hours, as well.

So, yeah, dusk, night, dawn are going to be my hours,

sleeping during the heat of the day.

Like many animals, tigers choose the easiest travel route.

If a path already exists they will use it.

The hard part is finding out which paths they're using.

Justine has a plan.

It might look a bit bizarre but what I'm trying to create is a sand pit,

not to play in but to record footprints of tigers.

The trouble with up here in the forest is it's so dry.

The ground is so compacted I'm not sure I would spot them,

so I'm creating this sand pit to make it soft

and therefore easier to see the prints if something else comes through.

The land is baked dry,

as temperatures have been reaching around 40 degrees.

It's looking great.

It's got a nice light dusting on top and it looks very clean,

so I definitely will see a print if it goes in there.

You can see it's nice and soft. You can see my fingers quite clearly.

Now the only thing left to do is put a camera trap on here.

Even with camera traps in place, Justine has a huge task ahead.

The last tiger to be captured on film in the north of Burma

was 15 years ago.

Across Asia, tigers are disappearing fast.

At the end of the 19th century, there were as many as 100,000 tigers.

Today there may be as few as 3,000 left.

No-one knows how many remain in Burma.

One thousand miles to the south,

Gordon has travelled for two days through dense jungle

to reach one of the most isolated forests in Burma.

Karen state has been cut off from the rest of the country

by the longest-running civil war in history.

In 2012 fighting finally ceased.

Gordon is one of the first wildlife filmmakers to be invited in.

Really, what I hope to find is that it's not just the forests that are intact,

that we have a whole range of different species

living in this forest, animals like elephants, tigers.

Officially, the Karen people and the Burmese government

are now at peace.

But the forest rangers here still carry weapons

and their leader, Ti Po Kwa, is a former Army General.

MEN SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE

We're just trying to distribute as much of the equipment as possible,

so nobody's carrying too much and nobody's carrying too little.

We've got a full day walk ahead of us

before we reach an area where we can camp.

We just want to be able to get as far into the forest as we can in the time that we've got.

The further into the forest we go,

the more chance we've got of finding animals there.

Karen State is part of Burma

but since independence from British rule in 1948,

the Karen people have been fighting for the right to govern their own state.

Gordon hopes that the long years of isolation during the civil war

may have helped protect the wildlife here.

Well, that's where I'm headed, down into that deep dark forest.

It's such an amazing sight.

This forest is unbroken as far as the horizon.

It looks really promising.

The Karen rangers believe there could be tigers

in the distant mountains 20 miles away,

the remotest part of the forest.

Only time and a lot of trekking will tell.

Back in the north, the survey is getting under way.

Finding tigers will take time

but the challenge of documenting everything else that lives here begins immediately.

My goal is to document as many species as we can.

Basically, create as complete a list as possible for this area

of all the different forms of, in my case, especially mammal life,

but working as a team, everything that's here.

The world is not yet explored.

These forests are really not intensely studied

and so it shouldn't surprise us when you get down to it

that we can go into a place like this, a beautiful forest,

and find things that no scientist has ever documented before.

ANIMAL CALLS

The forest here is so dense, finding animals is a challenge.

The survey team has a trick that will help them -

a line of pitfall traps.

A wall of plastic sheeting channels tiny mammals

living on the forest floor into a bucket buried in the ground.

Darrin hopes these bucket traps will provide

a constant supply of creatures to start building the species list.

A-ha, something for you, Ross.

That looks like a bombardier beetle.

That's a really big one, though, yeah.

I could think of it...

-Whoa!

-Argh! See that?

-I did see that.

-There he goes again.

-That's a bombardier beetle, so this is its defence.

It explodes. There's an explosive mixture that comes out of its rear end.

That got me right in the face then, as well.

It's a mixture of really nasty chemicals

and it comes out of here at probably just over 100 degrees C.

Gee! Wow.

-Whoa!

-Did you see that again?

It does not like this.

Look at that!

They are fantastic and it's still doing it.

I think it's all out. Oh, there we go, look.

Ow! I mean, this burns.

This is getting me right on the finger every time.

The pitfall traps are perfect for collecting small animals

and the jungle is full of insects, tiny mammals and reptiles.

These traps will form the backbone of the diversity survey.

Justine has left her sand trap overnight.

If a tiger has been here, she should see its prints.

This is the sand pit I prepared earlier.

Looks like a gaur has come through here

and I wouldn't want to say for sure

but there could have been a tiger.

It's sort of inconclusive prints

that have been walked over by something else

but I've got the camera trap here,

so hopefully whatever's walked through will be on there.

Right.

It's the moment of truth.

It's a bear!

Wow! It's a sun bear! How amazing is that?

He's a lovely big sun bear.

That's great news in terms of the diversity of this forest.

I was worried that there weren't bears here.

You know, they suffer a lot from poaching and human conflict,

so that's lovely to see one on the camera.

Wow!

Well, I was hoping for a tiger

but a sun bear's a really good start, anyway.

Day two and the team has already found

one of Southeast Asia's rarest animals - the sun bear.

This is their second encounter with sun bears

after finding them in the west of the country.

Elsewhere in Asia, they are on the brink of extinction.

One sighting doesn't mean sun bears are thriving here

but it's a promising sign.

The camera traps also reveal an amazing variety of animals.

Shortridge's langurs, only found in this part of the world.

Large numbers of pig-tailed macaques.

A Hoolock gibbon, highly endangered

and an early indicator of an undisturbed forest.

A crab-eating mongoose in search of insects.

Another sun bear with young,

the first proof the team has of breeding animals.

But to create a comprehensive picture of the forest,

Ross needs to find smaller creatures.

These forests in northern Burma, they are guaranteed to get any biologist excited.

I know that no bug expert has been to this part of Burma.

So this is a real once in a lifetime opportunity

to document the wildlife that I can find.

It's not every day you get a chance to do this sort of thing.

The forests of northern Burma are amongst the richest and least explored on the planet.

Every insect Ross finds will be new data for Tamanthi forest.

His species list will provide scientists

with valuable new information.

A-ha! Look at this.

These are plant hopper nymphs.

They're one of the most ridiculous things. Look at them.

These long filaments here, these are waxy secretions

and these are thought to be a defence against their parasites and their predators.

And also watch this. If I try and touch them,

they start twitching around.

Looks like they're having a really bad hair day.

As a last line of defence they can also jump.

If I really irritate this one here...

Oi!

Again. Oi! Look at that.

Doi-oi-oi-oi-oing.

Doink! Comedy creatures.

In just one hour, Ross finds a dazzling array of species.

It seems that this is a truly unspoilt habitat,

packed with wildlife.

But only four hours from base camp,

Ross stumbles on a shocking vision of Burma's potential future.

I've been walking all through the forest

and I've come out on this logging road.

They're taking out logs from here left, right and centre.

Look at this.

It's a bit peculiar, really. I don't know what to make of it.

I mean, when you're inside that forest, you know,

it looks like a pristine place

but then you come across one of these logging roads and you see all this that's happening.

Hmm.

Logging is an important part of Burma's economy.

What's surprising is

that it's happening so close to such valuable forest.

The government has pledged to stop exporting wood.

But it's still awarding contracts to private companies

within so-called protected forest.

MONKEYS HOWLING

Even worse, these logging roads give poachers direct access

to the heart of tiger territory.

Illegally caught tigers are known to be killed

and used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The Burmese government doesn't condone the wildlife trade

but controlling border regions is difficult.

Most people here earn less than a dollar per day.

Hunting tigers is tempting.

Following Ross's discovery, Kris wants to know

if tigers in this region are being affected by illegal poaching.

-Good morning.

-The team's local guide used to be a hunter.

I'd like to ask what you can tell me about tiger hunting,

how it's done and why the animal is so valuable.

HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

The Lisu people live in the hills of northern Burma.

They're renowned for their skill at hunting.

Why would some people hunt the tiger? Why is it so valuable?

That's a huge amount of money in this country

and we've heard numbers quoted even larger than that as well.

What that means is that, you know, the demand for tiger is enormous

and the perverse economics are that the fewer tigers there are,

the value on their heads goes up even more

because that demand is extraordinary.

So that paints a very bleak future for tigers here in Tamanthi.

But we don't know how many tigers are still left

and as long as there are still some, there is still hope.

Everything the team has learned here reveals a country at a crossroads.

Their survey results could change these forests' future.

But time is running out.

-So which rodents do we have here?

-I got a good look at the Irrawaddy squirrel.

The scientists are gathering as much data as they can.

They need as complete a picture as possible.

-The one I saw was actually beige.

-Beige. All right. Mm.

There we go.

If they're to find new species here,

they'll need every trick in the book.

So we've got the cage traps out there.

We've got the pitfalls, we've got the mist nets.

Justine's sand trap has revealed sun bears but no tigers.

Now she has a new strategy - staking out a salt lick.

All animals need salt and minerals in their diet.

This would be attracting things like sambar deer, muntjac, barking deer,

gaur, wild pig.

Coincidentally, they're all tiger prey,

so you could say that tigers get their food ready salted.

This is perfect place for a tiger to ambush its prey.

Tigers are going to be really tricky to film.

What's good about this position is I've got some height.

I'm up on the top of a bank looking down into the stream

and I'm hoping that means my smell's going to stay up here

and not be down there too much.

I'm just trying to break up the shape of the hide a little bit

so it doesn't look quite so obvious.

This is only a stone's throw from the main river,

so it wouldn't take much for a tiger to peel off and come up here.

It's perfect ambush country. There's ridges and little drop-offs.

The thing is I wouldn't know it was here.

I could be sitting here all day

and then suddenly a tiger would just leap out.

I'd be none the wiser.

They are the masters of disguise.

It's why they have those beautiful markings.

That's me set up. Now for the stake-out.

In Karen state, Gordon and his team have trekked for two days

into Megatha Forest.

They have an hour ahead of them to reach the base of the mountains.

This is where the Karen rangers believe the tigers live.

But Gordon and his guide, Che Poe, must tread carefully.

During the war, the forest pathways were littered with landmines.

It makes the task of finding tigers even harder

but Che Poe knows which routes are safe.

To capture images of tigers,

Gordon and the rangers have set up 38 camera traps.

We are a long way away from the nearest habitation,

so we are really in the middle of nowhere.

There's very few signs of animals

but that doesn't mean that the animals aren't here.

So the plan is just to blitz this area

with as many camera traps as we've got.

Leaving them to record day and night, Gordon will set up his hide.

Instead of salt, he's relying on fruit to bring in the animals.

There's a wild jack fruit.

Very tasty.

Mmm! It's really nice.

I'm just going to find a place to put the hide up

but the whole ground is littered with fallen fruit.

Some of it's gone a bit mouldy but some of it's still nice and juicy.

Jack fruit has a sour aftertaste

but Gordon hopes it will bring in fruit-eating animals,

perfect prey for a tiger.

Just enough room for me and the equipment.

Actually, there's not enough room for me and the equipment.

The rain will wash away Gordon's scent.

Now all he can do is wait.

Well, we've got our first visitor of the night.

Porcupines will eat a whole range of different food.

It's not just fruit.

They'll eat insects, they'll dig for termites.

This porcupine will be able to hold his own with clouded leopards,

with leopards, even with tigers.

But not always.

I've seen tigers with porcupine quills stuck in their noses

and around their mouth.

I'm afraid that can only mean one thing for a porcupine.

There he goes, disappearing off into the night.

Back in the north, Justine has been in her hide for eight hours.

She hopes her high vantage point will let her see the tiger

before it gets spooked by her scent.

What's that?

Something very bright.

That's... Yeah, that's a shrew.

I can hear rustling, I can hear rustling all around

but it's often just shrews.

There could be civets as well.

I thought there might be more going on.

You have to put so much time in the hide to get any results.

More and more I'm thinking the camera traps are much more appropriate

in these sorts of conditions.

I'm staring at the screen just wishing for a tiger to appear

but no amount of wishing is going to make it happen.

Where's the off button?

Back in base camp, Kris is having more luck with the camera traps.

Oh, my goodness. The large Indian civet.

Moves about on the ground at night. That's a great image.

Oh, God, that's incredible.

One of my favourite animals. That's a pangolin.

Wow. This is an insect eater in this forest,

a very critical part of the forest ecology

and common in so many places in Asia until recently,

when the scales became in great demand for Asian wildlife trade.

Oh, that's a stunner.

Night-time shots of a binturong.

This is the biggest civet in the world.

We've seen some of these other civets.

This looks, not so much like a civet

as almost a little bear

and sometimes it's called the bear cat.

The binturong and pangolin are extraordinarily rare

and seldom filmed.

The cameras also reveal a huge variety of cats.

The sheer number of them means

the forest must be full of prey for them to eat.

But there's still no visual evidence of tigers.

Finding tigers is always hard

but in the north it's even harder than usual.

The tigers appear to have learned to fear humans.

The Burmese government has made an effort to protect tigers.

200 miles north of Tamanthi forest lies

the world's largest tiger reserve.

Despite this protection, the reserve is littered with gold mines.

These devastate the forests and pollute the rivers.

The tiger's future here in the north looks bleak.

Burma has a critical choice to make right now.

The large wildlife is still here in this forest. It can be protected.

A plan can be put into place.

The time is right now for Burma to make a decision.

Is it going to be able to support these large mammals in the country

into the future or not?

In the south, the future may be brighter.

Gordon's hosts, the Karen people, want to run their state differently.

They have a spiritual belief in the natural world.

Perhaps here tigers can coexist with man.

After an unsuccessful night in the hide,

Gordon returns to find huge excitement in camp.

What's this?

Oh, my word.

It is the scat.

Oh, wow!

From a big cat.

You can tell that because of the hairs in it.

Let me just lay it down on the ground.

From the size of that, that really has to be from a tiger.

These hair from deer,

from monkeys, if you can catch them.

Whereabouts did you find it? SPEAKING IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

Was it on a path?

-Is he saying that he saw it?

-Here, yes.

No way!

He saw it as well? GORDON LAUGHS

That is quite something.

To find a little bit of evidence is one thing,

but to actually...

Well, these guys have seen a tiger walking through camp last night.

So you definitely saw stripes down the side of the animal?

How big was the head?

Oh, really? Big one.

Yeah, that's made my day. It's the best news.

It's a great find. Gordon's guides give thanks to the forest spirits.

It's a little shrine.

MAN SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE

This is a part of Karen culture that is rarely seen by the outside world.

What's the ladder for?

It's great to come to a place

with a people that have got this intimate understanding of the forest

and incredible respect for this place.

It's very special.

The Karen people's affinity with nature gives them a powerful motive

to protect the forest and its wildlife.

Tigers here might have a future.

1,000 miles north, Justine has spent an uncomfortable night in her hide

and seen nothing.

Her hopes are now pinned on the sand pit.

So here's my sand pit area.

Let's see if anything's been coming through.

That looks like tiger. Here.

Yes!

That's tiger for sure. It's definitely tiger.

I'll just measure this and see how big this footprint is.

Wow. This is pretty standard tiger.

90mm across the rear pad, so it's a big print.

There's no doubt this is a tiger.

I'm surprised that we've got tracks in here

because it means that there's a tiger

that's occupying this area quite regularly.

Justine's next step is to check the camera traps.

With luck, they may just have recorded a tiger.

Oh, there's something appearing.

Oh, that's stunning!

Oh, that's beautiful!

It's the first shot we've got of a tiger.

So lovely to see a shot of one at last, after all this time.

I was starting to think that they were these mythical beasts in this forest

and we would never ever see one.

Well, I've seen the footprints

and I'm pretty sure this is the individual that left the footprints,

so I've got something to go on here.

This is a good start.

Ah!

BIRD SQUAWKING

Back at camp, the team is still unaware of Justine's success.

Ross is helping Smithsonian scientist Nicole Edmison set up mist nets

to catch new species of bats.

I think most people don't realise that there are over 1,200 different species of bats.

So out of all the mammals...

They are the second most diverse group.

-After the...?

-After rodents.

The fine mesh is invisible to the bats' sonar.

She hopes to catch them as they leave their roosts at dusk

for their nightly feed.

No one has ever done a survey for bats in this area,

so it'll be exciting to see what we get in the net.

With the nets up, Nicole must wait for nightfall.

Ross is also working through the night.

He's set up a moth trap.

Insects lured by the light will give him a measure

of the forest's diversity.

Oh, my goodness!

ROSS LAUGHS

This is gorgeous. It's like a painting of moths.

It is, isn't it? It's fantastic!

The sheer variety of moths suggests that this ecosystem is thriving.

-What is this? Amazing!

-It's some sort of noctuid, I think.

-OK.

I don't know if it's trying to be a dead leaf, actually.

-You would not see it.

-It looks like that would be incredible camouflage.

-Look at this one here.

-What do we got?

-Check this one here. Look at that one.

-Ah!

How many species do you think we're staring at in this mosaic of moths here?

-There's more than a hundred, easily.

-There has to be.

-Yeah.

-Incredible how many kinds you have.

Yeah, like, when you think there's 1.1 million species of insect

been identified so far.

But I think there's new species on this sheet, guaranteed.

So I'll be able to identify these.

It's going to take a long time but probably by tomorrow morning.

I'm expecting a full report by the morning

of every insect on this sheet.

Nicole's mist nets are producing good results too,

including one bat that may be new to science.

This is definitely the tiniest bat I have ever handled.

-ANGRY SQUEAKING

-A-ha!

It's some sort of pipistrelle

but I need to take a closer look at it to decide exactly which pipistrelle it is.

I personally have never seen one of these before,

so it's really exciting for me.

-Ah! What have we got?

-Got a treasure in a bag.

There you go. There you go. SQUEAKING

-Gorgeous thing. One of the smallest bats that's here, right?

-Yeah.

Well, we expected that these little pipistrelles would be here,

but it's always hard to tell exactly which species they are,

so we'll have a closer look

and we'll try to figure out exactly which species that we're dealing with

so that we can add it to our list.

After a four-hour hike back from her sand pit,

Justine has arrived in camp with her news.

-Hi, Justine welcome back.

-Hi, Kris.

-Hey, I've got some exciting news for you.

-What did you find?

Well, you know I put these two sand pit areas, where I cleared the whole trail?

-Yeah.

-Guess what?

-What?

-Today I went up to check and there are tiger prints.

-No!

Which is just... I can't tell you how excited I am because it's...

Mainly because it worked, doing the sand pit worked!

Great news. That's great news.

We know a tiger has been here, it's been here recently,

we know which way it's moving.

I think it's time that we all got out

and looked to see what evidence we can find,

where this cat is in this area, where it's moving.

-We can get Ross on the case as well.

-We'll get Ross.

-We'll get Ross searching.

-While he's collecting his bugs.

Justine has the team's first visual evidence of a tiger in this forest.

But for the species to survive, it needs a mate.

They need to find more tigers but time is running short.

On Kris's instructions, the trackers are preparing for a two-day trek.

Tigers have large territories,

so he's sending Ross further afield, out of this tiger's range.

-If I head north, then.

-Great, yeah. If you can head north.

If we can find out more. See what you can find.

OK. Sounds good.

To find out if there's more than one tiger,

Ross must trek ten miles north

into the territory of a different animal.

Meanwhile, Justine still has 16 camera traps to monitor.

With just three days left,

the science team is busy cataloguing new finds.

A little Suncus, do you think?

Well, it's hard to say but it looks like a little Suncus to me. A little musk shrew.

This is one of the world's smallest mammals.

Yeah. Oh, and it's got a little bit of a bite.

-Can you feel that?

-Hardly.

-OK!

And Nicole has found a bat that needs feeding up.

-I've got a new fruit bat for us.

-Oh, really?

-Oh, good morning.

-Hello!

-Yeah, it looks like exactly what it is - a Megaerops.

-Yeah.

Really exciting because it's not known from here, so...

Waking up after the cold night. There he is.

-Oh-ho! That's nice.

-Yeah.

The team's results already suggest

this forest is the richest habitat they've found in Burma.

We've documented more than 50 mammal species

and a whopping 22 of them are carnivore species.

That paints a remarkable picture of the importance of the habitats here.

There are seven species of cats recorded in this forest alone.

So seven cats, these top predators, that's fairly extraordinary.

And even more extraordinary -

these cats feel safe enough to move in broad daylight.

Marbled cats, nocturnal creatures which are rarely seen.

The tiny leopard cat.

Clouded leopards.

And Asian golden cats, one with her cub.

All seem completely unafraid,

a clear sign they're not nervous of being hunted.

Further north, Ross's search for a second tiger continues.

Without his guides, he would be completely lost.

There are no paths in this jungle, only rivers.

They must move by wading along streams

and hacking through forest.

If Ross finds tracks this far from base camp,

they should be from another tiger.

Oh, my word. Look at this!

Look at that one there - that's fantastic. Look at that one.

That's really good.

Ross needs to be certain that this isn't the same tiger Justine found.

He measures the paw prints.

These do look bigger. They're getting on, actually, for 100mm,

so that is a fair bit bigger, actually - that's almost 10% bigger.

My mission was to go out and find some tiger sign

and try and establish if there's more than one tiger in this part of the forest

and I've found that with these prints,

so this is really good news.

This is definitely a different tiger and possibly an adult male.

Tigers could be successfully breeding here.

One thousand miles south in Karen State,

Gordon has run out of time.

The team has collected in the camera traps.

These images will give Gordon and the Karen people a glimpse

into a world that has remained hidden for 60 years.

What animal would you most like to see?

MEN SPEAK IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

Tiger!

Oh. Wild pig.

-MAN:

-OK. Tomia.

-Tomia.

-Tomia.

This is a little piglet there, as well.

Ah! There's a whole lot, look.

LAUGHTER

It's like ants.

A lot!

So we've got a macaque here.

Oh, beautiful cats.

Marbled cat and clouded leopard are very similar

but that's clouded leopard.

Oh, there we go! Tail end of a leopard.

-OK?

-That's good.

Oh, look at this.

It is a Malayan tapir,

one of the most endangered animals

that you find in this part of the world.

Wow! What a beauty.

We haven't seen a single tapir anywhere else in Burma

that we've been.

Oh, that's a male, you can see quite clearly.

Another tapir. I wonder if that's the same one.

Oh, you can see this one is a female.

You can see her udder at the back there.

It looks quite full. She may well still have a youngster.

That's really good to see.

You know, to see a tapir in the flesh is incredibly difficult,

especially in this forest.

Malayan tapirs have almost vanished from Southeast Asia

because of the rapidly disappearing forests.

But here in Karen State it seems both tapirs and tigers have a home.

Gordon has been struck by his Karen guides' connection with nature.

He can only hope that their beliefs will help protect this world

for the future.

For you, why is conserving the forest important?

He said that the forest is the livelihood and the life of the Karen people.

It seems that beyond their freedom,

the forest is the most important part of their culture.

So in 50 years' time,

what do you hope your grandchildren's relationship will be with the forest?

MAN SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

Ti Po Kwa's saying that he hopes that his grandchildren will continue protecting the forest

and areas that have been logged, that they will replant the forest,

that there will be a green forest forever.

KAREN PEOPLE SINGING

The team's time in Tamanthi is also drawing to a close.

-Kris, Ross.

-How was the hide?

-Oh! Long and quiet.

-But I've got the results of all the camera trap stuff now.

-Oh, brilliant.

And I've just compiled it all, so this is all distilled action.

-Well, great. Let's have a look at the distilled action.

-Yeah, yeah.

Right, first up.

So this, this is really funny.

You know I cleared those sand pit areas to try and get footprints?

We kept getting to the sand pits and finding them all messed up

-and this is what was going on.

-Wow!

-They're all taking baths in it.

-Great hornbills taking a dust bath.

-And now look.

-Oh, my word.

-Oh, look at that!

-Look at that.

-Lovely cat, though, isn't it?

-Gorgeous.

-Beautiful.

-That's a good one.

-That's a close-up, isn't it?

Love that they're coming right at the camera trap,

-just checking it out.

-They're so bold, don't you think?

Absolutely.

-Would you say that was a female?

-I'd say that's a female.

The team has evidence of two tigers in the area -

this female and the tiger whose tracks Ross found ten miles away.

It's not firm proof tigers are breeding here

but it's a hopeful sign.

And if there's a female here,

then would you not think that there would definitely be males,

-seeing as they roam so much further?

-Well, we certainly hope so.

Female tigers stake claim to a territory and remain within it,

but males will walk hundreds of miles looking for a female.

It's possible that Ross's tiger may be a male searching for a mate.

So from all the things we've seen, all the camera trap footage,

how many tigers do you think might be living in this part of the forest?

-Well, we all know it's really hard to say...

-Mm.

..but considering all the information that we've collected,

I think that gives a hopeful view

that we're looking at a population of tigers here.

If it's properly protected, Tamanthi forest has the potential

to become a desperately needed sanctuary,

a place where tigers can breed undisturbed

and recover their numbers.

But the fact that the top of the food chain predator is here

suggests that this is a really healthy place still

and I really hope that going forward in the future

that it can be protected

because this is a place that has so much potential.

Kris's final task will be to compile a report for the President of Burma.

He hopes it will persuade the government

to save its precious forests.

Everything that we've documented will be pulled together

into a report and a species list

that will be given to the government of Burma

and that will communicate a better understanding

of what is living here and how it can be better looked after.

Elsewhere in Asia, tigers are on the brink of extinction.

Perhaps, here in Burma, there is still hope.

After two months on the ground,

thousands of miles covered and 300 hours of footage,

the team has reams of new data and images that paint a hopeful picture.

Much of Burma's wilderness is untouched and in good health.

-Oh!

-In western Burma they found a thriving population

of endangered Asian elephants.

In 25 years, this is the first time I've seen wild elephants in Burma.

JUSTINE: Burma probably holds the largest remaining population

in the whole of Southeast Asia,

so these elephants here are globally very, very, very important.

In the remote Salu forest they found sun bears.

Oh, look!

That is amazing.

And they found evidence of some of the world's rarest cats.

Look!

See? LAUGHTER

In northern Burma, they came looking

for the most iconic predators of them all

and found them.

Burma is at a crossroads.

As the modern world breaks through into this ancient land,

change is inevitable.

But this vast country is home to a treasure trove of wildlife

and there are still immense forests where animals can live undisturbed.

The team believes they have the proof

that these forests should be protected.

The future now lies in the hands of the government of Burma.

If they, like the Karen people, believe

that Burma's wildlife is worth saving,

then these forests may have a future.

In the last hundred years,

the forests of Southeast Asia have been absolutely devastated

but yet parts of this forest persist

and animals are still living here.

That does fill me full of hope

because if the right decisions are made

over the future of these forests,

we can see these animals living here, making their homes here,

for not just another hundred years but for another thousand years.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd