I'm Steve Backshall... a naturalist and explorer.

I've come to Bhutan to kayak a river that's never been paddled before.

Bhutan is a small, isolated, Himalayan kingdom in between the might of India and China, and home to some of the most remarkable... white water on Earth!

Until now, no one has attempted to explore this river.

It's been considered too dangerous.

Every paddle stroke will take us de eper into uncharted territory.

Ah!

Come on!

We have no idea what perils might lie ahead.

There have been times when I've just felt like -this river has... -[Steve shouts] -..wanted to end me.

-[shouts] [Daz] Steve!

Help!

Bhutan, land of the thunder dragon, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Cut off from the rest of the world for years, this tiny Buddhist nation still upholds age-old traditions.

The people here value spiritual beliefs and happiness above material wealth.

But, for me, it's their harmony with the natural world that makes this place so special.

We're here to kayak the last great unrun white-water river in Bhutan.

To discover a part of the planet that, until now, no one has had the opportunity to explore.

To the north of us here is Gangkhar Puensum.

At 7,500 metres, it's the highest unclimbed mountain in the world.

And this river originates in the glaciers that surround it.

Bhutan sits in the eastern Himalayas, a region of jagged river valleys.

Our expedition starts in Bumthang, where the river carves its way through a steep-sided gorge.

Our goal is to paddle from one end of the gorge to the other, a journey of about 40 kilometres.

Paddlers in the past have said the reason they won't take it on is because it appears to just drop off the face of the planet.

For the next seven days, we're go ing to push as far as we can, through ferocious white water, deep into a wilderness that's remained hidden for centuries.

We have no idea how far we'll get and we could be forced to evacuate at any stage.

But before we can even think of taking on the gorge, we're spending a day training on a nearby river.

We need to practise as a team, because we'll be putting our lives in each other's hands.

So this is what we're calling a shakedown day.

Essentially, it's a chance for everyone to get used to each other, how we all paddle.

For me to get used to my boat.

I've never paddled it before.

And just to get a feel for the water.

[Darren] I'm ready when you are, Steve.

Okay.

It's been years since I've paddled white water this big.

Finding my stroke again is crucial.

There's no way I can attempt a first descent alone.

I need a world-class kayak team.

Darren Clarkson-King, our lead kayaker, is a Himalayan veteran.

[Darren] I've been kayaking in the Himalayas for 20 years, across Tibet, Pakistan, Nepal and India.

But I've never been into a river like we're going into now.

With so little data surrounding it, and so much myth and legend.

And I'm just hoping that we have a safe and secure passage through, really.

James Bebbington is a champion freestyle kayaker.

And on this trip, he's our kayak cameraman.

Sal Montgomery is our safety kayaker.

She's pushed the envelope of kayaking around the world and is a waterfall big drop specialist.

[Sal] We are going into the unknown.

We know very little about where we're heading and no one's really sure what to expect.

So there's a bit of apprehension but mostly excitement, cos we've all been waiting for this day for quite some time now.

To paddle a first descent, we'll need to stop get out and assess every major rapid we encounter.

As the current we come down, we're going to take a... a conservative line just to this side, because we don't want to be near the hole at the bottom.

What you see on the surface is only half the story.

Understanding what lurks beneath could make the difference between life and death.

Scouting rapids is absolutely critical and even more so when you're going down a river that's unrun, undescended.

Because you just have no idea what's going to be around the next corner.

And getting up close to it, looking at it from river level, you can get a much better idea of what the potentials are from a rapid.

So what we've got here are a couple of holes or stoppers.

The river, in changing direction by a rock under the water, is driven up and then driven down and it recirculates.

Coming out of your kayak in a stopper can be fatal.

The force of the water pulls you under into a deadly spin cycle.

Breaking free to catch a breath can be impossible.

As our safety kayaker, Sal will run each rapid first.

She'll then be ready with a throw line, in case any of us get into trouble.

Next, will be Darren.

He'll pick the best route through each rapid and I'll stick to him like glue.

You learn so much from paddling with someone super experienced, like Darren.

Just sitting right in their tracks, watching how he reads the river.

Following his line and that's everything.

And in white water this ferocious, each the smallest mistake could have serious consequences.

Get's the heart going, doesn't it?

As if it wasn't intimidating enough, seeing you spinning out in front of me, didn't massively help.

[laughs] Give us a man hug though.

-Well done.

Good job.

-Cheers, mate.

I've been lucky enough to be on first descent all over the planet, but there's no doubt that this one is the one that scares me the most.

It has amazing potential for beauty and for discovery, and for exploration but, at the same time, if things go wrong, they're going to go badly wrong.

My kayak team are some of the best in the world, but I'm going to be operating ri ght at the edge of my ability.

Once we enter the gorge, we're totally committed.

There could be sections with sheer, unclimbable rock walls, and so, no escape.

After our training day, I'm up for the challenge.

But before we take on this formidable gorge, we need to recce it.

This valley is so inaccessible, it's a two-hour scramble just to reach a vantage point.

Darren has kayaked almost every river in the Himalayas.

But this one has him worried.

Its power is the stuff of local legend.

It's a deep gorge.

We don't quite know what's in there.

And it's got to drop a really big distance, which is quite exciting but also quite intimidating.

-[Sal] Ah, yes!

-[Steve] Here it is.

Oh, that's... That's big, Daz.

I don't think we'll see any more from the next one down, but we should be able to fly the drone from there.

The first section is likely to be the steepest.

We're using a drone to find out wh ether there are any big drops.

Nice work, Gra.

Graham MacFarlane is an adventure cameraman and our drone pilot.

So, you haven't see that one yet, have you?

No.

Oh, that's great, look at that.

And this is coming back to us now, isn't it?

-[Sal] No, that's going over.

-Going towards the river.

-So left of us, basically.

-Yeah.

[Steve] It looks great, guys!

I mean... -[Graham] It's white, isn't it?

-[Steve] Gnarly, but... Possible.

[Daz] So this one here, you want to be down the middle.

Then punching that lateral that's going right to left.

[Steve] Yeah, you don't want to get pushed up against that rock.

-That will be a bad day.

-[Sal] It's going to be quite powerful in there I think.

[Steve] Yeah.

[Sal] There's going to be a lot of volume going down that rapid, which is going to be quite powerful and fast.

I can also see some flat pools, which is a good sign for us.

It means we should be able to pause in between rapids and also get out and have a look at rapids, if necessary.

So that's a really good thing for us.

It's got everything.

It's remote, it's wild.

The scenery is incredibly dramatic and it has this thundering white-water river running through the middle of it that no one's ever paddled before.

I mean, that, to my mind, is pretty a perfect expedition.

All we need to do is get through it with everyone safe and well.

After a successful drone recce, there's now an important Buddhist tradition that we must uphold.

Chencho Drukpa, our Bhutanese kayak guide, wants us to toast the spirits of the river.

Oh, what's your phrase for victory...?

-Lha Gyal Lo!

-Lha Gyal Lo!

-Lha Gyal Lo!

-And what does it mean?

It means victory over the gods...

Victory over the evil, evils or devils.

So I think this is going to become our war cry.

For the river.

Every time we hit a good rapid... -Lha Gyal Lo!

-Lha Gyal Lo!

Lha Gyal Lo!

Wonderful.

[Chencho] Now you need to take a little bit of... -A little one.

-[whispers] Just a little one?

-Yes.

-I think I'm too late.

[laughter] [Chencho ] I don't drink it.

I prefer tea.

Chencho has kayaked every major river in Bhutan, but this one has always eluded him.

The risks were just too great.

He believes that toasting the spirits of the river will bring us good fortune.

The Bhutanese respect of nature is unparalleled.

Rivers and mountains are held sacred.

Forests are left untouched.

And its wildlife is rigorously protected.

We start our expedition five kilometres above the gorge.

Not knowing how or where to get out of this river in an emergency is a big concern.

By studying satellite images, we've identified one obvious evacuation point, but it's right at the end of the gorge, 40km away.

It's time to begin our first descent.

Our plan was for the kayak team to be followed by support rafts carrying the camping kit, medical supplies and food.

But our recce has made it clear that the rafts won't be able to run the first section.

There are too many huge boulders.

So, us kayakers are going to paddle day one of the gorge unsupported.

You wouldn't be human if, right now, you weren't nervous.

Um... We've scouted a tiny, tiny portion of this river and it looks big and potentially dangerous.

But the unknown is of far, far greater concern.

We don't know for sure how difficult the rapids will be.

It could be that they're really difficult and it's really testing all of us and challenging all of us.

Or it could be we get to some rapids and can't get down them.

They're either too dangerous or there's just not a straight-forward line to get through the rocks and the holes and things.

Aldo Kane is our expedition medic.

Any serious accident on the river and he'll be in charge of the medivac.

-Steve, we're just checking you've got the sat-phone?

-Yep.

Sal and Daz, you've both got trackers?

-And, Daz, you've got the radio?

-I've got a tracker.

All right.

Have fun!

[Aldo] So they're going to crack on down the river.

We're going to try and leapfrog them and get in at the first big, uh, dangerous set of rapids, which is the entrance really into the main gorge.

Okay, so what's our war cry?

-[all] Lha Gyal Lo!

-Lha Gyal Lo!

Come on!

This gorge is truly a gateway into the unknown.

We have no idea how far we'll get or what dangers could lie ahead.

-[bird whistles] -This is just lovely, isn't it?

Oh, my God, this is glorious!

[Sal] Gorgeous!

[Steve] Whoo-hoo-hoo!

We've barely begun and already we've paddled into paradise.

We've come into this steep-sided valley with giant boulders the size of houses everywhere.

And coming down to the water's edge, is a conifer forest of Himalayan and blue pine packed full of birds and the most amazing songs and sounds coming our way and ahead of us.

It's just miles and miles of wilderness.

As we explore, we hope to reveal that this river valley is home to extraordinary wildlife.

These forests are filled with Himalayan black bears, leopards, red pandas, even tiger.

Imagine what that would be like, coming down to the riverside and seeing a tiger.

In steep-sided valleys like this one, the wildlife has to come to the river to drink.

Spotting a tiger might be unlikely, but it's not impossible.

I can't let my attention wander.

After our recce, we know this gorge is about to get serious.

Just a few kilometres downstream, there's a confluence where another river joins and the volume of water doubles.

Whoa!

Rock, rock, rock!

Aah!

Wooh!

That was not ideal.

[Steve] So I can hear thunder.

Which means we've got something more significant ahead of us and it's a drop, it's a proper drop.

Okay!

Let's go!

This ice-cold glacial melt water chills you to the core.

Come on, Backshall!

The shock of immersion is energy-sapping.

[groans] Ah!

Oh, that was shocking.

Did you see that knoblet of rock?

[Daz] Yeah.

Well, I hit it and scooted.

Steve hit it and tumbled.

Oh!

That looks like a bit of a tangled mess.

The only other way of accessing this remote section of gorge is a treacherous two-hour scramble.

Aldo has reached a vantage point to keep tabs on our progress.

Steve, Steve, Aldo.

Over.

We've come down to the boulder choke, which is why we can't come in in the rafts.

And we can see from here it's too tight for us to go past.

So we've leapfrogged ahead of them.

We can't get down any further than here, but at least we can spot... We know they've got down this far and they're safe at this point.

We then lose them again after this rapid, back into the canyon.

[Steve] Oh!

That's a bit more serious.

As expected, the river's starting to constrict.

And as it constricts, all that power has to go somewhere and it's going into something quite full-on here, with quite a lot of potential danger.

The mood of the river feels like it's changing, becoming angrier.

We want everyone to be aiming right.

There's a hazard of us getting stuck underneath that slopping wall.

There's also a submerged tree ri ght in the middle of our path.

Yeah, got to be honest, that scares the living daylights out of me!

I don't know.

Okay, Steve, you can do it, mate.

As you come over, pull a big lefty stroke.

That'll point your boat this way.

-Yeah.

-And just keep going.

Will do.

Yes!

Sal!

[Sal] Yeeee-hooo!

-[Daz] That's it, Steve!

-Yeah, you beauty!

Whoooo!

Listen to that.

They've all come down the rapids.

They're all super stoked.

[Daz] Steve!

We're making good progress.

And the river has, at last, relaxed.

We can catch our breath.

[Aldo] The worry is, for them, they're only ten feet above the water, so they only see down to the next line.

But from where we are, we can see that it goes on for at least 400 metres.

And the start of it looks pretty testy.

[inhales] Oooh!

Well, we were told to expect that this river would, at some point, fall off the face of the planet.

And it looks like this is where it happens.

Ooh!

[Daz] Sal's going first.

She'll call it.

Yes or no.

Good luck, Sal.

Okay.

[Steve] Oi-ya-ya!

Yeah, just keeping that line.

Oh, my God!

She's got some guts.

Come on, Sal.

-Yes, she's through!

She's good!

-Nice!

There's no other feeling like riding something that's never been rode before.

You have no idea what's over the horizon line.

When it goes right, it's pretty awesome!

Next up, Darren.

Aah!

[Sal] Yeeeeeeeh!

Wheey!

My turn.

Whoa!

Okay.

Now, get it together.

Get it together, Backshall.

Go on.

[Sal] Come on, Steve, you can do this.

Come on!

You've got this.

[Daz] Pick up, pick up!

Waaah!

-[Sal] Whoop!

Whoop!

Whoop!

-[Daz] Back up!

[Sal] Whoop!

Whoop!

Whoop!

[Steve] Aah!

Aah!

[dramatic music] Are you getting him out?

Come on.

Come on, Steve!

[Steve shouts] [Daz] Sal!

[Daz] Come on, he's in trouble.

Steve!

[Steve muffled] Help!

Get out of your boat!

[Steve muffled] Help me!

-[Steve muffled] Help!

-I'm coming!

[Steve] Help!

Help!

[Sal] Come on!

[Steve gurgling] Help!

Come on!

Steve!

[Steve] Help!

I can't get it!

I can't get it!

Get the rope!

Hold on!

Pick up the rope!

No!

[dramatic music intensifies] Got it!

[Daz] There you are, Steve!

Swim!

Swim!

Swim!

Swim!

Swim!

Swim!

Ah!

-[Daz] I've got you.

-[Steve] Thank you.

Oh!

It kept dragging me back into the fall.

[Steve sighs] I can honestly say that's one of the scariest things that's ever happened to me.

I honestly thought I was going to drown, even with my dry suit and my life jacket on, it just kept pulling me under, pulling me under, pulling me under.

[sighs] Ah!

I am very, very lucky to be here.

Very, very lucky.

If Sal hadn't chucked me that rope, I don't think I'd have made it.

[panting] Oh, God!

The team reunites on the riverbank to take stock of the situation.

That felt pretty... pretty close to me.

I think that's the closest I've ever been to drowning.

It's not nice.

Um... Yeah.

That rope was... just salvation.

-So thank you.

-My pleasure.

Um... Having had such a close call, and it did feel like a close call to me, I think that has to make an impact on how we make our decisions from here on in.

Uh, when the gorge comes in tight, we need to just slow everything right down and... don't be, sort of, scared of just bailing out and hiking out, uh... at any point.

Just because the rapid's there, we don't need to run it, we can climb out.

[Steve] I guess what we're missing though is that today's been one of the best days of my life.

-[laughter] -And it was almost the last day.

Even though I...

Even though I nearly died at the end of it, it will still be of the best days of my life.

Paddling into that place, knowing you're the first person that's ever gone there and just every single second being jaw-droppingly beautiful.

I mean, you know... And like you were saying earlier on, this only happens once.

No one else will ever get to do that for the first time.

No one else will ever get to go round every corner not knowing what's there.

I mean, what just an unbelievable honour.

It's staggering.

Morning arrives, but I've had little rest.

Yesterday, the Chamka Chu didn't just get the better of me, it terrified me.

I can't help but think that this river is the master of my destiny.

I had to have a very stern word with myself this morning.

Very tempting just to call it a day and jack it in.

Particularly because there's no warm-up.

We're just plunging straight back into it again today.

[sighs] I mean... you can't go through what I went through yesterday without being really shaken up and losing a bit of your confidence.

And I need to get that back and back fast, so actually, this is probably the best thing I could possibly ask for.

It doesn't feel it right now.

We've decided not to take our rafts in here, which we were going to do.

So it's a change of plan.

Steve and the kayakers will head on.

In this next section, we'll pull the rafts back out and try and get round again and drop in at another safe location.

Wolves!

Steve, a wolf!

-[Steve] Hey, wow!

Look at that.

-[Aldo] Two of them.

[Sal] Two of them!

[Steve] Whoa!

Oh!

Wild dogs, it's a pair.

Running on the other side of the river.

These are super, super rare.

I've never seen one before.

Oh!

There are some little things that feel like they've just been thrown in to set things right.

That's amazing.

That is absolutely amazing.

Right.

-Come on!

-[Daz] Okay.

Are we good, guys?

[Steve] We're good!

-Okay, shall we rock 'n' roll?

For now at least, it feels like the spirits of the river are smiling on us.

Wooh-hoo-hoo!

Yes!

That's what I needed.

Okay.

But we still have a problem.

Unless Aldo and the rafts can find a way to meet us further downriver, we'll soon run out of supplies.

[Aldo] I'm not big up horses, donkeys, mules and asses.

As far as I can see, he looks like a donkey.

Uh, and he looks like a horse.

So we've got, I think, mules.

They're basically going to help us take our kit down, but they can't take too much weight.

It's super, super steep.

That's... That's a horse.

I have to say, I actually thought we'd have been on the water two days ago now, and instead we're... driving a train of mules down one of steepest valleys in Bhutan.

But that's what expeditions are.

That's what you do.

You've got to do everything and anything you can to... to try and achieve what it is that you set out to do.

On the river, we've had an easy start and have made it a quarter of the way through the gorge.

But we know this river too well to drop our guard.

The rapids are now hammering us in quick succession.

Aah!

Come on!

Waah!

[Sal] That's it, Steve!

Yooo!

Ah, it's not good.

I'm survival paddling.

Not paddling well.

All that adrenaline.

The more you stress, the harder you work, the more you tire yourself out and the harder it becomes.

And right now because I'm frightened...

I'm just working too hard and so I'm tiring.

The descent seems to be getting even more ferocious, hitting another big drop is constantly on my mind.

Oh!

-[Sal] He's over!

-[Daz] Yeah, he's up!

-[cheering] -[Daz] Well done!

Oh, seriously!

This had been one of the hardest days I've ever had.

Just never stops.

And just when I think I've got my game face back on again, something else hits me.

[Sal] Keep going, guys.

Well done!

Keep paddling.

Oh!

You are having a laugh!

It's a fricking waterfall!

And it's not just any waterfall.

It's strewn with boulders and potential hazards we can't see underwater.

We decide there's no other option.

We're pulling out and portaging - carrying our kayaks around the rapid.

[Daz] It's gonna be hard this next hour.

[groans] [Sal] Whoo!

What do you think?

Lower it down from here?

-Or carry on round?

-[Sal] This bit's a bit sketchy to step on.

Steve, Steve, come in.

Aldo, over.

It's really hard trying not to think the worst-case scenario at the minute, cos they're quite late.

I've been in quite a few scrapes with Steve over the years, from climbing to caving to... being on the ocean and, um...

Yesterday was definitely the most scared I've ever seen him and the closest, in his own words, he's ever come to death.

So it's hard having seen that and knowing the nature of this river now.

It does have that ability.

It's quite... tough sitting here, waiting for them.

Steve, Steve, come in.

Aldo, over.

Steve, Aldo, over.

[Steve] Ah!

I see them!

[inspirational music] Whoo!

-[Daz] James, we're done.

-[Sal laughs] -[Steve] Come on!

-[Sal] Come here.

[Daz] Let's get a big old hug in!

Well done!

I'm really proud of you.

-Thank you all.

-You did it all so well.

-Thank you all so, so much.

-Nice one, guys.

-Thank you, James.

-Ah!

[Sal laughs] Lha Gyal Lo!

[all] Lha Gyal Lo!

Whooo!

We've been paddling the river for over six hours and have survived 20 sets of rapids.

We're now three-quarters of the way through the gorge.

-How does it feel, Steve?

-How does it feel?

Uh, I'm alive.

Did we have a little walk in the park?

No, that was, uh...

I feel like I've taken on some pretty major demons today.

Yeah.

Today wasn't easy, guys.

Well done, everyone.

Not easy at all.

-Well done, mate.

-Thank you, buddy.

-How's your day been?

-Yeah, not bad.

It was not as hard as yours, no doubt, but... quite a lot of expedition kit, nine ponies... -Ponies?

Amazing!

-Wow!

How was it?

-Too much for me.

-Too much?

Too much for me.

I'm just really emotionally tired now.

I just want to go to sleep really.

I'm absolutely mentally exhausted and ready just to switch off a little bit.

It's been a tough day.

We've survived a second day in the gorge.

But this volatile river is taking its toll on all of us.

The whole team is together at last.

And with the arrival of food and supplies, morale is high.

This is not normal expedition-style breakfast.

Because all of the guys have come down and joined us, they've brought down a proper spread.

And we have porridge, honey and proper coffee, and... Yeah, this is a...

This is living!

This is proper living.

Thank you.

[Aldo] Are you eating sausage and porridge together?

-Yes.

-[laughter] [Aldo] Sausage porridge is not cool.

-Sal?

-[Daz laughs] -Oh!

-[laughter] Today, the support rafts are joining us for what should be the final stretch of the gorge.

But this river plays by its own rules.

We have no idea what to expect.

If I was naming this river, I'd call it the Green Dragon.

Sometimes it's sleeping and you just hear it snorting and billows of smoke coming from its nostrils.

And other times, it roars and when it roars, it's the most frightening thing you could ever imagine.

There have been times when I've just felt like this river has wanted to end me.

And then, the next day, you can stand alongside it like this and it's gorgeous.

None of us knows what this river is going to throw at us next.

A Himalayan river should, in theory, drop off the Himalayan plateau, like... Go on a really nice bell curve.

Go hard, hard, hard, quite hard, a bit easier, a bit easier, then easy.

And I'm hoping that is really what happens.

Cos if that doesn't happen like that, I think we're in real trouble.

So this is all the expedition kit.

Um...

Which is camping and cooking stuff.

But also film kit, sound kit, cameras, drones.

Thousands and thousands of pounds' worth of kit.

So, uh... no pressure.

Raft is first.

Then us!

Are we going?

Okay, let's go!

-Whoo-hoo!

-Lha Gyal Lo!

Lha Gyal Lo!

The Chamka Chu is as unpredictable as ever.

It's even getting the better of world-class kayakers.

Power.

Power through it.

Power through it.

[Sal] You've got this.

[Sal] Paddle, paddle, paddle!

Paddle!

Paddle!

-Yeaaah!

-I'm going to do it!

You beauty!

Lha Gyal Lo!

The euphoria of nailing a rapid lifts my spirits.

But they're soon dashed.

I'm fighting each and every rapid.

Oh, God!

But the river has the upper hand.

Does that look like a bit of a drop there, Sal?

Yeah, it looks like quite a bit of gradient loss there.

James investigates.

I don't think we can come down this one.

This siphon here is deadly.

This hole, if it had a bit of speed, we might just make it through.

But if we lose any speed on the way into that, we'd be swimming out of it and with the big rock, you just can't see round the corner.

It's backing the water back in, so if you swam, you'd be getting sucked against that rock and straight back in.

It's such a hard spot to get people out of.

It's death on a stick, really.

There's just no way we can run this.

We kind of felt like we were nearly there.

And again, we've hit a massive drop and we're stuck.

And all I can see is rapids.

Further back upriver, the rafters are trying to catch up with us.

But they're being bounced from one boulder to another.

[Aldo] We're stuck now on a rock and, uh, we're filling up with water, guys.

To get off the rock, the team needs to make the raft lighter and that means evacuating.

Our sound recordist Nick Allinson is the first to go.

Right, what you're going to do is hold on here.

-Pay attention.

-Hold on there.

Yeah.

Hold on here, both hands.

Get in the water.

And you're going across hand to hand.

All the way in.

Face that way, feet up.

-Feet up... -Hey!

As Nick reaches safety, the raft breaks free.

We're coming in, coming in.

[cheering] With us kayakers stopped in our tracks further downstream, we have to carry our boats back up to base camp.

But the spirits of the river are now on our side.

Tiger.

It's a tiger track.

But a big, male tiger.

A big, mature, male tiger.

And that was in the last couple of days.

Completely crisp.

We had a bit of rain last night, so it would've washed out.

So that's today!

A tiger was here today!

That's unbelievable!

Look at that!

Amazing.

Okay, that's another good reason why we need to stick together!

Our kit is soaked.

But the team is back together again.

So you've abandoned your boats down there?

Yeah, probably another 600, 700 metres on.

-What does it look like?

-Just awful.

There's a...

So there's a drop that you wouldn't get the rafts down.

There's a huge sort of 15, 20 feet restricted.

And then, um, beyond that... We went down.

We ran that.

And then beyond that, just didn't see.

-Chaos then?

-Evil.

-Yeah, certain death.

-Right.

Let's make camp here tonight and we'll try and work out a plan.

All right.

-Well done, dudes.

-Glad to see you out of it.

This river has defeated us.

We're so close to the end of the gorge.

Just two kilometres.

But beyond this point the walls are sheer rock.

If we ran the next section, we'd have absolutely no chance of escape.

Our first descent may be over.

But we've paddled deep into the wilderness into a valley where tigers roam.

Finding signs of Bhutan's apex predator is huge.

If tigers are here, they're prey is here too.

Wildlife in these forests is bountiful.

Well, that is a pretty grisly site.

It's a tiger kill.

And it has met a very sticky end.

The tiger has taken it at the back of the neck.

There's a very evident wound there.

And it wouldn't have stood a chance.

He's probably gone down from here to the waterside and that print that I saw was him going down to a drink, after feeding.

Wow!

Our campsite is just a stone's throw in that direction.

The river's right there.

[wind gusts] [indistinct chatter] This is my bed for the night.

Some people dream of spa hotels and massages.

And I dream of a clear night sky, a raging river and quite a few logs, but it looks perfect.

I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep on here.

There's something about being camped on a beach in Bhutan 40 feet away from a massive tiger print.

Like, they are here!

It's not like taking your tent to the zoo and pitching it in the tiger sanctuary.

To think that We're sharing this forest with an animal like that is - yeah - extraordinary.

Better if we saw it, but I don't think that's going to happen.

We leave the fire burning in case the tiger returns to finish off his kill during the night.

[birds twittering] Buddhist spirituality infuses every part of Bhutan.

Nature is revered.

Forests are held sacred and it certainly feels like the spirits of the river have been watching over us.

Before we leave, there's a uniquely Buddhist custom we want to uphold.

These prayer flags are known as wind horses.

Each one is inscribed with a prayer, quite often a writing by the Buddha.

And the idea is you put them in a prominent place, somewhere like a mountain pass or a mountain top.

And as the wind comes past them, the vibrations take the prayers out, carry them with the wind to every single place around the planet.

The Chamka Chu has taught me lessons I will remember for the rest of my life.

There's a lot of reasons for us to be putting these flags out here right now.

They're thanks for a successful journey.

A celebration of Bhutan and just the wonder that this place embodies.

For me as well, I think there's a more personal reason.

I've got a lot to be thankful for now.

And, uh, yeah...

It's a time for remembering how lucky I am just to be here at all.

As always, the river's been an amazing teacher.

We've all learnt a thousand things we didn't even know we needed to learn and it feels really special to have had those lessons.

[Sal] Not only is it the last first descent in Bhutan, which is incredible.

It's a real privilege to be part of that.

It was just a life-changing experience.

But probably the most exciting is that, off there to the south, is a canyon that is still unexplored.

I need people to have that sense that there are still wild, exciting places out there left to explore.

And that is definitely one of them.

♪ EXPEDITION WITH STEVE BACKSHALL IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ♪ ♪