Snake Island (Full Length Documentary)

hi Ralph hi Trevor hi Jimmy Hi s these my new friends on Snake Island cuz I'm going crazy cuz we're sleeping on an island full of snakes pretty sure I'm going to die wait what five snakes five [Music] yeah [Music] [Laughter] [Music] there's a small island about 100 miles off the coast of Sal Paulo Brazil that every Brazilian knows about but only few have dared travel to according to local Legend even fewer have survived the [Music] trip better known as snake island is infested with one of the most deadly snakes the world has ever known

the golden Lance head Viper with an estimated 3,000 specimens living on the island this small chunk of land has the highest concentration of venomous snakes makes in the world according to local legend in the 1920s a Lighthouse Keeper and his family were assigned as stewards of the island in more recent times the Brazilian government declared the inhospitable rocky terrain off limits to the general population once a year they make the journey there to do maintenance on what is now an automated lighthouse the Brazilian Navy granted us access to the island and even invited us along

to accompany them during their annual expedition to the lighthouse Sal Pao Brazil the city that is at the heart of the country's current economic boom over the next 10 years it's expected to have the second highest economic growth of any city in the world buried deep within the country's diverse economy is is a black market of animal Smugglers or more precisely bioiron Mists to fight for the Island's protection leading the charge is a group of researchers at the bont Institute in Sal Pao which is where we met Marcelo dwarte an more than 3 and2 m

is female this is a big female this smell in the our hands is last for three or 4 days even uh soaping washing your hands with soap it's it's very stink since its foundation the Bantan Institute has been at the Forefront of developing biopharmaceuticals from snake phenome every year thousands of Brazilian Plantation workers are bitten by snakes the scientists at Bantan have cut the death rate way down here poisonous reptils live in palacial quarters that are induced to yield their venom so that serums can be made to combat the activities of other poisonous reptiles Marcelo

is one of the ins lead researchers and he and his team are experts on the medical potential of the golden Lance head and other similar species is this Marcelo is one of only a handful of scientists to set foot on Snake Island a place that he says is ecologically unique and has the potential to be the source of revolutionary developments in science and medicine when Snake Island first separated from the mainland the island species of snake began to evolve on a separate path from its Mainland cousin but since the island contains no natural Predators or

ground level prey for the snakes the golden Lance head took the hunt to the trees where migratory Birds perched during pit stops on their long Journeys the result was the golden Lance had developing an incredibly potent and specialized fast acting Venom that kills the birds instantly Marcelo was unavailable to join us on our trip so instead he sent us with his fellow Bantan researcher k Reena Rodriguez and a few of their colleagues we were also joined by Angela a Brazilian journalist who has reported on the island many times getting on to Snake Island legally also

requires that a doctor be present at all times in the event that the worst case scenario happens an antivenom needs to be administered to someone who's been bitten by a snake [Music] can talk to the amiral of the island find out why the Navy looks after this giant Island full of snakes Admiral do you have any advice for for us uh on the island you we follow the people b island specialized people to do the maintenance and uh have training to be care so are the people you choose are they ever scared to go on

the island yeah yeah man scared because of the snake there it's a special snake uh you know would you go on the island yourself uh I think [Music] no [Music] we [Music] me we were told that our captain was one of the most respected and accomplished men in the Brazilian Navy specifically assigned to this mission to help ensure our safety you and then you jump in the water jump in the water yeah getting my sea legs already but I have a feeling it's just going to get worse we can still see the land and we

have good six or seven hours at least to [Music] go so we've been out at sea for a couple hours can't see anything in any direction complete Open Water this boat has one speed and it's extremely slow and very Rocky some people are having some troubles with seasickness everyone seems to be kind of taking a nap so I think I'll do the [Music] same finally about 8 hours after we left the port we spotted something ominous on the [Music] horizon so we're finally here Snake Island whole lot of snakes on a little chunk of land

not sure I want to be here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now now we have a storm coming immediately after our arrival it's one of the most ridiculous clouds I've ever seen and it's coming right for us like racing towards us more and more I really do think we've come to like an experimental Island and I can't believe we're actually going to go walk up that thing sometimes the the ocean change and you you can't go out so sometimes you have to wait here for two or 3 days until the the ocean is okay for you

to to [Music] ride [Music] [Music] some I can't believe I'm saying this but I am looking forward to going to an Island full of snakes tomorrow I just hope no one dies [Music] [Music] my testicles are slowly receding into my stomach which I believe is uh an instinctive reaction to going to an Island full of poisonous snakes besides being home to the Earth's highest concentration of animals that can kill you there's no beach which means the only place to quote unquote safely dock is an old signpost on a slippery algae covered bed of rocks [Music]

hey baby T he [Applause] [Music] B [Music] foreign fore moving a little faster than I thought with snakes lurking in every nook and cranny imagine these snakes as moving landmines that instead of blowing you up will cause your organs to liquefy in a slow tedious death that's pretty much what we were walking into bringing in this industrial weed whacker they going to clear the [Applause] way snake Island's terrain is also inhospitable and at points downright deadly on our hour and a half long journey up the base of one of the Island's numerous mountains we spotted

a security camera hanging from a tree there is no identification this is a trap camera trap is it the nav we don't know [Applause] look snake right [Music] there this is a problem because cuz you can't see the snakes here the last time I came it was worse than this it's hard enough to Trump up this goddamn Hill as it is and these poor guys have to carry batteries and light bulbs and all sorts of for the lighthouse to fix it apparently most of the snakes on this island are in the trees cuz that's where

the birds land it's one of the main sources for food see this they are very I really don't want to go in this hole it's where the snaks are I know it I just know [Music] [Music] it we've seen three snakes so far which isn't a lot but it is early in the morning it's hot I'm sure there's hundreds around us right now why you here here we are at the fabled Lighthouse the doors busted off what happened to the the lighthouse man why did he leave in [Applause] 1920s foree [Music] [Music] for of course

one of the first dozen snakes we spotted was inside the lighthouse hiding under the old batteries that moments earlier I had been sitting on can I there be it's going to fall I need to somewhere else everyone backed off everyone knew this thing one bite is going to ruin your day big time after the crew got the lighthouse up and running again they didn't waste a second hi tailing it off the island and back onto the boat now we're here with the researchers the Bantan Institute we're going to go to the other side of the

island we're going to camp out overnight and see what fate the snakes deal us as we explored the overgrown portions of the island with the researchers we spotted a snake at least once every 5 minutes and these were just the ones we saw for each snake that made itself visible there were undoubtedly dozens more around us camouflaged by the brush and hanging from the trees for those who work with snakes it's very hard to go to the field and find many snakes and in here you don't have to walk that much and you can see

many snakes so it's uh these are special conditions you can never find anywhere else I mean here is the biggest abundance of venomous uh snakes in the world the researchers from Banton catch the snakes weigh them and then inject them with microchips mm thank you once we find an animal we just capture them so we can measure and uh weight we check about the reproductive status of the animal [Applause] C she now we're going to M to insert the microchip on it 148 G this gives them Vital Information about an inherently endangered species it's really

unnerving here cuz your eyes start playing tricks on you and everything it looks like a snake trees the grass and the bushes and then you get confused cuz when you see a real snake you get a little relaxed like that's not a snake and then it bites you given how often we spotted snakes slithering around in the grass it was hard to believe Karina when she told us that the Island's golden lands head population has been dwindling for years how many snakes do you think there are on this island like Can you estimate people used

to think that there were around 4,000 snakes and probably now it's around 1 and a half th000 2,000 apparently it's decre crazy Smugglers also known as biopiracy so uh it's very common actually that when we get to the continent if we have uh animals with us like an A friend of ours already went to the continent carrying snakes which were supposed to go to our lab and then a guy just came to her and asked her if she wanted to to sell it and they offer like1 to $30,000 for one snake so for this snake

for this snake yeah following up on rumors of snake Smugglers going to the island we were able to find one to talk to us provided we didn't show his [Music] face and what could what would happen to you if you got caught [Music] he told us that even though stealing exotic animals is his main source of income he would never risk actually going to snake island but later he made comments that were inconsistent with his claim so let's say say I approached you for Golden Lance head you've agreed to go to Snake Island i' agreed

to the fee do you have anyone on the inside that can kind of tip you [Music] off for even in terms of illegally smuggled animals $30,000 is a lot so why does a snake cost so much money is it only wealthy snake collectors buying these things on the black market is there something special about their venom no one knows or at the very least they weren't giving it up this is a uh very important to understand the evolution of inside this genus Bops which is a very special genus here because many of the the accidents

with snakes in Brazil are caused by this genus so it is very important to us to have knowledge about it in general [Music] it'll still be F watch in the edit room I want to see this it's time for washing cuz otherwise the crocos will be over everything tomorrow over the table over everything so there's no way out come here yeah our kitchen we quickly discovered that poisonous snakes weren't the only thing crawling around in the dirt oh look at that they love the food that we've dropped the morsels and crumbs of deliciousness these cockroaches

just want to eat it and they yellow there five snakes five yeah yeah I see them [Music] yes wait what here is one there is yeah look where I focus here this is like worst place I've ever been it's like literally it's like humans don't come here there's like no beach shitty waves like it looks beautiful but there's cockroaches and blue locusts like what does that mean it's like it's like literally biblical and snakes that'll kill your ass in one bite here come to Snake Island it business is booming you I'm an idiot another beautiful

night on Snake Island I think there are crock roaches under my ass right now thankfully our journey concluded without anyone's skin being pierced by fangs or being injected with life-saving serum our two days on Snake Island are over I kissed the floor of the boat when I got on here we defied hundreds if not thousands of snakes biting us and we're going to go to the safety of real land and of course I feel like a million bucks right now as we motored away I couldn't help but think that the only reason we survived was

because Snake Island led us it almost seemed like we had exited some strange Dimension One ruled by Nature and Beast and with a type of savage beauty that is rare in this day and age and I had no intention of ever returning [Music] again [Music]