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India Special

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Hello and welcome to The Travel Show -

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coming to you this week from Kerala in southern India -

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One of the things that this part of the country is famous

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They ply the backwaters of towns like this one,

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called Alleppey, offering a unique view of rural Indian life.

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But what effect will all that to lose and have in the long run?

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And later on I'll also be discovering which is faster,

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man or machine, in the battle of the coconut tree

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Kerala's calling card is its unique backwaters.

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A labyrinth of canals, rivers and lakes, running 900km

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Now, I've been told that the best way to

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experience the true flavours of Alleppey and the surrounding

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backwaters is on one of these things - it's a houseboat.

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25 years ago the houseboat industry didn't exist,

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but in 1991 a tour operator saw the potential in modifying defunct

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It was an instant hit and revolutionised

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From humble beginnings, many now have

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state-of-the-art fixtures and fittings.

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Now, when you hear you're coming on a houseboat,

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you're not really sure what to expect, but this level

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the television, satellite TV, air con to keep you cool in that

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Indian heat, but what is really surprising -

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From just a handful of boats in the 90s there

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From just a handful of boats in the '90s

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there are now more than 1,000, offering people a unique insight

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into village life along the waterways.

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There was a very fast dramatic change in the region due to tourism.

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It has become big business for tour operators, like Biju George.

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What is the actual draw for a lot of tourists to come

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here and experience these backwaters?

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This region is called the Venice of the

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East, and the natural beauty of the region is one of the main

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attractions and is why people to come here to see

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I just noticed we have opened up to this huge lake here -

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It is the largest lake in southern India.

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It is almost 35km, a really huge lake.

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It almost looks like a sea, doesn't it?

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Would you like to try driving the boat?

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You want me to be in charge of this thing?

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Just give it a try and you can learn something.

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We are quite close to this boat, aren't we?

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Usually it is very relaxed, apart from trying to

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The houseboat industry has created incredible

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wealth for the region, and benefitted lots of locals,

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from boat builders and owners, to hoteliers and tour

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But what has been the cost to the environment?

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It looks like we have hit a bit of congestion,

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the problem being that most of these houseboats actually

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leave at the same time, so these riverways get packed up

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and pretty much act like superhighways for

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Where there is a high boom of tourism in a limited period

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of time, there is always the sustainability issue.

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So no one was prepared, or none of the systems

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were prepared, or aware of what we could do and how we can

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manage this, because everyone was thinking about the business

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No one ever thought about the sustainability

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Some say there has been an increase in pollution

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and that has affected the locals who depend on the backwaters.

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Early the next morning, I went to see for

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myself what impact environmental groups claim tourism is having

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These guys have obviously come out very early in the morning.

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The sun is still coming up, isn't it?

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They are pulling out the clams from the bottom of the lake.

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They come out early in the morning, around four o'clock,

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Campaigner Sudha Soni grew up around Lake Vembanad.

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Yes, and this has been going on for generations.

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So how does the pollution of the water affect

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One - the pollution of the water stunts the growth of the clam.

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The second thing - the rig that they put into the water

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to collect the clam, the net that is attached to it

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sometimes brings up the waste that is thrown into the lake.

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Sudha is working in conjunction with the environmental

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group Tourism Concern on a new system of enforced

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regulations and certification for houseboats.

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She believes they cause much of the damage.

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Tour operators sitting abroad don't know what kind of boat

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it is, so when this particular emblem is there, this particular

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certification is there, they are sort of confident, yes.

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And that will make it more credible and

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And one of the benefits of travelling by river is that

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whatever it tickles your fancy along the banks, you can

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I've decided this church looks pretty beautiful,

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Kerala has some of the oldest Catholic churches in India.

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This hidden gem in Alleppey was founded in the fifth century.

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But ultimately it's the houseboats that have given

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We have again from all over the world but, to be precise,

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maybe from Europe, from Australia, from the US, and even

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from the Middle East, because that is the

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Jobin Akkarakalam runs some of the largest and most

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His vessels are registered on the government scheme

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which awards classification certificates for

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The government has got gold star, green

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The government has got a gold star, green

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star classification given to the houseboats.

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They have regular inspections from the government authorities.

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They have the pollution control board inspecting our boats.

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But not all boat owners are currently signed up

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to the scheme, and environmentalists are calling for all boats to have

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compulsory checks, to protect the people and wildlife

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This could really be one of the most sustainable tourism products

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This could be an example for a lot of other destinations in different

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If we can adopt a new system to maintain the entire region,

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And if you're thinking of heading the southern India any time soon,

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Coming up later on in the programme, I find out what it takes to become

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one of Kerala's top coconut tree climbers.

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The Travel Show - your essential guide,

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To learn more about it I have come here to meet a man whose family have

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been performing the dance for the past 100 years. How are you? This is

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your theatre. Amazing. It turns the performers into supernatural beings,

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gods and demons. The process of applying the make-up can take many

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hours and it is applied in front of the audience here and forms part of

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the performance. There is a singer who sings the stories. The river is

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flowing. Then there is a drummer who supports.

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The dancer translates these songs through the movement of eyebrows,

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eyes, fingers, let's. -- lips. And all these stories come from the

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Indian books. Originally developed as a way of

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teaching religious scripture to rule audiences, Kathakali is now also a

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big draw for tourists coming here to Carol. -- Kerela. On cure is to

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know, how do you tell a story with your eyebrows, your cheeks, your

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lips and your fingers, can you teach me -- I'm curious. Kathakali

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language... This is the position of the hand. Show me a little segment

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of how you would use the alphabet to tell the story.

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And so with the eye movements, what different types of eye

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Rolling the eyes, you can see he is getting excited.

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I think it is me being an amateur but when I tried to do it,

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my vision blurs, but your vision does not blur.

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I am focusing up here, that is why I am cross-eyed!

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Once you combine the facial expressions with hand gestures,

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then you have a classic Kathakali sentence, but something tells me,

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I have got some way to go before I could ever be understood.

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Team those moves with some fancy footwork and you have a performance,

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Imagine with all the make-up on, the full regalia, probably about 100

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people looking at you and that Indian heat to challenge you,

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about 47 degrees, I think, but the scrutiny of every single

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step and tiny movement, I will crack under pressure.

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Traditionally, a classic Kathakali performance,

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will run for many hours, sometimes a whole night,

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but some modern audiences have shorter attention spans

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You know, the original one goes throughout the night.

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Everything is detailed, everything is intricate,

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and nowadays, we are adapting it for a one and a half

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So in a way, we lose our originality, what has been done

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throughout the night, that is not being shown now.

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But whether the performance is a marathon length all night

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or something more contained, the highlight of the show is always

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the appearance onstage of Pacca, wearing his traditional

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And using steps originally choreographed hundreds of years ago

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to entertain and captivate audiences of today.

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To end this week, Kerala is the coconut capital of India,

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because more are harvested here than any other state.

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I have come to find out what it takes to become

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In Kerala there are coconut trees almost everywhere.

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The state produces 6 billion coconuts annually,

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that is nearly one for every man, woman and child in the entire world.

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And incredibly, most of them are still picked by hand.

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This is one of Kerala's premier coconut pickers.

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It takes him just seconds to shimmy all the way up the slender trunk.

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And you did it like it was a Sunday stroll.

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You are pretty much half my age added on, I should be able to do

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I do not know whether that will be the case.

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How many coconuts does he collect a day?

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Some home stays in Kerala are now teaching tourists the art of coconut

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tree climbing so let us see if I am up to the challenge.

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I want to hoist myself up but my arms, they just

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The numbers of climbers have fallen dramatically as the younger

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generation have gradually moved away from manual jobs.

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I think it is a bit of a marathon, you have to think of it

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as a marathon, you have 20 good metres to climb and if you run out

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of strength halfway, it is not going to be pretty.

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My feet, I think it is because I have got soft everything,

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The coconut industry is worth billions of dollars,

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so the decline of manual climbers has called

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The state government has tried everything from competitions

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to prize-money to find a machine that can entice people back

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This one invented by a local farmer has proved relatively

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You have got a lot less stress on your toes and your hands

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themselves, but getting this motion right is making me

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It does make it a little bit easier, I've got to say.

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The old method versus this new one - what do you think?

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Over here we have the traditional tree

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climbers, who will be using the ropes round

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Over on this side, we have the mechanically assisted.

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We're going to find out who is the fastest, so...

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They are pretty much neck and neck at the moment.

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Actually the mechanically assisted are going a little bit faster...

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There we go, and they are switching, and the turnover is a little...

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Wow, the traditional climbers are doing very well indeed.

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The mechanical one has a little bit of a problem coming down.

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How does victory taste, boys?

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Sadly, that's all the time we have for this week,

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but join us next week if you can, when...

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Carmen is in northern Peru at a nature reserve where she will meet

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these guys, the endangered spectacled bears. It's incredible to

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be so close to a bear. There's no gate, there's no fence separating

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us. She's just there a few metres away. That's all coming up next

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week. But don't forget, you can join us on all of our travels wherever we

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are in the world by following our social media feeds. All the details

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should be on your screens now. But for me, and the rest of the travel

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show team here in Kera will, a, it's goodbye!

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Before I get to the UK forecast, news of that dangerous situation

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in the United States, in Florida, as Hurricane Hermine barrels

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through the north of the state, Thursday night and into Friday

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This shows you the bright colours on the rainfall forecast,

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