300 Days Alone on an Island - A Robinson Crusoe Adventure in the Pacific Ocean
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00:00It was only upon my arrival at the gymnasium that I realized that I was going to have to
00:29have a heart attack.
00:30It was only upon my arrival at the Geneva airport that I realized it was over.
00:32Over there, it was difficult.
00:33Physically, but mostly psychologically.
00:34And if I had to do it again, well, I don't think I would.
00:50In 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.
02:20That's only 24 hours I'm here, I'm missing food, I'm missing drink, water, I'm missing
02:27everything.
02:28It's horrible.
02:29No, it's not horrible but it teaches me that you can't do it at the first time, you have
02:35to go step by step and I have to learn and it takes much more time than what I expected.
02:43The 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
02:54my 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.
03:24There is many but it is not dry, all the wood is wet.
03:38Hello, hello.
03:42It's full of ants.
03:44Probably I cannot even eat it anymore.
03:51Oh yeah, right, I was sure.
03:54They got it all.
03:55There weren't any friends on the island.
03:57I had to find a way to preserve my fishing.
04:00At home in the Alps, the elders used to use two ways to preserve their meat, salting and
04:06smoking.
04:07Alright, the target is to make something to smoke the fish because I hope to have many
04:11many fishes, no, many many fish and I need to smoke them.
04:18Building the smokehouse didn't take too much time.
04:24It worked perfectly.
04:28My 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.
04:44I had to build the shelter for myself.
04:47I started with the roof.
04:49Lettuce 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.
05:10I 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.
05:35It's beautiful.
05:40So from now on, I will be here for 9 months and 20 days approximately by myself, where
05:55I have stopped the time.
05:58At 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.
06:20All right, 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
06:28have the choice, and I drink, that's ok, but every time I have to do a physical effort,
06:34I feel tired very easily, and now I will have a rest.
06:43I'm not in a hurry neither, anyway.
06:46When you are hungry, you are less picky.
06:48I found some sea snails.
06:50Well, only a few of them, not enough for a feast.
06:57The lack of food, the sudden solitude, no points of reference, I don't know what
07:03waited on me the most, but after 8 days, I cried.
07:07My family is missing me, and everything I know is missing me, actually.
07:16Here it's nice, but I cannot discover, I have no food, I have water, yes, but it's
07:26so hard, it's very hard.
07:28And in my house I have everything, I say, why are you doing this, you know, you could
07:40stay home, cool, with your friends, girlfriend, family.
07:48It just hit me without warning, I was down in the dams, 22 000 km away from home, far
08:00from my friends, my family, my fridge, and worst of all, this was my idea.
08:06Fortunately 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, and to top this, it was that day I saw whales
08:17for 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 is 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, I
08:41feel this again, and I feel very happy, I feel quiet.
08:45I think what I have to learn is to go slowly now, I have to learn to take the time to do
08:51everything.
08:53Here, 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 plastic, which was the protection of my solar panel, because I realized that
09:10my roof is not waterproof at all, and I really need a waterproof roof for all the material
09:17I have, that's why I put this, and I will start today to work with the coconut sleeve
09:26to do a waterproof roof.
09:29The first step was to reach the top of the coconut tree.
09:32But if climbing up a tree seems to be rather easy, reaching the palms of that tree with
09:37such 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.
09:58We lift, we let go, we lift, we let go, we lift, we go down, we bring back.
10:08In the Tonga islands, the roof of the shelters are covered by layering latticework,
10:13which makes them waterproof.
10:15Obviously, quite a few of them are needed anyway.
10:19Another major problem I had was the mosquitoes.
10:22There were thousands of them in that forest.
10:25The best way to keep them away from my camp was to clean around the shelter and to open up the space
10:30so the wind from the ocean could create a natural protection.
10:33But it didn't work.
10:37Since this morning, I hear the volcano.
10:43And I didn't know what happened and I was a bit worried because we never know.
10:48And that's why I came to the top.
10:52I have to find out.
10:54I came to the top to have a look at the volcano.
10:59The way up to the volcano isn't really a piece of cake,
11:02especially when it comes to walking through the tangled earth.
11:05But once you reach the side of the crater, the sight makes you forget the effort.
11:10Wow!
11:20It's beautiful!
11:23You really feel humble in this kind of moment.
11:30And you cry.
11:33It's true that sometimes I feel lonely.
11:36The only thing that didn't change here is me at the beginning.
11:43But 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.
11:58After my first visit to the volcano,
12:00I decided that every day I would extend the known perimeter to an extra few hundred meters.
12:05I'm always looking a little bit around.
12:09There is always things to discover, to find.
12:13Always, always.
12:19Today it was a mango tree. Enormous.
12:22Bending because of too many fruits.
12:30To find those fruits almost ripe, felt like getting Christmas presents.
12:40In order to reinforce my roofing, I needed some rope.
12:43And on Tofua, the rope tree existed.
12:46In order to reinforce my roofing, I needed some rope.
12:49And on Tofua, the rope tree existed.
12:51I only had to find it.
12:53Oh no, that's not solid at all.
12:55That's not it.
12:59This is completely rotten.
13:02And after several attempts, I finally found what I was looking for.
13:07I only had to cut some long straps out of the bark and let them dry under the sun.
13:16I finished one side of the roof today.
13:19We still have to see if it's waterproof, of course.
13:22But at least I did it with nothing, with my hand.
13:26And the coconut sleeve.
13:30I am proud of this.
13:32And you know, the life here is very simple but it's not as easy as that.
13:40Everything you have to do yourself.
13:43Everything you have to do yourself.
13:47And I learned a lot about this.
13:50It gives me a new perception of the world.
13:55Since fishing didn't bring me food every day, I added a new dish to my diet.
14:00Small coconut sprout cooked over charcoal dressed with ashes and brine.
14:09The coconut was easy to cut open.
14:12The inside looked like a fruit compote.
14:15It is hard to describe the taste.
14:18Soft, a bit sweet, but with no taste of cocoa.
14:22And warm.
14:24It was excellent.
14:28After more than one month on the island, I was able to survive and get organized the essentials.
14:36There was only one problem left.
14:38The lack of human contact.
14:40What I realize now is that I start feeling lonely.
14:46Because I have nobody to talk to.
14:48I have nobody to change my opinion.
14:52And then I talk to myself.
14:54But I always agree with me.
14:56Then it's not fun.
15:00Nobody can give me more information about what I know already.
15:05And I'm just alone.
15:07Whatever I do, I'm alone.
15:09I cannot say, hey yeah, woohoo.
15:16I think in my mind I have enough.
15:19But I start to be bored now.
15:21Lonely and bored.
15:35I found a very nice place there.
15:38But the access is very hard to go from the beach because of all the stones.
15:42Then maybe I can find the easiest way to go from inside.
15:48Yes!
16:05Woohoo!
16:18Sitting on that beach, I contemplated the vastness of the ocean, savoring my victory.
16:23But taking a look around me, I found myself faced with the worst of our civilization.
16:30So much trash.
16:32Thrown into the ocean, thousands of kilometers from here,
16:36and carried away by the water streams to end up along the shore.
16:42I even found a bit of bamboo.
16:44What could I use it for?
16:49I decided to bring it back to the camp until I found a use for it.
16:53But I already had my idea.
16:55Allez!
17:05And now, in theory, I have a digeridoo.
17:08If you forget the mosquito, life on Tofua might seem to be quite mellow.
17:12But every day, when going fishing, I took the risk of wounding myself
17:16with a mosquito repellent.
17:18And now, in theory, I have a digeridoo.
17:28If you forget the mosquito, life on Tofua might seem to be quite mellow.
17:32But every day, when going fishing, I took the risk of wounding myself
17:36I took the risk of wounding myself walking on the rocks.
17:39I regularly scrapped myself during my explorations in the forest.
17:43I ended having numerous infections beneath the skin that didn't heal anymore.
17:47I had to use my satellite phone to call Dr. Richon in Switzerland.
17:51He did the follow-up from there.
17:53Yes Jack, this is Xavier Rosset calling.
17:56Mentally speaking, I'm fine.
17:58I can pretty much do whatever I want.
18:00But it's physically.
18:02I have a small technical problem.
18:04I need you either to...
18:06I described him how things looked.
18:08He told me what to use from the medical kit
18:10that he helped me to put together in Switzerland.
18:13Now I go for it.
18:15I really don't want to do it because it hurts already so much.
18:18Maybe after it will be better.
18:20The dirt comes out every day, every day.
18:23I have to wash every day to the sea water.
18:26After I have to boil flat water.
18:29I have to clean again with normal water.
18:32I have to put betadine which is a special cream.
18:36I am in the middle of nowhere and I'm taking antibiotics.
18:40In 5 days, if it doesn't go better,
18:43I have to call back the doctor.
18:52Thanks to my doctor's advice and taking special care of my wounds,
18:56they healed within a few days.
18:58However, even if I was busy every day,
19:01I started to suffer from another problem
19:04that medicine couldn't heal.
19:06I have no motivation to do anything anymore now.
19:12Because I am alone.
19:15I didn't even try to do the fire yet with the wood, you know.
19:20Because...
19:22Because I am fed up.
19:24I don't have any...
19:26I don't know.
19:28Why should I do this?
19:30I am alone.
19:32Who I should share this with?
19:35Nobody.
19:38Nobody.
19:41I come because I need some help to...
19:46I don't know.
19:48Just as if he had heard me,
19:52Luffy appeared in my life.
19:54A few days per year,
19:56farmers from the neighboring island
19:58come to Tofua to cultivate kava,
20:00a plant whose root is used to produce a beetroot drink.
20:04Luffy was one of them.
20:06He knew more or less where my camp was.
20:09He told me that he had to go to Tofua
20:12and that he would be back in a few days.
20:15He was one of them.
20:16He knew more or less where my camp was.
20:18He came to me hoping that I could save his friend's finger.
20:21But their camp was more than 6 hours walk away.
20:24All right,
20:26now I am on the way back
20:29to the village of my friend Luffy
20:33because one of his friends had a big cut on the fingers.
20:37A little bit of the finger went out.
20:40And maybe I can do something.
20:45I will try to do my best.
20:48But if the infection starts already,
20:51it will be too late.
20:53The best way to see is to go and have a look.
20:56Luffy preferred to follow me
20:58so he could adapt his speed to mine
21:00rather than looking over his shoulder
21:02to avoid losing me.
21:04Very sweet.
21:06The middle is very very sweet.
21:08Oh,
21:10it's so good.
21:16Once we reached the camp,
21:18I was quickly able to measure the gravity of the case.
21:21You ok?
21:23I could administer first aid
21:25but I knew that he would have to get to a medical center
21:28as soon as the boat would be able to pick him up.
21:31In the meantime,
21:33I did my best with the medical kit
21:35and my little knowledge.
21:37Alright,
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.
21:47Ok, thanks.
21:49I'm a doctor in Tofua
21:51but I did my best.
21:57Chimmy's finger is going
21:59much better now.
22:01And for me,
22:03it's time to
22:05go to 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
22:23my place, I 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 completing
22:532 months of sailing in the archipelago.
22:55For one time, it's not me on the camera.
22:57No, it's visitors.
22:59Hello.
23:01What do you think about the house?
23:03You saw it, yeah?
23:07Not a lot of luxury
23:09but it will do
23:11I guess for you
23:13for the next half year
23:15or a year.
23:17You have a bed and you have somewhere
23:19to hide from the rain if you are finishing
23:21the roof.
23:23You need to finish your new roof first.
23:25Before finishing my roof,
23:27I took them to the volcano.
23:29They had the day
23:31and I
23:33had all the time in the world.
23:35It wasn't the first time I was here
23:37but until now, I stayed
23:39on the crest.
23:41With them, I went even closer to the crater.
23:57I 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, very nice people.
24:19I could guide them up to the top
24:21of the island and bring them down
24:23to the volcano
24:25and spend the day with them.
24:27They have to leave today, unfortunately.
24:29We spent a nice day together
24:31and now I get a little bit of rice
24:33I get onion, I get one garlic
24:35I get two beers
24:37and I get also a Coca-Cola.
24:39I'm really happy
24:41that I met them.
24:47It was cool
24:49because today I wasn't 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 because they were here
25:05but in the other way, I feel also
25:07a bit sad because they're leaving.
25:09What 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.
25:23Wooo!
25:29My visitors were right.
25:31In December, the rain season begins
25:33and I had to make sure
25:35my 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.
25:47But all the work
25:49with the machete
25:51ended up blunting the blade.
25:53The machete doesn't cut anymore
25:55at all.
25:57And to sharpen it
25:59there was nothing better
26:01than the volcanic stone polished by the sea.
26:03Once wet, it worked perfectly.
26:11After a few months on the island
26:13I had enough knowledge
26:15that something like a routine
26:17had settled in.
26:19I was quite 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, I decided
26:29to use my satellite phone
26:31to leave a message to my parents.
26:33It is the first Christmas
26:35I spend without you.
26:37It feels a bit bizarre
26:39but that's the way it is.
26:41I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas
26:43that everything goes better
26:45that everything goes fine
26:47and I 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 and New Year's Eve
26:57alone 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 and spend the 2 last weeks with me.
27:17But meanwhile,
27:19I 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.
27:39A farmer who came to ask me for help
27:41came back one morning to give me this dog as a gift.
27:43He wanted to thank me
27:45for having saved his friend's finger.
27:49My motivation was back on track.
27:51A little garden would add
27:53diversity to my diet.
27:55So I became a farmer
27:57always using what I could find around.
28:05It could be strange
28:07to use the front of the school
28:09to make my plantation
28:11but it's strategically very well thinking
28:13because
28:15first of all here
28:17it's the only place where there is
28:19no 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 all the things
28:33that I put here.
28:35One more reason is that
28:37the water tanker is here.
28:39I will use it to
28:41give water to my plantation.
28:43I need to work more useful
28:45than beautiful.
28:47I had also kept the watermelon seeds
28:49that 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 exploring the island.
29:05Looking for new fruits
29:07or vegetables
29:09beaches
29:11caves
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 discover
29:25a little bit this part of the island
29:27which is very different
29:29than the part where I have my house.
29:31Here there is no big trees
29:34there is low vegetation
29:38and very dry vegetation
29:42and also one of the goal is to find
29:44the Captain Cook cave
29:46because it's near the ocean
29:48but it's so big here
29:50that to find it
29:52is not impossible
29:54but very hard.
30:04OK
30:06now it's time to go home
30:08to cook dinner
30:10and to be able to eat
30:12I need a fish.
30:14And that evening
30:16I got a super sized surprise
30:18I caught
30:20this.
30:22I'm a bit scared to see this little beast
30:24I saw another one
30:26approximately one month ago
30:28quite the same size
30:30I think it's quite big
30:32I think it's quite big
30:34you see?
30:36Apart from the animal being 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
30:56The shark spent the whole night being cooked
30:58I prayed that no insect
31:00would invite itself to a meal at my expense
31:04Upon removal of the leaves and earth
31:06that covered it up
31:08I was relieved
31:10It's hot
31:12It's still hot
31:18The slow cooking was going to preserve
31:20the fish for 2 to 3 days
31:22but I was frustrated
31:24from only eating fish this past month
31:26so I decided to go hunting
31:28for wild pig
31:30I tried to find
31:32a pig path
31:34there is many
31:36many paths
31:38for the pigs around here
31:40and the pigs use this path
31:42and for us
31:44it's not possible to follow
31:46on this path
31:48because they are 60 cm high
31:50no more
31:52but if I find one
31:54I want to make a hole
31:56like 80 cm long
31:5840 cm large
32:00and maybe 1 meter
32:0220 cm deep
32:04and I want to hide
32:06and put some coconuts
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
32:20A good pig path
32:24And now I have to
32:26find a good place
32:28and make a hole
32:50While waiting
32:52my little garden
32:54had started growing
32:56The first sprouts
32:58were visible
33:00It was a great success
33:02and the final result
33:04looked quite promising
33:06Great !
33:08Here are the watermelons
33:10and here
33:12there 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
33:28the garden growing
33:30it was the perfect time
33:32to pay a visit to the volcano
33:36I woke up this morning
33:38and I had nothing to do
33:40then I said
33:42why not to go
33:44to see the volcano
33:46All the way from the top
33:48I could hear very big noise
33:50from the volcano
33:52When you are down here
33:54it really looks
33:56like a moon
33:58a moon place
34:00Now I go to see the volcano
34:16I am going to see the volcano
34:18I am going to see the volcano
34:20I am going to see the volcano
34:22I am going to see the volcano
34:24I am going to see the volcano
34:26I am going to see the volcano
34:28I am going to see the volcano
34:30I am going to see the volcano
34:32I am going to see the volcano
34:34I am going to see the volcano
34:36I am going to see the volcano
34:38I am going to see the volcano
34:40I am going to see the volcano
34:42I am going to see the volcano
34:44I am going to see the volcano
35:00That feeling of deep humility
35:02characterized each visit to the volcano
35:04I was in contact with the centre 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
35:51It was really painful
35:55Over the phone, my doctor explained
35:57the move I had to carry out
35:59to try to stop the infection
36:01In 24 hours
36:03if it doesn't look like it's better
36:05I go to the hospital
36:07It will take me between 5 and 10 days
36:09until I can reach
36:11the first hospital
36:13they can do something for me
36:17I don't have to wait too long
36:19If the infection doesn't stay
36:21really in the hand
36:23it can go up
36:25to the arm
36:27and goes into the blood
36:29and it can do a general infection
36:31and if I have a general infection
36:33it'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't do something
36:44again, I will
36:49On Tchofua, it rains nearly every day
36:51Since some time now
36:53my roof has proven itself to be waterproof
36:55So, well protected
36:57I waited for the rain to stop
36:59and was giving my hand a rest
37:01There is nothing really special to do
37:03This is the kind of day you will have to learn
37:05to do nothing
37:07Then I do nothing
37:11The next morning
37:13when I arrived at the trap
37:15it was a nice surprise to see
37:17it wasn't covered anymore
37:19It was a baby pig
37:21a female
37:23Surely its mother passed next to it
37:25but the little one fell inside
37:37You know what?
37:39I 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
38:13A few days later, when my finger was better
38:15I decided to continue
38:17looking for Captain Cook's cave
38:19When the Tongan brought me to the island
38:21they had shown me where it was
38:27This time, luck was on my side
38:31I could feel certain vibrations
38:33and I had the feeling
38:35I had finally found it
38:46In my garden, the plants were
38:48making me happier and happier
38:50Here is one
38:53and here another one
38:55very small who just started
38:57I'm really happy
38:59and I made it with my little hands
39:02and that's the result
39:05Normally when I go walking
39:07the pigs follow me
39:11Today I'm doing quite a big walk
39:15and the pigs follow me
39:17but they follow me
39:19just for 1 km
39:21and after it goes in the bush
39:23and starts to hide
39:25and for me it takes me maybe
39:272 hours
39:29to take the pigs back
39:31and after I have to carry it
39:33and the pig doesn't like
39:35to be carried
39:37then he shouts
39:43and to carry a pig
39:45to carry a pig
39:47for 2 hours, 3 hours
39:49like this shouting is not possible
39:51and it's very noisy a pig
39:53and that's why
39:55next time
39:57I will build a little cage
39:59in front of my house
40:01to keep the pigs
40:03because you learn
40:05how to be patient
40:07this for 2 hours now
40:17Horrible
40:31The next day
40:38Each day
40:40the island was full of surprises
40:42from waving my machete around
40:44I ended up cutting some strange vines
40:46Yeah
40:48It's coming
40:50For sure it takes a little bit more time
40:52than to drink water in our country
40:54but at least we have water
40:56and here we have time
40:58It's very good
41:00It's sweet
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
41:12To 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
41:30It looks like the beginning
41:32of a storm or I don't know
41:36Big wave
41:40It's really amazing
41:50Seeing the storm coming in
41:52I wondered if my hut was going to survive
41:54The waterproof ability
41:56is one thing but there were other
41:58issues 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
42:22The cracking noises were pretty scary
42:24but the worst was when the wind turned
42:26the face, there was no place
42:28to hide anymore
42:30I was soaked
42:32Hi everybody
42:36Now it's morning
42:38it starts to come again
42:40which is very good
42:42because most of the night
42:44I didn't sleep
42:48I could not see around me
42:50and I didn't know what happened
42:52but I could hear
42:54thunder storm
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
43:12A very short night
43:16Now I'm happy the day is coming again
43:18because I start to be able
43:20to see again what happened
43:22It's important
43:28New day
43:30I'm happy because
43:32my 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
43:50I need to do this path
43:52because every day I 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
44:00but then I have something else to do
44:02because sometimes
44:04the time here
44:06is very long
44:08and I don't know what to do
44:10I also had to put my solar system back together
44:14Apparently there is no mistake
44:16it is fully charging
44:18I was not sure that the adaptor
44:20was working because of all the humidity
44:22with the storm
44:24maybe I thought it was broken
44:26but it still works
44:28and it looks like it works good
44:32But there were casualties from the storm anyway
44:34At first sight
44:36everything looked ok
44:38The sugarcane had grown
44:40as well as the onions and the taro
44:42The watermelons however
44:44didn't make it
44:46It was terrible
44:48everything was destroyed
44:50I threw all my affliction
44:52in the new artisanal project
45:16I'm quite happy
45:18because now I have a bench
45:20Sometimes it's hard
45:22here to get the motivation
45:24but today
45:26I woke up and I said
45:28cool, I'm going to do the bench
45:30and now in the evening
45:32I have a bench
45:34I have my bench
45:36I'm happy
45:46I was close to the end
45:48of my adventure
45:50Soon Gaëlle would arrive to help me
45:52I just back to a social life
45:54and get ready to go back home
45:56So I started scanning the horizon
45:58In this world
46:00nothing can be taken for granted
46:02Peggy had a bad surprise
46:04in store for me
46:06As usual
46:08she got out of her pen
46:10but this time
46:12she disappeared
46:15I went to the island
46:17maybe 500m this way
46:19500m the other way
46:21to try to find her
46:23but
46:25the island is so big
46:27you can look for how long
46:29you want
46:33It was not possible to find her
46:35but at least I tried
46:37When I catch her
46:39in the hole I did
46:41she was something like
46:436 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
46:59the kids go out
47:03and if it was her decision
47:05to go back into the nature
47:07and to split with me
47:09and to start doing her life again
47:11it's her decision
47:13and I'm happy with it
47:17and now
47:19she's gone
47:21and I have no trouble around
47:23my shelter
47:25I'm missing a little bit this
47:27but it's part of the game
47:29I just hope everything is ok
47:33and if one day before I leave
47:35she want to come back to say hello
47:37I'll be very happy
47:41I love you
48:01Gael's arrival meant
48:03the end of my solitary life
48:05and that truly revived my energy
48:07I wanted to show him everything
48:09and when I think it back
48:11I tell myself
48:13it was something incredible
48:35It's very nice because since Gael arrived
48:37I can start to eat again
48:39like the food I used to eat
48:41in Switzerland
48:43and here there is dry meat
48:45and cheese
48:47and
48:49it's paradise of nirvana
48:51Christmas time
48:53One of Gael's first challenges
48:55was finding his way through the forest
48:57Hey Gael, where is the path?
48:59It depends
49:01Either this 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 sorrows
49:21my loneliness
49:23Finding yourself in an unknown place
49:25absolutely fantastic
49:27it's pure happiness
49:29That's when I realized
49:31the difficulty of solitude
49:33You realize that with someone
49:35you can share huge things
49:37alone it's not easy
49:43The final departure was closing in
49:45There was one more task
49:47to accomplish before leaving the island
49:53When I put the box in the hole
49:55I stopped the time
49:57and what I realize now is that
49:59even if I wanted to stop the time
50:01the time is still running
50:03but you don't have
50:05the same perception
50:07and for me it was important
50:09always in this trip to know
50:11what was the day
50:13and I know that
50:15every experience has a beginning
50:17and has an end
50:19and when the
50:21experience starts
50:23when the adventure starts
50:25you really have to push forward
50:27and at the end
50:29you have to quit all this
50:31and it's part of the game
50:33to quit all this
50:35and to go back to
50:37the life I had before
50:43When I came here
50:45I didn't know anything about this place
50:47anything
50:49and now I can say
50:51after 9 months and a half
50:53I feel home
50:55Yep, I feel home
50:59The smell of the elements
51:01and I go back to sit
51:03next to these people
51:05and I lift the dust
51:07the drums beating
51:09I bring you storms
51:11before the wind blows
51:13I feel home
51:15The smell of the elements
51:17and I go back to sit
51:19next to these people
51:21and I lift the dust
51:23the drums beating
51:25I bring you storms
51:27before the wind blows
51:31before the wind blows
51:35Feet on the ground
51:37and head in the back
51:39and eyes in the sky
51:41I contemplate these lights
51:43asking myself
51:45often, where does
51:47beauty come from
51:49before the wind blows
51:51before the wind blows
51:53before the wind blows
51:55before the wind blows