The Last Island | Part 2

追加: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Attempt two at landing on the last island. The adventure proved to be easier said [music] than done. The last time I made it into view of the island, my second excursion would be less successful.

[00:00:11]But how does one plan for an adventure like this?

[00:00:16]John Allen Chau, with the assistance [music] of some sympathetic local Christians, found some fishermen that would take him. And in official documents I secretly obtained during my time in the Andamans, the details are eye-opening. Pages and pages of never-before-seen [music] details on the case that captivated the world.

[00:00:34]Including the very location he was buried after having been murdered by the Sentinelese.

[00:00:39]But I had a more unconventional plan. To avoid the risk of alerting authorities by putting out feelers to boat owners, I'd bring my own watercraft from the [music] US.

[00:00:48]A 7.5-ft inflatable dinghy powered by a 2.5-horsepower [music] outboard motor.

[00:00:53]Meanwhile, back home, I practiced extensively on the lakes in my area.

[00:00:58]Measuring speed and [music] fuel burn under different conditions. But airport security refused my outboard motor, claiming the fuel tank [music] hadn't been sufficiently cleaned out.

[00:01:07]So I arrived in the Andamans back at square one. I took to the streets to search for a way forward.

[00:01:24]Unfortunately, having a plan is not always enough. The only place I could get me an outboard motor that met my narrow requirements had to be custom ordered from mainland, which entailed a substantial amount of money and a 15-day wait.

[00:01:35]So I spent the next several days enjoying Port Blair, but with my mission constantly lingering in the back of my mind.

[00:01:42]It's a strange thing to be waiting for something illegal on an island built on punishment.

[00:01:48]I visited Cellular Jail, where Indian dissidents condemned by the British colonial authorities were sent to disappear.

[00:01:56]Men who had crossed a line and found themselves at the edge of the world.

[00:02:01]I took a boat out to Ross Island where the ruins of empire are being slowly reclaimed by the forest.

[00:02:08]Right now I'm in the ruins of the coastal battery on Ross Island. This is where the British would have been fending off Japanese invasion. At North Bay, tourists floated above coral reefs, a mere stone's throw from the most isolated tribe on Earth.

[00:02:25]Yes.

[00:02:26]Two completely different worlds separated by a line no one is allowed to cross.

[00:02:32]Further north, I joined a convoy up the wild [music] Andaman Trunk Road.

[00:02:36]With impenetrable jungle on either side and their protected land, I caught only glimpses of a people who are forbidden from being filmed.

[00:02:45]Throughout the long drive, Jarawa tribesmen would emerge from the jungle.

[00:02:49]An older man in traditional dress coated in white paint, a woman in a faded gown, a teenage boy in a western-style t-shirt, yet still marked by tradition, his face streaked with white paint.

[00:03:03]They [music] stepped from the trees towards the passing trucks hoping to barter for alcohol, tobacco, or whatever [music] else the road might offer.

[00:03:12]At the end, I reluctantly returned home, but not without a plan for a third and final attempt.

[00:03:17]>> [singing] >> And by March, I was back in the islands still captivated by the idea. This time, I'd successfully brought [music] a small 2.5 horsepower four-stroke Suzuki outboard motor in my checked-in luggage.

[00:03:32]Paired with my humble inflatable dinghy, this would be just enough to get me to the island or die trying.

[00:03:39]All right, I'm going to cut back when I take an arrow.

[00:03:41]>> After breaking in my brand new motor, I wasn't [music] taking any chances with the GSAF this time. Checking into my resort and examining [music] the primary beach and tides, I pulled the trigger on midnight on the morning of March 29th, launching from Cormadera under the cover of darkness.

[00:03:59]For the first 6 hours, I navigated through the dark at minimum speed to maximize [music] control and avoid detection.

[00:04:05]I maintained strict light discipline, doing so in violation of the regulations [music] put forward by both the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, and the Indian Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways.

[00:04:18]Carefully navigating around the bobbing white, green, and red lights all around me, I thought I was in the clear.

[00:04:24]That was until I encountered some Bengali fishermen who were coming back from the open ocean, who had also [music] neglected those same safety measures.

[00:04:31]Suddenly illuminated by their spotlight, I offered a half-convincing explanation to the non-English speaking group of the bizarre sight in front of them.

[00:04:40]It worked, and by late morning, I had almost become the first person to go to North Sentinel alone and return alive.

[00:04:48]But I was still yet to return alive.

[00:04:51]What you're about to see has never been publicly viewed before, and was recovered [music] after being seized by authorities later that same evening.

[00:05:00]So, right now, I'm off the northeast corner of uh North Sentinel Island, when I was apprehended for unauthorized entry into a restricted tribal reserve.

[00:05:12]But before I show you that, I have a few things I want to clarify with respect to spreading illnesses to which the Sentinelese might not be immune.

[00:05:19]Contrary to popular belief, the Sentinelese have been face-to-face with outsiders many times, possibly even hundreds of times, and yet they remain with us today. Moreover, my visit was objectively safer than the Indian Anthropological Missions of the late 20th century, for instance.

[00:05:33]My visit was one-off, shorter, less invasive, and I didn't even make contact with the tribals. And if this was a genuine concern, the police wouldn't have taken me there a second time. The biggest threat to isolated tribal groups remains respiratory illness, like the flu or measles, both of which I'm vaccinated against. Regardless, all of this is ultimately irrelevant because I never intended to meet them up close, and I never did. To my knowledge, there is no disease that can be transmitted by simply looking at someone. A strict no-contact policy towards isolated tribal groups remains a minority position among academic anthropologists studying these people. Please defer to those with subject matter expertise and not bots on the internet.

[00:06:15]What you're seeing right there is North Sentinel Island. I would say something witty right now, but uh this is a strong contender for longest day of my life. So, I'm going to spare the words for now. So, this is the northeast corner.

[00:06:32]And then down there, southeast corner. You can see Constance Island. So, the goal, introduce this Paleolithic tribe to modernity, end history by giving them this diet Coke. I will move them ahead 10,000 years. No, 30,000 more likely.

[00:06:51]I'm going to have some food and then I'll uh I'll check back in, but yeah, this is North Sentinel Island. Oh, yeah, and just so you know I'm not bullshitting you.

[00:07:03]Look at that.

[00:07:05]It's been a minute since uh anyone's been here, but I'm going to assess the state of affairs, check in, say what's up, give them a diet Coke, end history all in one day.

[00:07:20]But uh before I do get closer, I'm going to do a a light binocular reconnaissance. I don't want to be too reckless here.

[00:07:28]That's not my MO. We do things uh as carefully as possible here on this channel. Like look how far I am from these cannibal tribes. I'm That's called risk management right there. I just had my uh well-deserved lunch and after a brief binocular reconnaissance, I got motion sickness. If you ever watch Plein Soleil, I'm just like when Alain Delon gets uh stranded in the dinghy.

[00:07:55]Like the yacht's dinghy. If you If you remember that part, that's uh he's me.

[00:07:59]He's literally me.

[00:08:01]That's I'm baking.

[00:08:04]If you ever read Robinson Crusoe, he's also me.

[00:08:08]Literally me. He is me and I am him.

[00:08:11]All right, without further ado, let's uh Let's land on this First landing on the uh on the northeast corner right now.

[00:08:21]Test out the waters. I mean, I can't I can't detect any natives at the moment, but they could be They could be hiding. I'm going to play this very carefully. Um But if this one works out, I might I might check out a few other sites on this island. There's also the wreck of the MV Primrose, which is a uh merchantman that ran aground in the '80s.

[00:08:44]And uh the crew, they got attacked by the natives. They had to be uh evacuated by helicopter. But uh We'll We'll see how this first landing goes. I don't want to push my luck. What I'm doing right now is already uh You get the point. Um I'm not trying to die out here.

[00:09:10]Uh but I'll try and do do what I can.

[00:09:14]You know, I I do this for you guys.

[00:09:20]Here's me going towards the beach.

[00:09:22]Just so you don't think I'm uh going to do some sneaky editing and film from some other beach that's not populated by North Sentinelese.

[00:09:37]Dangerously close to the coast right now.

[00:09:40]But I got a This thing can it get pretty nippy. I just have to twist the handle and I can actually rip it out of here.

[00:09:48]So that's my my one insurance policy.

[00:09:51]If the engine goes down, I'm cooked regrettably, but I uh I I trust the Japanese engineering.

[00:10:00]It is absolutely gorgeous here.

[00:10:02]You want to get away, it's kind of a little out there. I definitely recommend North Sentinel.

[00:10:08]Just from initial impressions. One thing that's worth noting is uh most expeditions to the to North Sentinel both legal and illegal uh haven't made contact with the natives.

[00:10:21]Often they either don't notice the approach like of the landing party or they're you know, they're scared, they hide in the jungle. So So it's very possible I might not get any uh any natives on camera for you, but I'll uh I'll do my best.

[00:10:42]The uh The adrenaline right now it's uh it's a different octane. It's certainly a different octane. I'll say that.

[00:10:50]It is absolutely gorgeous here.

[00:10:53]The following is the latest publicly available documentation [music] of the notorious North Sentinel Island.

[00:11:01]At around 10:00 a.m. I landed approximately here. A completely undisturbed shoreline. The flora was dense, populated with low-growing coastal shrubs, and no [music] tall coconut plantations or human-altered vegetation.

[00:11:15]But from above we can examine many fascinating geological features.

[00:11:19]A small lagoon lays just over [music] the bush line, and further inland what appears to be a man-made path which circumnavigates the island.

[00:11:27]Following the south, you'll arrive at a small structure, likely a lean-to, [music] purpose for storage and rest.

[00:11:33]The Sentinelese are understood to live inland, and although I tried to capture their attention, it was not my intention to arrive face-to-face [music] with the Sentinelese on the island.

[00:11:43]In 2018, John Allen Chau had made that mistake.

[00:11:47]As not to come to the same fate on this deserted beach where we land, what I found is that this isn't [music] the unspoiled Eden many assume.

[00:11:55]At the sea edge, you can see a myriad of waste, evidence [music] of the modern world drifting in from the Bay of Bengal.

[00:12:02]In recent footage I reviewed in circumstances I can't disclose, the Sentinelese were seen putting plastic waste to use as containers for water.

[00:12:10]Waste [music] that has informed them of our customs in the outside world.

[00:12:14]But this was nothing more than our human waste.

[00:12:17]Plastic bottles, caps, a glove, fishing line and lids, all within a 3-m radius of where I landed.

[00:12:24]Our consumer society has made contact, even if never intended. [music] And little did I know, this modern life is much closer to me than I could have ever imagined.

[00:12:38]We are beached.