forestry official would not have cleared us for entry. we are registered and must promise we won't take any sapphires with us. we have camping equipment and enough food and water for three days. a dozen young men will be our porters. it'll be tough going all the way to the mines. and some of the porters say it'll take six hours to get there. we've already been warned that this will be anything but a normal hike. over the village of and save a base seems like the last outpost of civilization our group attracts lots of attention white people are a rare sight here. why i. want. to. tell you a blue sapphires were found last year in the nature reserve of a candy cane i mean since then tens of thousands of prospectors have poured in from all over madagascar all looking for sapphires although this activity is illegal. supplies and mining gear have to be carried into the area on foot. not only our luggage but also the equipment for the people working in the mines. that are used to the fires too but i didn't find any because i have a home to go back to i thought it would be best to work as a porter but i'm still stuck here but at the ticket. two soldiers accompany us for our safety the precious sapphires are a company commodity in one of the poorest countries in africa and that of course has attracted interest among criminal elements. that. after two and a half hours we reach the edge of the woods and a holy place. the people of madagascar are identify sacred areas in their forests here they make small offerings of branches or food. it didn't he said it would target in the past people came here to pray for the authorities but now that the mines have been discovered everyone is going to find saw fires. and you. get the trail seems never ending and the porters say we'll never make it to the mines by nightfall. we've been walking for six hours and they reckon that our pace we'd need twice that time. so we have to spend the night here. and. we set up our tents our guides say we'll be safe here. to you but. most of our porters originally came to this area because of the gems but they say they earn more in the long run as carriers. if they work for local contractors they get the equivalent of just under three euros for a tour. which. i . the surf wire trade has transformed the small town of in southern madagascar into a small scale commercial center. twenty years ago this was a rural backwater now the town is bustling with activity especially early in the morning. and will go through all along the main street sapphire dealers wait for prospectors to bring in new finds. by some estimations around fifty percent of the world's sapphires now come from a lockup. thank. you your is french but he has lived in madagascar for years he's fascinated by precious stones and is always looking for especially beautiful specimens. on that's not the most important thing is the color. if you find one you like moist mint and shine a light on it. check the clarity and then he cracks. the make your offer if the seller doesn't like it there are two hundred other dealers here. i shall know. very little some of the items being offered as precious stones are in fact colored glass. blue sapphires are well known across the world but the gems here come in all the colors of the rainbow most rough sapphires from madagascar are sent to asia for cutting and polishing very little of that work is done here. the company that keown works for is one of the few in madagascar that turns local gemstones into high quality jewelry. you don't really want to follow so i wants to sell the gem he found in his mind shaft and if it's a sapphire it'll fetch a good price here. he only takes a look and knows immediately with just a few it's not a sapphire but just smoky quartz from the on display. thing in a desponding i don't and i'm really disappointed that he said it wasn't a sock file i'm going to read it is and i'll keep looking for the real thing with it but i'm sad that it wasn't worth very much over the. pope and disappointment the story of everyday life in iraq that but the sapphire rush has provided the town with infrastructure it never had before. villa for almost no. money and most workers in the mines around it like a car day laborers they work for mine operators for less than the equivalent of two euro the day. this mine belongs to a man from sri lanka. to find a soul works here frequently he can't live on the scale and finds from his own small mining shafts. but then in the machine it will take us about three months to get down to the grappling with the gemstones on. not the way we want to find some fire so that we can survive it. they've been digging here in teams for three months many of the workers also have their own mind shifts. if they find one jim they hope it'll be part of a larger deposit and that's when the big companies come in i gotta decide i don't know how you work a bit foster. you can't be taught yet. in life because no so well known that it's become a tourist destination for a one hour visit to the mines costs as much as the workers earn in today's. dollars. it's eleven o'clock time for lunch and a two hour break. twenty years ago there were no houses here and no infrastructure just. a furnace so i met his wife morris so. she came here with her parents as a child. like her husband she has only one name they say that's a common practice in rural areas. the couple have three children. most of the sapphire miners don't earn much but they still have their dreams. with him and kept it in and now of course i'd like to have some sapphire jewelry but no one here has any feel if we do get some one day it would be a nice reminder of the time we spent here. and we could pass it down to our children. need them he's had. if i was so i never went to school he can't read or write like millions of others in this country his parents couldn't afford to provide him with a proper education and. i came here off to some people in my home village found some pious and made a lot of money. they could buy cattle or a medicine so i sold some of my own animals and came to. me i built this house with the money that i saved my banana than a dozen that my success. i noticed or sets off to the river on the edge of a laca. local residents wash their clothes here. and their cars as well. but above all the river represents hope the hope of finding gems in the sand and gravel and getting rich. but some people have actually done it oh oh. oh oh oh. over the years more or so it has become something of an glitters into her mouth for safe keeping. even toddlers practiced the prospectors trade for them it's still a game. but from what is so and her family it seems to be the only way to survive. madagascar might be one of the poorest countries in the world but it's also a veritable treasure island. the illegal mines are located in the highlands between alaka and the rainforest and they contain treasures of a quite different kind. it's the start of a big festival. the descendants of rock. celebrating with his whole family. the event begins with deceased family members being dug up outsiders might find it rather unusual but it's quite normal in madagascar where ancestors are taken out of our malagasy tradition i would rather spend my money on this than on anything else . never lose flop. the family has been saving up for years for the festival which costs five thousand euros. donations from gas to cover only a fraction of the cost. but no one is thinking of debts today they intend to party until in some cases they literally drop. eating in shifts hundreds of people have been queuing since the early morning. there was rice with fatty beef and pork as is usual at a from indiana. it's a matter of i mean we can hardly keep up we don't have enough plates and we've invited too many people. know is putting on a brave face but his thoughts are with his deceased wife. that's going to start as i miss her a lot but what am i supposed to do that's life man have to be strong the shaman said that i'm not allowed to cry at the grave off the words this is a happy party itself. as helpers wash the plates for more guests or no is getting ready for the climax of the farmer. his wife died suddenly after a successful says harry and section and he really doesn't know how to carry on. and then the entire extended family sets off again with the dead thirteen descendants of grandfathers up to east fathers mothers aunts uncles children. car drivers are used to these colorful loud parades during the malagasy winter somehow nobody gets hurt. was. but. i known as mr tina young claude watching the revolt runs a gemstone cutting workshop announced. it's been in his family for two generations . the area around the town is known for what used to be called semi precious stones although the distinction is no longer made it's a higher quality amethyst can be worth more than an inferior sapphire. here he is using a special machine to cut a few supports it has a valuable inclusion trapped inside. you'll need a farm not only the hardest part of my job is the competition. you absolutely need high quality stones but lots of people are looking for them. plus the mines around and see if they are dangerous with all those criminals hanging around the amount you don't like it. but it's hard to get good gems anywhere else. and this year tino bice his raw gemstones from local dealers there are precious few sapphires in this area. of what. you see here he meets with gem dealers who offer him stones from several mines spinozza core marines. and he checks them all and begins the delicate negotiations once we've turned off our camera. it mightn't have a bit and it's getting harder because some minds have over to be looted so we have to find new places. and then the government comes and wants money getting an official permit is almost impossible. that's true the mining business is becoming more difficult and stones are less common where you used to find something ten metres down today you have to dig down twenty metres and you have to go deeper into the bush to. allow me to what extent on the less all three hope that their children will still be able to live from the gentry i'd meet this time at least. this is the largest gemstone market in and see robbie pretty much everything madagascar has to offer in the way of precious stones is on sale here. well if you know anything. about. the. mr t. know arrives at the market with the courts crystal of the honed in the morning his family rents a small stall here. he's troubled by recent developments in madagascar as gemstone business owner and his own wonderful apostle paul if you've got too many players involved in the market nothing works. we pay our taxes and the government should take that into account. with us if foreigners come here to buy stones they should do just that not exploit our resources and it's been the mines should stay in our hands it will. be. back in the forest reserve our truck continues after getting a half decent night's sleep in our tents we're now back on the trail. this part of the journey is especially difficult mostly because of the mud. but then our efforts are rewarded. although we can't see them we can hear the song of the lemurs. this species of lemur called the injury is unique to the forests of eastern madagascar. their habitat is seriously threatened by the illegal mines unfortunately we don't manage to actually see them. three hours later we finally reach a small settlement one of many illegal mining villages in the reserve. one of the residents has some chickens for sale. we buy several for dinner. after hiking almost thirty kilometers uphill downhill and through the mud we deserve a good meal. she. and then we notice that no one is looking for sapphires it's thursday people are washing clothes cutting hair and playing cards instead. of. sylvia susanna who sold us the chickens is applying a traditional chalk mask it also serves as a sunscreen. so he explains that it's fatty meaning taboo to work on thursdays. and there was a cave in the other day and three men were trapped fortunately they all survived. and recently a man drowned in the river all because they'd worked on thursdays and with the math . we figured this would be a good time to have a look around the village it's called the place of stones. there used to be dense forests here but in january two thousand and seventeen someone found sapphires. these settlers hope that they will too most of them work for local middlemen many sell food to earn extra cash at three times the usual price after all it takes a lot of effort to bring supplies here. only i would like to ask europeans who boy stuff to pay a reasonable price we only lose in the deal. gems are actually worth millions of r e e r. but when we find beautiful soft the middle men say they offer more. so they don't have to pay is so much that you can do what the wanted to you but. so via has been here since january she's thirty six years old and used to work in the mines in the south then she heard that the stones here were bigger and more valuable she left her four children at home with her mother. oh very much my life. and i miss them very much but i haven't found any sapphires yet so i don't have the money to go visit them as i mean if it does i make a little money by selling these dumplings. in the mines i work for a local boss he pays me a cup of rice a day no money. we're accompanied by an employee of the environment ministry and one from the ministry of mines. it's the first time they've been to the site and they're checking out the situation on the ground for themselves. the mining official doesn't want to talk to us on camera but the environmental officer eventually agrees so. is and makes me sad to see the forest like this who feel this is sacred land here for the government has already taken some action on the mines and the destruction of the forest for the sake of the but poverty still driving people to work here. and they're destroying the forest you know the government pushes them out but they just turn up somewhere else . and i'm not a permit from whence i mean given to. the illegal mines are a politically sensitive topic various sources tell us that some government officials are involved in the gemstone business funding for shutting down the mines has suddenly disappeared nobody wants to talk about this openly the government has apparently turned a blind eye to the destruction of the local environment. there's a smell here that nobody can resist we're now at a familiar farm in the north of madagascar. every morning the manila pods are put out in the sun to dry a process that goes on for months but it's worth the wait when will is akin to black gold in madagascar and the pods here are worth the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of euros. miyan a descendant of chinese immigrants has been in the vanilla business for more than forty years. you can immediately tell by the parts a diseased by smelling them so this is what makes a good quality than in the film he can immediately tell the bad from the good parts with his nose to be born with it. until they're ready for export the dried pods have to be tested repeatedly and intricate enterprise that takes a whole year. the village of several hundred no lives from vanilla cultivation and processing. it's a different world here no billboards no electricity no cars. as soon as the sun is shining the streets are full of drying bonilla pods the smell is overpowering. that neon knows everyone and everyone knows him he's the biggest famille a farmer here for a while he was even mayor every day he walks to his plantation outside the village . it. should be. for. the fresh buds harvested by the women are green vanilla plants belong to the orchid family and grow on host trees likely on us they need a lot of shade. there's always something to do in the fine taishan between november and january for example the flowers have to be individually validated by hand miyan shows us how it's done. a very tricky process. that involves. if you don't pay attention when pollinating you can miss a part and even that is worth something. five kilos of green cards yield one kilo of dried black vanilla that means a lot of money that's why everyone wants to grow up in there and that's why people come and steal the green parts it's a major problem for us. he simply speak. and that's why million of the other farmers have to harvest the pods earlier even if they're not really ripe yet and therefore are for equality but there are plenty of buyers for the stolen goods to do to the profits. even though it is taken to the next large town on the same boat says visitors. until law is a tranquil little town by the sea. people are doing better here than in other parts of the crisis ridden island nation of madagascar thanks to the vanilla. there are many of an exporter isn't until the buying both fresh and dried vanilla from local farmers. once they've been properly dried the pods will last a long time and retain their value. which means of in the trade also involves a lot of speculation and patience as with financial stocks you have to have the composure to wait for the right moment. and in pay and. i've been working with vanilla for twenty five years i like the work because i can feed my family well although we do not use it for cooking. of a demands on. back in the village with vanilla farmer miyan things are getting almost a little hectic. doesn't like rain that's why we have to pack up all the pods very quickly before it starts for the parish. the freshly harvested vanilla is being prepared for blanching the green pods have to be immersed in boiling water to trigger the fermentation process that will turn them into the coveted spice. and i think the blanched bonilla is packed up while still warm every step requires a lot of experience and great care it takes two years from flowering to the pods used for cooking and baking. and now the sun comes out again at me yawns sweet smelling farm in the village of several hundred oh. this is another unique treasure lemurs exist only in madagascar such as the indra species that we heard in the forest by the legal minds. today we're visiting a protected indri reserve located about one hundred kilometers south of the mines. and joining us is conservationist and lemur expert. who tells us about his concerns we only have less than ten percent of the origin of forest left burgeon he says urgent so i would like to tell the authorities to stop mining he's not good for the monocacy people to gain he can get money from mining but how long lost. most of the injuries are staying out of sight but we do manage to spot some. injuries live together in small groups they feed on about thirty different types of leaves that can only be found here if the forest is destroyed the injuries face extinction. we need a strong government through we need honest authorities we don't need the authorities to need us monica. trees and i see beneath on that and i feel responsible. for. joan as aid organization also tries to help farmers to help themselves. some farmers now have piglets for the first time in their lives and now. we're going to. cause. you know i like to raise pigs. because it gives me a regular income. although i prefer the tree nursery as he because they benefit the environment and i don't know if you will move. native trees species are grown at the nursery much of the original forest was cut down years ago only about ten percent is left. erosion is a big problem in madagascar. but. another project started by john as an aid organization is to create rice terraces on areas affected by erosion to rehabilitate the land. i. don't think. we would like to go to do. to plant a price for the family because that will keep the soil every year they can plant the trees every year and eve for the fire minute you see as you can see there because left and that's not really long lasting that's not how people to have a better life maybe one or two people can get advantages but not the community but for the rice farming rice plantation the community the whole community can get advantages and that's good for the environment some of them thought about. for the farmers the project seems to be paying off. so that to. me i'll never go to the mines because farming is what i'm used to. i'm not telling on money looking for stuff out is like gambling. with. the crowd. in the south of madagascar prospectors take new claims whenever they find a small treasure somewhere the first mines appeared here a few years ago. the shafts are now so deep that it's hard to breathe down there so air comes through a plastic tube. yes . that's how many there were to this simples it is pretty airless down there but i'm not afraid we have to find somebody we need the money so. if we. can get him the dog sometimes a miner's life depends on just a piece of sticky tape. was killed by me it's now four in the afternoon the out in front of so i has finished his shift and helps to hand out the workers daily wages on each of them receives the equivalent of just over one and a half year owes my thought. that. they have to pay for all their mining gear themselves including ropes shovels and sieves that eats up a lot of their income. let me find a saw his wife monday saw is doing some shopping if they can often afford to eat meat. but sometimes if they don't find any gems in their own minds or if half an hour so of finds no work for a few days they go hungry. feed me a good life here is getting more and more difficult our income doesn't cover our expenses by a long shot but i've gotten used to this place i prefer to stay here because it's even harder elsewhere. it's the same with f n a so up in the evening he sometimes meets friends for coffee a small luxury. they discuss their hopes and dreams for the future. and then leave the scene. never. that warms he wouldn't buy a new war than him but the next i want to become a boss will be then added that i want to have a good life i'm not worth so much any more than that at the whim of what little in the hunt i'm glad i don't like to have my own mines and in my life where i have people looking for stones to meet up with me with. their dreams that might never be fulfilled. thanks. it's friday morning sylvia susanna of the mother of four takes her suv to the river the foggy day of rest is over and now the treasure hunters are back to work. with coveted sapphires or buried just a few meters below the surface the sand is washed away in the river. everyone is hoping to find a gem to make their lives easier most come away empty handed but sylvia hasn't found anything valuable since january. i want enough to succeed in my dream of having a stone house so that my children will be comfortable and my mother won't suffer in her old age. i am my family's only hope and that's why i'm here and even though it's hard work i'll stay until i find enough sapphires. so via and the other prospectors are struggling to survive they have no time to worry about protecting madagascar's unique natural environment maybe they will later but by then it may be too late. what about the fact that. the dawn of modern design because clearly sticks out both architects it into song and order devon the mood for the arts goes highly in turn the page one hundred anniversary i want to find out more about powerhouse legacy and. he takes a journey back in time to the best place of revolutionary ideas about us and architecture. next to. him she sixteen years old efficient homes a wrong business and is helping to prevent water shortages in south africa. recently decided to do something about the water being wasted on her parents. so she installed an aqua phonics system. it's a simple idea that's really set an example to go africa thirty minutes on d w. just couldn't get this song out of his head. the music college just began searching for the source of these captivating sounds. the rain forest in central africa.