300 Days Alone on an Island - A Robinson Crusoe Adventure in the Pacific Ocean
300 Days Alone on an Island - A Robinson Crusoe Adventure in the Pacific Ocean
In 2008, Swiss adventurer Xavier Rosset spent ten months in solitude on an uninhabited Tonganese island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. "300 Days Alone" follows his extraordinary adventure living on Tofua with nothing but the clothes off his back, a Swiss knife and machete, a medical kit, a satellite phone, and solar panels to charge his camera equipment.
Tofua is a small volcanic island that has been uninhabited since the 60s due to constant eruptions. This protected national park and wildlife sanctuary served as Xavier's home for 300 days battling the harsh living conditions, the elements and the most challenging - his mental state - to survive.
Once he arrives and the boat sails away, he hits the ground running. We see him make a shelter with his own hands, which is put to the test when it rains and it isn't waterproof. He did not use any of the existing buildings, which were very few and in bad condition. He struggles to make another roof by braiding the coconut husks and leaves together to make it stronger and cheers when it survives.
We watch him learn how to fish and figure out how to preserve the fish by drying them out without any modern appliances so that they stay fresh and safe from ants and other pests. He symbolically puts his watch away for safekeeping. It represents his every day, pre-island life and it’s irrelevant on the island where there is a seemingly infinite amount of time.
Once his immediate physical needs (stable food supply and shelter) are met, Xavier begins exploring the island to discover what else it offers. He visits the nearby active volcano and stares into its caldera in absolute joy. He walks around the coast, staring at the Ocean, and treks for hours looking for the cave where Captain Bligh's and his crew lived when they were stranded on Tofua in 1789 during the infamous mutiny on the HMS Bounty.
What soon becomes clear to both him and us viewers is that Xavier adjusts very well to the physical hardships and discomfort of being stranded - despite suffering some harmful infections due to cuts on his hand from all the woodwork. But the tedium of doing nothing, feelings of having no purpose and the solitude prey on his mind. He struggles with being alone, having no one to talk to or bounce off ideas with.
He is saved from despair by the desperate visit from a resident on a neighboring island who needed help to save his friend's finger. Norwegian tourists also drop by to visit the island and the volcano. As a thank you gift for the reattached finger, Xavier is given a dog as a companion. He finds a baby pig whom he cares for, and things immediately pick up for his mental health.
Despite the struggles, it is a joyous movie to watch. At the end of his adventure, Xavier reflects on how living on an isolated island has made him appreciate everything life offers.
Directed by: Olivier Vittel
In 2008, Swiss adventurer Xavier Rosset spent ten months in solitude on an uninhabited Tonganese island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. "300 Days Alone" follows his extraordinary adventure living on Tofua with nothing but the clothes off his back, a Swiss knife and machete, a medical kit, a satellite phone, and solar panels to charge his camera equipment.
Tofua is a small volcanic island that has been uninhabited since the 60s due to constant eruptions. This protected national park and wildlife sanctuary served as Xavier's home for 300 days battling the harsh living conditions, the elements and the most challenging - his mental state - to survive.
Once he arrives and the boat sails away, he hits the ground running. We see him make a shelter with his own hands, which is put to the test when it rains and it isn't waterproof. He did not use any of the existing buildings, which were very few and in bad condition. He struggles to make another roof by braiding the coconut husks and leaves together to make it stronger and cheers when it survives.
We watch him learn how to fish and figure out how to preserve the fish by drying them out without any modern appliances so that they stay fresh and safe from ants and other pests. He symbolically puts his watch away for safekeeping. It represents his every day, pre-island life and it’s irrelevant on the island where there is a seemingly infinite amount of time.
Once his immediate physical needs (stable food supply and shelter) are met, Xavier begins exploring the island to discover what else it offers. He visits the nearby active volcano and stares into its caldera in absolute joy. He walks around the coast, staring at the Ocean, and treks for hours looking for the cave where Captain Bligh's and his crew lived when they were stranded on Tofua in 1789 during the infamous mutiny on the HMS Bounty.
What soon becomes clear to both him and us viewers is that Xavier adjusts very well to the physical hardships and discomfort of being stranded - despite suffering some harmful infections due to cuts on his hand from all the woodwork. But the tedium of doing nothing, feelings of having no purpose and the solitude prey on his mind. He struggles with being alone, having no one to talk to or bounce off ideas with.
He is saved from despair by the desperate visit from a resident on a neighboring island who needed help to save his friend's finger. Norwegian tourists also drop by to visit the island and the volcano. As a thank you gift for the reattached finger, Xavier is given a dog as a companion. He finds a baby pig whom he cares for, and things immediately pick up for his mental health.
Despite the struggles, it is a joyous movie to watch. At the end of his adventure, Xavier reflects on how living on an isolated island has made him appreciate everything life offers.
Directed by: Olivier Vittel
Category
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TVTranscript
00:00It was only upon my arrival at the gymnasium that I realized that I was going to have to
00:29survive.
00:30It was only upon my arrival at the Geneva airport that I realized it was over.
00:35Over there, it was difficult.
00:36Physically, but mostly psychologically.
00:37And if I had to do it again, well, I don't think I would.
00:44In September 2008, I left Switzerland and its comfort to spend 10 months alone in the
01:00archipelago of Tonga, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
01:04To live, I brought with me a machete and my Swiss knife.
01:08I also had a medical kit, satellite phone, solar panel and battery to supply energy for
01:14my cameras.
01:15It's a dream I wanted to realize.
01:17I've been working for 14 months for it and now I'm here.
01:23But I think the most important thing is to stay zen and to keep calm because whatever
01:27happens, I'll be alone.
01:39The archipelago of Tonga is lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
01:43The island of Tofua is about 250 km away from the capital and its last inhabitants
01:49left more or less 20 years ago.
01:51Tofua is a caldera, a former volcano which exploded.
01:56In the middle, there is a lake of sulfuric water and north of the island you can see
02:00the smoke from the still active volcano.
02:20It's only 24 hours I'm here, I'm missing food, I'm missing drink, water, I'm missing everything.
02:28It's horrible.
02:29No, it's not horrible but it teaches me that you cannot do it at the first time.
02:35You have to go step by step and I have to learn and it takes much more time than what
02:41I expected.
02:42The next day, I installed my solar panel to charge my batteries and I went back fishing.
02:49At sundown, I still hadn't caught anything but just as I was about to give up, I caught
02:55my first fish.
02:56To top that, it was big enough to feed me over the next two days.
03:02I feel good, I feel much better than this morning because I could get a fish, I could
03:07eat it and I still have a little bit for tomorrow.
03:10Then, I'm happy.
03:13I will just finish this fire again, 5 minutes, 10 minutes and after I go to sleep because
03:19I don't want to waste some wood.
03:23There is many but it is not dry, all the wood is wet.
03:38Hello, hello.
03:41It's full of ants.
03:44Probably, I cannot even eat it anymore.
03:46Oh yeah, right, I was sure.
03:53They got it all.
03:54There weren't any friends on the island.
03:56I had to find a way to preserve my fishing.
03:59At home in the Alps, the elders used to use two ways to preserve their meat, salting and
04:05smoking.
04:06Alright, the target is to make something to smoke the fish because I hope to have many
04:11fishes, no, many many fish and I need to smoke them.
04:17Building the smokehouse didn't take too much time.
04:27It worked perfectly.
04:29My grandfather would have been proud of me.
04:36For the first two days, I slept as I could, using the curved trunk of a coconut tree.
04:41But I wasn't going to spend 10 months like that.
04:43I had to build the shelter for myself.
04:46I started with the roof.
04:49Lattice work, coconut lashes, humor dry, the usual luck or the unusual one.
04:57For the roofing, I used coconut branches that I plaited through the paneling, hoping this
05:02wouldn't let the water through.
05:04And four days later, my shelter was built and I was able to move on to something else.
05:11I still had to accomplish one important ritual in order to live up nature's rhythm.
05:22I had to stop time.
05:25The thing is, I should find a nice place for the watch, not too far from the ocean, so
05:31even if it's underground, it can get a good vibe from the sea.
05:35Yes!
05:36It's beautiful.
05:41So from now on, I will be here for 9 months and 20 days approximately by myself, where
05:56I have stopped the time.
05:59At the beginning, fishing took up most of my time.
06:02I wasn't catching fish every day and I was spending long hours waiting for them to bite.
06:07I imagined a system to free myself from this chore.
06:10The principle was simple.
06:12A very heavy branch as a fishing rod, one heavy stone as a counterweight, the fishing
06:17line and the bait, and that did the trick.
06:20Alright, that's finished, I'm exhausted.
06:22It looks very easy, I know, to do it, but I don't eat so much now because I don't have
06:28the choice and I drink, that's ok, but every time I have to do a physical effort, I feel
06:35tired very easily.
06:38Now I will have a rest.
06:42I'm not in a hurry neither, anyway.
06:45When you are hungry, you are less picky.
06:47I found some sea snails.
06:49Well, only a few of them, not enough for a feast.
06:56The lack of food, the sudden solitude, no points of reference, I don't know what waited
07:03for me the most, but after 8 days, I cried.
07:07My family is missing me and everything I know is missing me, actually.
07:15Here it's nice, but I cannot discover, I have no food, I have water, yes, but it's so hard,
07:26it's very hard.
07:29And in my house I have everything, I say, why are you doing this, you know?
07:39You could stay home, cool, with your friends, girlfriend, family.
07:54It just hit me without warning.
07:56I was down in the dumps, 22 000 km away from home, far from my friends, my family, my fridge,
08:04and worst of all, this was my ID.
08:07Fortunately I had the flag of the motivation, on which my friends had written me messages.
08:12Reading them gave me the courage to go on.
08:15And to top this, it was that day I saw whales for the first time.
08:18And when you see this, I can tell you, you forget all your problems.
08:26I miss many things here, and there are many things I have here that I cannot have at home.
08:34But in the morning it's very hard to put this in mind, but in the evening, yeah,
08:40I feel this again and I feel very happy, I feel quiet.
08:45I think what I have to learn is to go slowly now.
08:48I have to learn to take the time to do everything.
08:52Here, still, everything I do, I want to do it fast, to make it finish as quick as possible.
08:58And it's not the way.
09:04I had to put this, this plastic, which was the protection of my solar panel,
09:08because I realized that my roof is not waterproof at all.
09:12And I really need a waterproof roof for all the material I have, that's why I put this.
09:19And I will start today to work with the coconut sleeve to do a waterproof roof.
09:28The first step was to reach the top of the coconut tree.
09:31But if climbing up a tree seems to be rather easy,
09:34reaching the palms of that tree with such a smooth trunk is a different kettle of fish.
09:40Having accomplished this exploit, I stripped the tree of its palms.
09:45I had chosen them because of their length, which pretty much matched the one of my roof.
09:50Then comes the weaving.
09:52The method is simple.
09:54Once above, once under.
09:56Once above, once under.
09:58On lève, on laisse en bas.
10:00On lève, on laisse en bas.
10:01On lève.
10:03On descend, on ramène.
10:05In the Tonga islands, the roof of the shelters are covered by layering latticework,
10:10which makes them waterproof.
10:12Obviously, quite a few of them are needed anyway.
10:16Another major problem I had was the mosquitoes.
10:19There were thousands of them in that forest.
10:22So the best way to keep them away from my camp was to clean around the shelter
10:26and to open up the space, so the wind from the ocean could create a natural protection.
10:31But it didn't work.
10:33Since this morning, I heard a volcano.
10:39And I didn't know what happened and I was a bit worried because we never know.
10:44And that's why I came to the top.
10:49I have to find a way.
10:51I came to the top to have a look at the volcano.
10:56The way up to the volcano isn't really a piece of cake,
10:59especially when it comes to walking through the tangled earth.
11:02But once you reach the side of the crater, the sight makes you forget the effort.
11:17It's beautiful!
11:20You really feel humble in this kind of moment.
11:24You really feel humble in this kind of moment.
11:31It made me cry.
11:34It's true that sometimes I feel lonely.
11:37The only thing that didn't change here is me, at the beginning.
11:44But I'm here for one month and it's true that I miss pretty much everything.
11:49I'm in the middle of nature but I'm in the middle of nowhere.
11:53I'm alone. I'm really alone.
11:56And that's not easy.
12:04After my first visit to the volcano,
12:06I decided that every day I would extend the known perimeter to an extra few hundred meters.
12:11I'm always looking a little bit around.
12:13There is always things to discover, to find.
12:18Always, always.
12:25Today it was a mango tree. Enormous.
12:28Bending because of too many fruits.
12:37To find those fruits almost ripe felt like getting a Christmas present.
12:43In order to reinforce my roofing, I needed some rope.
12:46And on Tofua the rope tree existed.
12:49I only had to find it.
12:51Oh no, that's not solid at all.
12:53That's not it.
12:57This is completely rotten.
12:59And after several attempts, I finally found what I was looking for.
13:04I only had to cut some long straps out of the bark and let them dry under the sun.
13:10I finished one side of the roof today.
13:13We still have to see if it's waterproof, of course.
13:16But at least I did it with nothing, with my hand.
13:20And the coconuts live.
13:22And I am proud of this.
13:26And you know, the life here, it's very simple.
13:29But it's not as easy as I thought it would be.
13:33It's not as easy as I thought it would be.
13:37You know, the life here, it's very simple.
13:39But it's not as easy as that.
13:44Everything you have to do yourself.
13:49I learned a lot about this.
13:51It gives me a new perception of the world.
13:56Since fishing didn't bring me food every day, I added a new dish to my diet.
14:01Small coconut sprout cooked over charcoal, dressed with ashes and brine.
14:10The coconut was easy to cut open.
14:13The inside looked like a fruit compote.
14:16It is hard to describe the taste.
14:19Soft, a bit sweet, but with no taste of cocoa.
14:23And warm.
14:25It was excellent.
14:28After more than one month on the island,
14:31I was able to survive and get organized the essentials.
14:36There was only one problem left.
14:39The lack of human contact.
14:41What I realize now,
14:44is that I start feeling lonely.
14:47Because I have nobody to talk to.
14:50I have nobody to change opinions.
14:53And then I talk to myself.
14:55But I always agree with me.
14:57Then it's not fun.
15:01Nobody can give me more information about what I know already.
15:09I am just alone.
15:11Whatever I do, I am alone.
15:13I cannot say, hey yeah, woohoo.
15:19I think in my mind I have enough.
15:22But I start to be bored now.
15:24Lonely and bored.
15:38I found a very nice place there.
15:41But the access is very hard to go from the beach
15:44because of all the stones.
15:46Then maybe I can find the easiest way
15:49to go from inside.
15:51Yes!
15:54Woohoo!
16:18Sitting on that beach,
16:20I contemplated the vastness of the ocean,
16:22savoring my victory.
16:24But taking a look around me,
16:26I found myself faced with the worst of our civilization.
16:34So much trash.
16:36Thrown into the ocean,
16:38thousands of kilometers from here,
16:40and carried away by the water streams
16:42to end up along the shore.
16:46I even found a bit of bamboo.
16:48What could I use it for?
16:53I decided to bring it back to the camp
16:55until I found a use for it.
16:57But I already had my idea.
17:15And now, in theory,
17:17I have a digeridoo.
17:23If you forget the mosquitoes,
17:25life on Tofua might seem to be quite mellow.
17:28But every day, when going fishing,
17:30I took the risk of wounding myself
17:32walking on the rocks.
17:34I regularly scrapped myself
17:36during my explorations in the forest.
17:38I ended up having numerous infections
17:40beneath the skin that didn't heal anymore.
17:43I had to use my satellite phone
17:45to call Dr. Richon in Switzerland.
17:47He did the following.
17:50I described him how things looked.
17:52He told me what to use from the medical kit
17:54that he helped me to put together in Switzerland.
17:57Now I go for it.
17:59I really don't want to do it
18:01because it hurts already so much.
18:03Maybe after a few days,
18:05I'll be able to do it again.
18:07I don't know.
18:09I don't want to do it.
18:11I don't want to do it.
18:13I don't want to do it.
18:15I don't want to do it.
18:17I don't want to do it.
18:19I don't want to do it.
18:21I don't want to do it.
18:23I don't want to do it.
18:25I don't want to do it.
18:27I don't want to do it.
18:29I don't want to do it.
18:31I don't want to do it.
18:33I don't want to do it.
18:35I don't want to do it.
18:37I don't want to do it.
18:39I don't want to do it.
18:41I don't want to do it.
18:43I don't want to do it.
18:45I don't want to do it.
18:47I don't want to do it.
18:49I don't want to do it.
18:51I don't want to do it.
18:53I don't want to do it.
18:55I don't want to do it.
18:57I don't want to do it.
18:59I don't want to do it.
19:01I don't want to do it.
19:03I don't want to do it.
19:05I don't want to do it.
19:07I don't want to do it.
19:09I don't want to do it.
19:11I don't want to do it.
19:13Because I am alone.
19:17I didn't even try to do the fire yet
19:19with the wood, you know.
19:21Because...
19:29Because I am fed up.
19:31I don't have any...
19:33I don't know.
19:35Why should I do this?
19:37I am alone.
19:39Who I should share this with?
19:41Nobody.
19:43Nobody.
19:47I come because
19:49I need some help
19:51for my friend in my village.
19:53He was cutting his fingers
19:55like this.
19:59Break the kava
20:01and break his fingers too.
20:03Just as if he had heard me,
20:05Luffy appeared in my life.
20:07A few days per year,
20:09I come to Tofua to cultivate kava,
20:11a plant whose root is used
20:13to produce a bitter drink.
20:15Luffy was one of them.
20:17He knew more or less where my camp was.
20:19He came to me, hoping that I could
20:21save his friend's finger.
20:23But their camp was more than
20:256 hours walk away.
20:27Now I am on the way back
20:29to the village
20:31of my friend Luffy.
20:33Because one of his friends
20:35had a big cut on the fingers.
20:37A little bit of the finger went out
20:39and maybe
20:41I can do something.
20:45I will try to do my best
20:47but if the infection
20:49starts already
20:51it will be too late.
20:53The best way to see is to go
20:55and have a look.
20:57Luffy preferred to follow me
20:59so he could adapt his speed to mine
21:01rather than looking over his shoulder
21:03to avoid losing me.
21:05The middle is very sweet.
21:17Once we reached the camp
21:19I was quickly able to measure
21:21the gravity of the case.
21:25I could administer first aid
21:27but I knew that he would have to get
21:29to a medical center as soon as
21:31the boat would be able to pick him up.
21:33In the meantime I did my best
21:35with the medical kit and my little knowledge.
21:39I think I did my best with your friend.
21:41Until tomorrow I can't do
21:43but after it's better.
21:45He goes to hospital.
21:49I am a doctor in Tofua but
21:51I did my best.
21:57Jimmy's finger is going
21:59much better now.
22:01For me it's time
22:03to go back
22:05to Hokula.
22:07To my
22:09house in Hokula.
22:11It's true that
22:13it makes me strange to leave these people.
22:15They are very nice people
22:17and to go back
22:19again alone
22:21in my place
22:23I don't know.
22:25But
22:27now it's time to go and I am on the way.
22:29Very warm day
22:31and
22:33you don't always
22:35find solitude
22:37even when you look for it.
22:39There is a boat arriving, a sailing boat.
22:41It looks like it comes near Hokula.
22:43For me it could be an extraordinary
22:45visit and I really look forward
22:47to see them.
22:49The same boat brought along
22:51a group of Norwegians who were
22:53completing two months of sailing in the archipelago.
22:55For one time it's not me
22:57on the camera.
22:59No, it's visitors.
23:01What do you think about
23:03the house?
23:05You saw it, yeah?
23:07Not a lot of
23:09luxury
23:11but it will do I guess for you
23:13for the next
23:15half a year or a year.
23:17You have a bed
23:19and you have somewhere to hide from the rain
23:21if you are finishing the roof.
23:23You need to finish your new roof first.
23:26Before finishing my roof
23:28I took them to the volcano.
23:30They had the day
23:32and I had all
23:34the time in the world.
23:36It wasn't the first time I was here
23:38but until now I stayed on the crest.
23:40With them I went
23:42even closer to the crater.
23:56I like this.
23:59In a remote island
24:01in the middle of nowhere.
24:03One inhabitant.
24:07That's kind of cool.
24:09Do you like the machete?
24:11Do you like the work with the machete?
24:17I could guide these people,
24:19very nice people,
24:21to the top of the island
24:23take them down to the volcano
24:25and spend the day with them.
24:27They have to leave today unfortunately
24:29but we spent a nice day together
24:31and now I get a little bit of rice
24:33I'll get onion,
24:35I get one garlic, I get two beers
24:37and I get also
24:39a Coca-Cola.
24:41I'm really happy that I met them.
24:49It was cool because today I was not lonely anymore
24:51I could talk to people,
24:53I could exchange opinions,
24:59I was not alone anymore.
25:01Now it's really true
25:03that I feel very happy
25:05because they were here but in the other way
25:07I feel also a bit sad because they're leaving.
25:09But what I have to keep in my mind
25:11is that they were here
25:13with me and they changed my day.
25:15Thank you Norwegian people.
25:17Thank you very much.
25:31My visitors were right.
25:33In December the rain season begins
25:35and I had to make sure my roof was waterproof.
25:37Once the job done
25:39and the last branches fixed
25:41I decided to treat myself
25:43to another small luxury.
25:45The view and the ocean.
25:51But all the work with the machete
25:53ended up blunting the blade.
25:55Machete doesn't cut anymore
25:57at all.
25:59And to sharpen it, there was nothing better
26:01than the volcanic stone polished by the sea.
26:03Once wet, it worked
26:05perfectly.
26:11After a few months on the island
26:13I had enough knowledge
26:15so that something like a routine
26:17had settled in.
26:19I was good at providing food for myself
26:21and the perimeter around my camp
26:23had increased considerably.
26:25As well as the loneliness.
26:27On Christmas day
26:29I decided to use my satellite phone
26:31to leave a message to my parents.
26:33It is the first Christmas I spend without you.
26:35It feels a bit bizarre
26:37but that's the way it is.
26:39I just wanted to wish you
26:41a Merry Christmas and daddy
26:43I hope your hips go better
26:45that everything goes fine
26:47I just wanted to let you know
26:49that everything goes well here
26:51don't worry for me
26:53and I wish you a Merry Christmas.
26:55To spend Christmas
26:57and New Year's Eve alone on an island
26:59is really depressing.
27:01I was thinking about my friends,
27:03my family, the foie gras,
27:05champagne and sparkles
27:07all those things usually I don't really like.
27:09I was here for another 6 months of solitude.
27:11Well, not exactly
27:13because Gael, my best friend
27:15promised to come over here
27:17and spend the 2 last weeks with me.
27:19But meanwhile, I was alone.
27:21That's what I thought
27:23because the arrival of a surprising company
27:25lifted my spirit.
27:27His name is Sugar
27:29and he is 9 months old.
27:31It's the father of Luffy
27:33who gave it to me
27:35because he thought that I was too much lonely
27:37here in Hokula.
27:39Luffy, the farmer who came to ask me for help
27:41came back one morning
27:43with a bag as a gift.
27:45He wanted to thank me for having saved his friend's finger.
27:51My motivation was back on track.
27:53A little garden would add diversity to my diet.
27:55So I became a farmer
27:57always using what I could find around.
28:07It could be strange, I chose the front of the school
28:09to make my plantation
28:11but I'm very well thinking
28:13because
28:15first of all,
28:17here is the only place
28:19where there is no big tree.
28:21Another thing also is that
28:23it's 15-20 minutes walk from my camp
28:25then I can come every day
28:27because of the wild pig.
28:29And if I don't come every day
28:31they will eat
28:33all the things that I put here.
28:35Also, one more reason is that
28:37the water tanker is here.
28:39I will use it
28:41to give water to my plantation.
28:43I need to work more useful
28:45than beautiful.
28:47I had also kept
28:49the watermelon seeds that Luffy gave me
28:51along with the dog.
28:55The ground seemed fertile
28:57and the temperature ideal.
28:59So while waiting for things to grow
29:01I decided to continue
29:03exploring the island.
29:09Looking for new fruits or vegetables
29:11beaches, caves
29:13or simply new landscapes
29:15I walked along the coast to the west
29:17along the rocky cliffs
29:19blocking the access to the sea.
29:21Here I am on the west side of the island
29:23the target was to
29:25discover a little bit this part of the island
29:27which is very different
29:29than the part
29:31where I have my house.
29:33Here there is no big trees
29:35there is low vegetation
29:37and very dry vegetation
29:41and also one of the goal
29:43is to find the Captain Cook cave
29:45because it's near the ocean
29:47but it's so big here
29:49that to find it
29:51is not impossible
29:53but very hard.
30:08Ok
30:10now it's time to go home to cook dinner
30:12and to be able to eat
30:14I need a fish.
30:16And that evening
30:18I got a super sized surprise
30:20I caught
30:22this.
30:24I'm a bit scared to see this little beast
30:26I saw another one
30:28approximately one month ago
30:30quite the same size
30:32I think it's quite big you see.
30:34Apart from the animal
30:36being impressive
30:38suddenly I had a large amount of food
30:40I tried my Umu
30:42it's a hole in the ground in which you prepare a fire
30:44you put the pieces of fish over hot embers
30:46and covering it up completely
30:48just like an oven
30:50the heat that comes from it
30:52is supposed to cook everything slowly
30:54over hours.
31:00The shark spent the whole night being cooked
31:02I pray that no insect will invite itself
31:04to a meal at my expense.
31:08Upon removal of the leaves and earth
31:10that covered it up
31:12I was relieved.
31:14It's hot, it's still hot.
31:22The slow cooking was going to preserve the fish
31:24for 2 to 3 days
31:26but I was frustrated from only eating fish
31:28these past months
31:30so I decided to go hunting for wild pig.
31:34To find a pig path
31:38there are many paths
31:40for the pigs around here
31:42and the pigs use this path
31:44and for us
31:46it's not possible to follow this path
31:48because they are 60cm high
31:50no more.
31:52But if I find one
31:54I want to make a hole on it
31:56like 80cm long
31:5840cm large
32:00and maybe 1m, 20cm deep
32:02and I want to hide
32:04and put some coconuts
32:06on it
32:08and maybe I can get a pig.
32:10Following the path
32:12I wanted to find the right place
32:14where the ground was soft and close to water
32:16and where pigs would pass by for sure.
32:18Water...
32:20I think I found a good pig path.
32:24And now I have to
32:26find a good place
32:28and make a hole.
32:32Let's go.
32:56While waiting
32:58my little garden had started growing.
33:00The first sprouts were visible.
33:02It was a great success
33:04and the final result looked quite promising.
33:06Great, here are the watermelons
33:12and here there is the little onions.
33:14Only one week
33:16after my gardening efforts
33:18everything was above ground.
33:20Ok, I didn't have a great selection
33:22but I could see that my work
33:24was bearing its fruits.
33:26The trap was ready, the garden growing
33:28it was the perfect time to pay a visit
33:30to the volcano.
33:36I woke up this morning
33:38and I had nothing to do
33:40then I said, why not to go
33:42to see the volcano
33:44and on the way
33:46from the top I could hear
33:48very big noise from the volcano
33:50already.
33:52When you are down here
33:54it really looks
33:56like a moon
33:58place.
34:00Now I go to see the volcano.
34:26Big noise from the volcano
34:56Big noise from the volcano
35:00A feeling of deep humility characterized
35:02each visit to the volcano.
35:04I was in contact with the center of the earth.
35:06Water, air
35:08earth and fire
35:10all the elements were gathered.
35:14Thousands of years of tropical rain
35:16had forged this magnificent landscape.
35:20As I was walking through the canyons
35:22I was thrown deep
35:24into the incredible story of the island formation.
35:34Scratches were part of my daily number
35:36of little inconveniences
35:38to which I pay little attention.
35:40But when one of them started to swell
35:42and I couldn't even bend my finger
35:44I started getting concerned.
35:50It was really painful.
35:54Over the phone
35:56my doctor explained the move I had to carry out
35:58to try to stop the infection.
36:00In 24 hours
36:02if it doesn't look like it's better
36:04I go to the hospital.
36:06It will take me
36:08between 5 and 10 days
36:10until I can reach the first hospital
36:12they can do something for me.
36:16I don't have to wait too long.
36:18If the infection
36:20doesn't stay really
36:22in the hand
36:24it can go up to the arm
36:26and goes into the blood
36:28and it can do
36:30a general infection.
36:32And if I have a general infection
36:34it's my life which is in danger.
36:38And I don't want to die.
36:40I'm not scared to die
36:42but if I can do something
36:44against it, I will.
36:46On Tchefoua
36:48it rains nearly every day.
36:50Since some time now
36:52my roof had proven itself to be waterproof.
36:54So, well protected
36:56I waited for the rain to stop
36:58and was giving my hand a rest.
37:00There is nothing really special to do.
37:02This is the kind of day you really have to learn
37:04to do nothing.
37:08Then I do nothing.
37:10The next morning
37:12when I arrived at the trap
37:14it was a nice surprise to see
37:16it wasn't covered anymore.
37:18It was a baby pig.
37:20A female.
37:22Surely its mother passed next to it
37:24but the little one fell inside.
37:38You know what?
37:40I made such a big hole just for you.
37:42Small pig like you.
38:04I didn't really know what I was going to do with it
38:06but I certainly
38:08wasn't going to leave it to die here
38:10alone.
38:12A few days later
38:14when my finger was better
38:16I decided to continue looking
38:18for Captain Cook's cave.
38:20When the Tongan brought me to the island
38:22they had shown me where it was.
38:28This time luck was on my side.
38:32I could feel certain vibrations
38:34and I had the feeling
38:36I had finally found it.
38:40In my garden
38:42the plants were making me happier
38:44and happier.
38:46Here is one
38:48and here
38:50another one very small
38:52who just started.
38:54I'm really happy
38:56and I made it with my little hands
38:58and that's the result.
39:04Normally when I go walking
39:06the pigs follow me
39:08but today
39:10I'm doing quite a big walk
39:12and the pigs follow me
39:14but they follow me
39:16just for one kilometer
39:18something like this
39:20and after it goes in the bush
39:22and start to hide
39:24and for me it takes me
39:26maybe two hours to
39:28take the pigs back
39:30and after I have to carry it
39:32and the pig doesn't like
39:34to be carried
39:36then he shouts
39:40and
39:42to carry a pig
39:44to carry a pig
39:46for two hours, three hours
39:48like this shouting is not possible
39:50and it's very noisy
39:52a pig
39:54and that's why
39:56next time I will build
39:58a little cage in front of my house
40:00to put the pigs
40:02because you learn
40:04you learn how to be patient
40:06this for
40:08two hours now
40:16all right
40:34each day
40:36the island was full of surprises
40:38from waving my machete around
40:40I ended up cutting some strange vine
40:42yeah
40:44it's coming
40:46yeah for sure
40:48it takes a little bit more time
40:50than to drink water in our country
40:52but at least we have water
40:54and here we have time
40:56it's very good
40:58it's a little bit sweet
41:00when I go in the forest
41:02when I go in the forest
41:04it's really important to have this
41:06because there is not many coconuts around
41:08and I need to drink
41:12if you say I'm in Tofua
41:14it's really the first time I see this
41:16big wave crashing
41:18it's very big wave
41:20there is the place I go for fishing
41:22and maybe today
41:24the waves are like 10 meters higher
41:26it looks like
41:28the beginning of a storm
41:30or I don't know
41:32big wave
41:36it's really amazing
41:46seeing the storm coming in
41:48I wondered if my hut was going to survive
41:50the water proved to be
41:52very good
41:54I wondered if my hut was going to survive
41:56the waterproof ability is one thing
41:58but there were other issues to consider
42:00like the roof flying away
42:02or a coconut tree falling on it
42:04I had to get my solar panel out of there
42:06the next morning
42:08coming back to the same spot
42:10there was nothing left
42:12the ocean had taken everything away
42:14in the evening
42:16the wind had become even stronger
42:18and by nightfall
42:20my ordeal really began
42:22it was really scary
42:24but the worst was when the wind turned
42:26the rain hit me straight in the face
42:28there were no place to hide anymore
42:30I was soaked
42:32Hi everybody
42:36now it's
42:38morning, it's starting to come again
42:40which is very good
42:42because most of the night
42:44I didn't sleep
42:46because
42:48I could not see around me
42:50and I didn't know what happened
42:52but I could hear
42:54many noise, thunderstorm
42:56thunder, lightning
42:58and everything
43:02I slept a little bit
43:04but every time I was falling asleep
43:06something woke me up again
43:12and yeah
43:14very short night
43:16now I'm happy the day is coming again
43:18because I start to be able
43:20to see again
43:22what happened, it's important
43:28new day
43:30new day
43:32I'm happy because my shelter is not out
43:34it's not destroyed
43:40this is the thing I used to clean
43:42in front of my house
43:44and I decided to do
43:46two paths in front of my house
43:48I know it's not very useful
43:50to do this path because every day
43:52I have to do it again
43:54because the leaves from the trees
43:56are falling down a lot
43:58and I need to do it again
44:00then I have something else to do
44:02because sometimes
44:04the time here
44:06sometimes is very long
44:08then I don't know what to do
44:10I also had to put my solar system back together
44:13apparently
44:15there is no mistake
44:17it is fully charging
44:19I was not sure that the adaptator
44:21was working because of all the humidity
44:23with the storm
44:25maybe I thought it was broken
44:27but it still works
44:29and it looks like it works good
44:33but there were casualties from the storm anyway
44:35at first sight
44:37everything looked ok
44:39the sugarcane had grown
44:41the onions and the taro
44:43the watermelons however
44:45didn't make it
44:47they were rotten
44:49it was terrible
44:51everything was destroyed
44:53I throw my affliction
44:55in the new artisanal project
45:11I'm quite happy
45:13because now I have a bench
45:15sometimes it's hard here
45:17to get the motivation
45:19but today
45:21I woke up and I said
45:23yeah cool
45:25I'm going to do the bench
45:27and now in the evening
45:29I have a bench
45:31I have my bench
45:33I'm going to do it
45:35I'm going to do it
45:37I'm going to do it
45:39I have my bench
45:41I'm happy
45:47I was close to the end
45:49of my adventure
45:51soon Gael would arrive to help me
45:53I just back to a social life
45:55and get ready to go back home
45:57so I started scanning the horizon
45:59in this world
46:01nothing can be taken for granted
46:03Peggy had a bad surprise
46:05in store for me
46:07as usual
46:09she got out of her pen
46:11but this time she disappeared
46:13today I went in the island
46:15maybe
46:17500 meters this way
46:19500 meters the other way
46:21tried to find her
46:23but
46:25the island is so big
46:27you can look for how long you want
46:29I mean
46:33it was not possible to find her
46:35at least I tried
46:37when I catch her
46:39in the hole I did
46:41she was something like
46:433 weeks old maximum
46:45she was very small
46:47I had to feed her the best I could
46:49and after one week she started to eat
46:51by herself
46:53that was a great victory for me
46:55I feel like a parent
46:57who need to let the kids go out
46:59and if it was her decision
47:01to go back into the nature
47:03and to split with me
47:05and to start doing her life again
47:07in the wild
47:09it's her decision
47:11and I'm happy with it
47:13and now
47:15she's gone
47:17and I have no trouble
47:19around my shelter
47:21I'm missing a little bit this
47:23but I mean you know
47:25it's part of the game
47:27I just hope everything is ok
47:29and if one day before I leave
47:31she want to come back
47:33to say hello
47:35I'll be very happy
47:57Gaël's arrival meant the end of my solitary life
47:59and that truly revived my energy
48:01I wanted to show him everything
48:03and when I think it back
48:05I tell myself
48:07it was something incredible
48:09I didn't know how I was going to find him
48:11I've known him for so long
48:13even deep inside
48:15knowing him well
48:17you ask yourself
48:19is it always the same?
48:21it was really the opposite
48:23all the motive that comes back
48:25and that was cool
48:27it was cool
48:29It's very nice
48:31because since Gaël arrived
48:33I can start to eat again
48:35like the food I used to eat
48:37in Switzerland
48:39and here there is dry meat
48:41and cheese
48:43and
48:45it's paradise of nirvana
48:47Christmas time
48:49One of Gaël's first challenges
48:51was finding his way
48:53through the forest
48:55Hey Gaël, where is the path?
48:57It depends
48:59Either this way
49:01or that way
49:03or that way
49:05During a little over 2 weeks
49:07I tried to share my experience
49:09of the 9 last months with my friend
49:11Fishing
49:13the volcano
49:15I told him everything
49:17my joys
49:19my sorrow
49:21my loneliness
49:43The final departure was closing in
49:45There was one more task
49:47to accomplish before leaving the island
49:52When I put the box in the hole
49:54I stopped the time
49:56and what I realize now
49:58is that even if I wanted to
50:00stop the time
50:02the time is still running
50:04but you don't have the same perception
50:06and for me it was important
50:08always in this trip to know
50:10what was the day
50:14and I know that every experience
50:16has a beginning and has an end
50:18and when
50:20when the experience starts
50:22when the adventure starts
50:24you really have to push forward
50:26and at the end
50:28you have to accept that you have
50:30to quit all this
50:32and it's part of the game
50:34to quit all this and to go back
50:36to the life I had before
50:44When I came here
50:46I didn't know anything about this place
50:48and now
50:50I can say after 9 months and a half
50:52I feel home
50:54Yep
50:56I feel home
51:18I feel home
51:20I feel home
51:22I feel home
51:24I feel home
51:26I feel home
51:28I feel home
51:30I feel home
51:32I feel home
51:34I feel home
51:36I feel home
51:38I feel home
51:40I feel home
51:42I feel home
51:44I feel home
51:46I feel home
51:48I feel home
51:50I feel home
51:52I feel home
51:54I feel home
51:56I feel home