♪ Araneda: Nico, Nico, team, do you copy?

Okay, we're gonna head there.

I have eyes on the cat right now... ♪ ♪ This is when you need to stand your ground.

You stay still.

You don't run.

♪ Narrator: At the ends of the earth is a land of extremes... home to spectacular wildlife.

For centuries, people and animals have battled for supremacy.

But now, enemies are becoming allies.

Together they face new challenges... ...in our rapidly changing world.

You are at the mercy of the elements.

Narrator: This is the story of what it takes to survive... on the edge of the world.

♪ For 12 months, our film crews journeyed from the southern tip of the continent... Whoa!

...to the peaks of the Andes.

We made it!

Narrator: Equipped with cutting-edge technology and accompanied by local experts.

She's definitely a female, probably hunted this morning.

Narrator: They battled through extreme elements... [ Groans ] ...with one goal -- to capture the most compelling stories of the animals and the people that live in one of the wildest places on earth.

♪ As summer arrives in the southern hemisphere, the crews are making the most of the longer days and warmer weather.

It is also the best time for filming marine life.

Orca, along Argentina's coastal cliffs... ...leopard seals on Chile's ice floes... ...and humpbacks in the pristine fjordlands of the far south.

A crew led by oceanographer Susannah Buchan is searching for the largest animal that has ever lived.

We are in the Corcovado Gulf in the northern part of Chilean Patagonia, and we're looking for blue whales.

Narrator: During the summer, this area is their primary feeding ground.

Around 700 Chilean blue whales come here to feast.

For the next 10 days, this crew will live at sea, hoping to capture one of these ocean giants on camera.

But even for the experts, tracking them down can be tricky.

You would think the biggest animal in the world is easy to find.

It turns out it's not.

They roam over great distances.

We have to scan this huge area looking for them.

We're cautiously optimistic, but this is a big challenge.

Narrator: It's all eyes on deck.

But Captain Thomas Montt has a disappointing update.

Today we have spoken to many, many different skippers on other boats, and no one has seen a blue whale or any blows in the last five weeks.

Narrator: This is a major setback.

♪ The days go by... And still no sign.

But as dawn breaks on day six, they get some hopeful news.

So last night, we had a reported sighting of a blue whale about 40 miles south of here.

So we're surveying this area, moving southwards to try to locate that animal.

Narrator: It's a long shot.

If the whale is on the move, it could be traveling at over 20 miles per hour -- twice as fast as this boat.

Six hours later, still nothing.

Drone operator Ceci Vargas is feeling the pressure.

Vargas: There's so much at stake.

We've spent so many days looking for them, and if we don't find it, we won't be able to tell the story.

In Spanish, "buscando una aguja en un pajar" means "looking for a needle in a haystack."

And this needle is massive, but the haystack is even bigger.

The next few days, it's gonna be very stormy.

We really think this is gonna be our last chance to see them.

♪ Narrator: And right on cue, the weather turns.

♪ ♪ By the time the storm passes, the crew have just one day left before they have to return to port.

It's usually tricky, not this tricky.

This has been, like, spectacularly difficult.

Narrator: Then Thomas gets some exciting news.

Whales have been spotted only two hours away.

♪ ♪ Ohh!

We've got some whales.

-Nice.

-Yeah!

A big blow and a small blow.

Narrator: After 10 days at sea, the crew have finally found what they were looking for.

♪ Wildlife filming doesn't just need a lot of planning and a highly skilled team.

It also requires a lot of luck.

♪ Beautiful.

While the whale team makes the most of filming the world's largest marine mammal, another crew is on the lookout for the world's smallest.

♪ ♪ Narrator: Summer in Patagonia, and filming is in full swing.

One crew is heading to Bahía Mansa, a quiet fishing village on the west coast of Chile.

They've been told it's home to the marine otter, known in Patagonia as the chungungo.

This enclosed bay may look like an easy place for filming, but it's a tough assignment.

Anybody see it?

Woman: No, not yet.

Narrator: The crew only has five days to learn the otters' movements and capture them on camera.

He heard them.

They just cried out.

Narrator: Having filmed chungungo before, cinematographer Mauricio Handler knows it won't be easy.

They're sneaky, they're very sneaky, and they're very fast.

For such a small animal, one minute they're there, the next minute they're gone.

Handler: Where?

Narrator: This location also brings its own challenges.

Handler: Yeah, yeah, I got them, I got them.

Ahhh.

See, that's what happens all the time -- you got a great shot, and then you get a boat that comes in the way.

Let's get some high ground again.

Handler: Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's a tough angle.

I lost them.

So this goes on all day long.

You have to be here from sunrise to sunset, and you can't miss a beat.

Narrator: Despite the difficulties, this is a dream shoot for Mauricio.

He has a special connection, not only with this creature, but also the country itself.

Handler: I was born in Chile, but I left very young, at six years old, and I returned only about seven years ago as a cinematographer.

There they are!

All three are there, all three are there!

I was introduced to the chungungo by some colleagues of mine here.

Way too close for me.

Ahh!

And since then, I've really been obsessed by them.

-See them on top?

-I got them.

The chungungo is exquisite, inquisitive, intelligent, and cute.

You know, that's probably why we like them the most.

It has character, it has personality, and they're beautiful.

Narrator: The crew now realizes it's a family of chungungo that live on this coastline.

Mom and her two pups.

But filming from the docks only allows the team to get glimpses of their daily lives.

I hope it's not too cold today.

Narrator: To really get to know them, Mauricio needs to go where they go.

Handler: So I think today is just gonna be try and check everything out, where they live, become a sea otter, and see if we can get them used to my presence.

You have to kind of gain the trust of the animal, let them know that it's alright for you to get close.

And if they let you in, they let you in.

♪ Narrator: Mauricio soon finds the chungungo underwater.

But unsure if he's friend or foe, they don't hang around.

Handler: It's very exciting to see them in the water.

They're here -- mom and her two babies.

But there's all sorts of places to hide.

Narrator: Over the next couple of days, Mauricio perseveres, hoping the family will learn that he isn't a threat.

But as he follows them to the shoreline, he gets a nasty surprise.

Handler: I got slammed into a rock.

It just came out of nowhere.

I wasn't expecting it.

Narrator: Freezing and now bruised, he has to get out.

The wind is not helping 'cause I'm starting to shiver.

So when you start shivering, you start getting cramps in the water too, so you've got to be real careful.

Narrator: The conditions force Mauricio to give up for the day.

Handler: As everybody that does natural history knows, this is a waiting game, so you have to have tremendous patience, you have to stay focused and stay on the subject and on the story line.

♪ Narrator: With time running out, Mauricio sticks to the plan.

♪ And it pays off.

♪ The chungungo are no longer afraid of him.

Handler: It's fantastic!

They couldn't really care less about me.

They were all over the housing.

It was a very magical moment because you realize that they don't have fear of you.

♪ It is really beautiful to have them on top of you.

You see their webbed feet.

You see their face and their little whiskers.

Beautiful.

♪ Narrator: The chungungo are a regular sight for the locals.

But there are some creatures that are rarely seen, and one in particular that very few people even know exists.

♪ Narrator: In the north of Chilean Patagonia, a crew is sailing to the Guaitecas, an archipelago only accessible by boat.

They're here to track down an elusive species -- the Chilean dolphin.

Found only along this coastline, they're rarely spotted, and even harder to catch on camera.

But the team has invited an expert to help them on their mission.

Man: ¡Hola!

Narrator: Marine biologist Carla Christie.

[ Conversing in Spanish ] ♪ Narrator: The crew is also armed with an array of technology -- drones, underwater cameras, and powerful stabilized zoom lenses, which Carla and cinematographer Elijah Harris use to scour the horizon for any sign of the dolphins.

♪ ♪ The team settles in for a long search.

♪ But luck... is on their side.

♪ -Good morning!

-Good morning.

♪ Time to get a closer look.

♪ ♪ ♪ Oh!

♪ Whoo!

¡Hola!

♪ ♪ Mauricio immerses his camera in their underwater world.

♪ ♪ It's the moment of truth -- time for Carla to review the footage.

-No?

-No.

Narrator: Following their success on water, it's time to take to the sky.

The drone footage captures something totally unexpected.

Carla hopes this amazing footage will inspire others to help save this endangered animal.

♪ Local experts were essential in helping the teams find Patagonia's wildlife.

Another crew enlisted a special investigator to track down a newly discovered creature.

♪ ♪ Narrator: To find and film Patagonia's wildlife, the team relied on local experts, guides, and trackers.

One scientist in particular took the crews to the most remote locations in search of creatures they'd never have found on their own.

They call him "the bug detective."

Entomologist extraordinaire Isaí Madriz.

I specialize in going to areas of the world where no one has ever been, and I look for rare and new species of insects.

Narrator: The challenge for director Kate Laurie is keeping up with him.

Isaí is not your average scientist.

He's out in the field as much as he possibly can be.

He'll climb to the top of tree canopies, pack raft down rivers... ...hike glaciers because he wants to immerse himself in the bug's environment.

He's dedicated.

Narrator: This time, Isaí is leading the crew into the heart of Chile's Valdivian forest.

Madriz: The mission is to find a primitive crane fly.

It's gonna be one of the prettiest insects you've ever seen.

Narrator: That means rigging a light trap high up in the canopy.

And where Isaí goes, Elijah must follow.

So the ropes team is rigging up my camera with some security lines.

Taking expensive equipment up into the canopy is never something you can not worry about.

Operating from anything moving is obviously difficult.

There's a lot of variables.

♪ Narrator: With the trap set, Isaí begins making his bed.

He insists on sleeping in the trees so he can check the trap at dawn.

So how often do you camp out?

All the time.

I started when I went to university and I couldn't afford housing.

Hmm.

So I just pitched a hammock up in the trees... -Nice.

-...and I slept there.

I like it.

It's really calm and it gives you a different perspective... -Hmm.

-...on the world, you know?

Definitely does.

♪ Narrator: As the sun rises over the canopy, Isaí is already at work in his improvised field lab.

So exciting!

Narrator: And he's got what he came here for.

This is really, really cool.

It's like a tiny dragon.

♪ Laurie: We'd never been able to do this without Isaí.

It just goes to show how important local experts are.

♪ Narrator: As summer draws to a close... 500 miles to the south, cinematographer Ignacio Walker... Let's go!

Narrator: ...and director Tessa Chan are heading to one of the most remote places on Earth.

The Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

Chan: We're on our way to meet a team of elite scientists.

They're studying the effects of climate change on this extremely important expanse of ice.

Patagonia has some of the largest freshwater ice fields on the planet.

It would be a disaster if we lost them.

Narrator: After a day of driving, they reach the end of the road.

Chan: We got to Caleta Tortel, which is this beautiful village in between the Southern and Northern Patagonian Ice Fields.

Narrator: From here, they board the scientists' boat where they'll be traveling with some unusual cargo.

So they just arrived with these two essential provisions which is portaloos, or toilets.

I'm sure some scientists are gonna be really grateful to have those.

Narrator: Expedition leader Camilo Rada is the final one aboard.

It's a 13-hour sail to their next stop, a refuge at the foot of the glacier.

♪ Chan: We're supposed to be traveling from here to the Ice Field by helicopter.

But the visibility is really poor.

Unless the weather clears, it's just not gonna happen.

Narrator: All they can do now is wait.

Not one day... not two... not three.

It's now been over a week since the start of their journey.

Even if the weather improves, the film crew is at the bottom of the helicopter's wait list, after the scientists, their provisions, and of course their toilets.

♪ So we've just woken up to, like, our first beautiful morning.

The pilot is gonna make his way to Tortel and then decide in an hour whether we can fly up to the Ice Field or not.

So we've got all our fingers crossed.

Narrator: Fortunately, the weather holds.

One step closer to the Ice Field.

♪ ♪ Narrator: With each successful flight, the camera crew moves up that wait list.

It's our turn, and I'm really excited.

I can't believe we're finally gonna get to go up there.

Narrator: It's taken them eight days by land... sea... and air.

Whoo!

We made it!

It's absolutely stunning up here.

It's like another planet.

Narrator: The crew can finally capture Camilo and his team tracking the relationship between the Ice Field and climate change.

♪ As they brave the elements high up on the ice, an Argentinean crew is filming a mission to protect a highly prized Patagonian resource.

And this time it involves traveling by warship.

♪ Narrator: It's fall, and all across Patagonia, the film crews are facing more challenging conditions.

The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are dropping, and for the teams out at sea, it's a real test of their balance.

This crew is braving the waves, attempting to capture aerial footage of the far south.

But when everything is moving, including you... Oooohhh!

Narrator: ...you need sturdy sea legs and someone watching your back.

♪ But the bruising, nauseating ride is all worth it when you capture shots like this.

♪ Fortunately for Argentinean director Kevin Zaouali and his crew, they're sailing the high seas in a vessel built for battle.

This is one of five warships belonging to the Argentine Coast Guard.

They're headed out to mile 200, where the Argentine Sea ends and international waters begin.

After 25 hours at sea, they make it to the border, where they are greeted by a floating city.

Hundreds of long-liners here for one thing -- squid.

There are no laws preventing fishing in international waters.

But if any boat strays into Patagonia's territory, the Coast Guard are here to step in, protecting Argentina's sovereignty and Patagonia's marine ecosystem.

♪ [ Speaking Spanish ] The goal is to shine a light on how the fishing operation works.

With Kevin operating the camera, Iván Insausti flies the drone.

♪ The huge lights are designed to mimic the moon, attracting squid to the surface.

They're then lured onto 300-foot fishing lines which are pulled up by winch arms.

Now the team need to move on and find a vessel in action.

♪ Fortunately, catching a drone on this boat... ...is a little bit easier.

♪ ♪ But as they get close... ♪ Luckily the next one they approach doesn't seem bothered by their presence.

Kevin wants to get closer.

So the Coast Guard agrees to let him go out in one of their inflatables.

They even provide him with extra protection.

♪ The mutual trust between the Coast Guard and the film crew pays off big time... ...allowing them to reveal the sheer scale of squid fishing here -- as many as 50 tons per vessel every day.

Huge support ships collect the catch to sell on to Asia and Europe.

This fleet never stops fishing.

♪ While the Argentine Coast Guard works to protect their marine life from being over-hunted... ♪ ...across the border in Chile, others are trying to protect a predator.

One of the Andes' most infamous killers.

♪ ♪ Narrator: It's fall in the heart of Torres del Paine National Park in south Chile.

Covering over 700 square miles, it's home to more than 200 species of wildlife.

Including Patagonia's number-one predator... ...the puma.

Once endangered, they're now making a comeback in these protected hills.

For director René Araneda, this is familiar territory.

I've been working here in Torres del Paine almost for the past 10 years, with the big cats, with the pumas.

Narrator: His team has spent the last few days searching for a particular puma they call "Super Mom."

Araneda: We've been working with her for the last four or five years almost, and we've been lucky enough to see three different litters from her.

This is the third litter.

She's a super mom.

She's a very good provider.

Narrator: But even these expert trackers and their high-tech cameras are having a hard time spotting her.

Araneda: It is a big challenge to work in a vast area with animals that are ninjas.

If they want you to see them, that's when you get to see them.

If they don't want to be seen, you're never gonna find them.

Narrator: As they continue their search, there's an unexpected sighting.

[ Radio crackles ] Can you ID the male?

Any sign of the cubs?

Any sign of the mother?

Oh, it's right there.

Narrator: René's team has a special permit to film these pumas off trail.

This male shouldn't see them as a threat or as prey.

But one wrong move could change everything.

♪ As the cat heads their way, knowing exactly how to behave is vital for everyone's safety.

This is when you need to stand your ground.

You stay still.

You don't run.

♪ ♪ ♪ Narrator: This isn't a puma they recognize.

Araneda: It's an intruder to the territory, and that can bring a massive threat for the cubs.

A male can easily kill the cubs of a female, just to be able to mate with this female as soon as possible and get his own litter.

Narrator: As for Super Mom and her cubs, there's no sign of them.

After a long, frustrating search, the team heads back to camp.

Everyone's worried.

Over the next few days, the crew battles heavy rains and strong winds, desperately searching for the puma family.

Araneda: Torres del Paine has this unpredictable weather.

The four seasons in a day is true.

Sometimes it's four seasons in an hour.

Cats -- they don't like the strong winds.

They don't like the rain either.

So the cats are gonna be much harder to find.

Narrator: But they don't give up.

And after three days, there is finally a break in the weather.

To cover more ground, the team splits up.

Araneda: Nico, Nico, team, do you copy?

Lagos: Yeah, I have a puma here going straight towards the Valley of the Paintings.

From the distance it looks like it's the mother, so hopefully the cubs are around.

Araneda: Okay, we're gonna head there.

Narrator: And when they arrive... ...biologist Nico Lagos already has eyes on the cubs.

Lagos: They are all safe, all together now.

Look at them.

It's good to know that this litter is healthy.

Listen.

Can you hear those calls?

[ Chirping ] So the mother is kind of telling them to follow her.

And there they are.

Narrator: Super Mom's done it again.

She's successfully kept her young out of harm's way.

Araneda: We are so privileged to be here watching this.

These four cubs, they are the future of Torres del Paine and the future of this area, the future of this territory.

They are so special for all of us.

♪ Witnessing these things remind us that when we have a healthy national park like Torres del Paine, these are the things that eventually they happen -- animals behaving meters from us as if we are not here.

This is why the world needs to take care of the wilderness.

♪ ♪