Shoot and Scribble
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TROPIC OF CANCER WITH SIMON REEVE - Programme Five: Bangladesh, N.E. India and Burma.
Author and TV presenter Simon Reeve continues his epic 6-part journey around the Tropic of Cancer, the northern border of the tropics region. On this fifth leg of the journey he travels from western Bangladesh across the Indian states of Tripura and Mizoram, and on into Burma.
The photograph shows Simon wading across a river in western Burma with local guides. Simon, director Andrew Carter and cameraman Jonathan Young, had crossed into Chin State in western Burma from a remote area of the Indian state of Mizoram. Their crossing was illegal and extremely risky, as the BBC is banned from Burma, a military dictatorship and one of the most repressive countries in the world.
The team travelled on foot to a Chin village, home to people from the 1.5m-strong Chin ethnic group, who live on the Tropic of Cancer. They discovered that Burmese troops are committing appalling human rights abuses against the Chin population of Burma, including execution, torture, rape and forced labour. There are more than 50 Burmese army bases in Chin State, and the Chin people are effectively living under a military occupation on their own land.
Simon and his team are among just a handful of foreigners to visit this area of Chin State in recent decades. When they heard that a Burmese army patrol had arrived in the next village they had to flee back to the Indian-Burma border, walking through the night to reach safety.
This Tropic of Cancer series is Simon's third trip exploring the Tropics - the region of the planet with both the richest natural biodiversity, and the greatest concentration of human suffering. During 2006 and 2008 he travelled around the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn for the acclaimed BBC series of the same name.
Photograph © Simon Reeve. More information: www.simonreeve.co.uk
IMG_2522.JPG
TROPIC OF CANCER WITH SIMON REEVE - Programme Five: Bangladesh, N.E. India and Burma.
Author and TV presenter Simon Reeve continues his epic 6-part journey around the Tropic of Cancer, the northern border of the tropics region. On this fifth leg of the journey he travels from western Bangladesh across the Indian states of Tripura and Mizoram, and on into Burma.
The photograph shows Simon wading across a river in western Burma with local guides. Simon, director Andrew Carter and cameraman Jonathan Young, had crossed into Chin State in western Burma from a remote area of the Indian state of Mizoram. Their crossing was illegal and extremely risky, as the BBC is banned from Burma, a military dictatorship and one of the most repressive countries in the world.
The team travelled on foot to a Chin village, home to people from the 1.5m-strong Chin ethnic group, who live on the Tropic of Cancer. They discovered that Burmese troops are committing appalling human rights abuses against the Chin population of Burma, including execution, torture, rape and forced labour. There are more than 50 Burmese army bases in Chin State, and the Chin people are effectively living under a military occupation on their own land.
Simon and his team are among just a handful of foreigners to visit this area of Chin State in recent decades. When they heard that a Burmese army patrol had arrived in the next village they had to flee back to the Indian-Burma border, walking through the night to reach safety.
This Tropic of Cancer series is Simon's third trip exploring the Tropics - the region of the planet with both the richest natural biodiversity, and the greatest concentration of human suffering. During 2006 and 2008 he travelled around the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn for the acclaimed BBC series of the same name.
Photograph © Simon Reeve. More information: www.simonreeve.co.uk