Into the Jungle

Power Meri follows Papua New Guinea's first national women's rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, on their journey to the 2017 World Cup in Australia. These trailblazers must beat not only the sporting competition, but also intense sexism, a lack of funding, and national prejudice to reach their biggest stage yet.

Tim Laman a photographer for National Geographic and ornithologist Ed Scholes have been traveling to some of the most remote jungles the world has to offer in search of observing and photographing all 39 species of tropical bird. This particular group of birds are entitled as the “Birds of Paradise” and can be found in some of the last truly wild locations of New Guinea.

In 1945, a group of Australian soldiers inadvertently stumbled across Amelia Earhart's downed airplane in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. Now, a team of specialists will use the soldiers' exclusive testimony and an old patrol map to find the plane again.

After opening scenes showing volcanoes of Java, an underground river, waterfalls, cloud effects, a coral island, the Ghost Rocks of Buru, and a tiger hunt in Siam, documentary footage of the cannibal tribes of New Guinea is framed by a fictional narrative in which the scientific expedition is shipwrecked along the southern New Guinea coast in the land of the Kia Kia headhunters, thus affording the crew the opportunity to film the tribal customs of these cannibals.

The same submarine which successfully captured the world's first moving images of a giant squid in its natural habitat is used for exploring the deep sea cliffs off the coast of New Guinea. The team encounters true living fossil species one after another. Join this exciting deep sea adventure!

Living in the depths of the New Guinean Rainforest are birds of unimaginable colour and beauty. When Europeans first saw the plumes of these fabulous creatures they believed they must be from heaven and called them Birds of Paradise. David Attenborough introduces a team of New Guinean naturalists as they embark on a gruelling expedition to try and film ten birds of paradise deep in the heart of the rainforest.

A documentary that reveals the underbelly of the global aid and investment industry. It's a complex web of interests that span the earth from powerful nations and multinational corporations to tribal and village leaders. This documentary offers unique insights into a multi-billion dollar world by investigating how aid dollars are spent.

An ethnographic documentary documenting the ritual warfare cycle, social life, and belief systems of the Dani people of the Baliem Valley in western New Guinea.

Joe Leahy is the half-caste son of one of the first explorers of the Papua New Guinean interior. The documentary explores his relationship with the tribes that work his coffee plantation and explores what happens when the coffee market situation becomes more difficult.

This Traveltalk series short visits Papua and Kalabahai.

The Road to Home (2015), tells the story of Benny Wenda, the Nobel Peace Prize nominated West Papuan independence leader, in his ongoing struggle to free his people from Indonesian colonial rule. Since his dramatic escape from an Indonesian prison in 2002, where he was held in isolation and tortured as a political prisoner, Benny has been an unceasing crusader on the international scene, campaigning to bring about an end to the suffering of his people at the hands Indonesia's brutal colonial regime. Granted political asylum in the UK, Wenda's freedom of movement was restricted in 2011 when, at the behest of the Indonesian government, Interpol issued a 'red notice' putting him at extreme risk of extradition should he travel.

David Attenborough tells the remarkable story of how these " birds of paradise " have captivated explorers , naturalists, artists, filmmakers and even royalty.

A detailed record of the first stage male initiation ceremony of the Baruya of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. A group of nine to 12 year old boys are followed through their first initiation - from the last days with their families through their nose-piercing and other rituals and ordeals to the final feast given in their honour. It is a tough time, the beginning of a ten-year journey to warrior and manhood.

The western half of the island of New Guinea has been known by many names including Netherlands New Guinea, West Papua, Irian Jaya and Papua. It is an extraordinary place where snow-capped mountains drain into massive rivers and 250 languages are spoken. For centuries, the world has jostled for control of this rugged, isolated region, with its abundant natural resources and strategic position. Through eyewitness accounts and rare archival film, this fascinating documentary paints a picture that is intimate in detail but epic in scope. It is a sweeping saga of colonial ambitions, cold war sellouts and fervent nationalism, which highlights the role of players such as Australia and the UN at crucial points.

Recorded by pioneers as far back as 1805, the Tasmanian tiger has become an intensely mystifying Australian icon, whose entire existence has become the stuff of both fable and legend. This program investigates a chequered past and puts the speculation into perspective, taking into account the tragic culling and ‘bounty era’ where the carnivorous creatures were thought to be solely responsible for a considerable loss of farmers’ livestock. Balancing the facts with personal reflections from Tasmanian locals, scientists and other informed practitioners, The Tasmanian Tiger is a thought-provoking and revealing look at the extraordinary life and death of one of Australia’s most mysterious marsupials.

The male bowerbirds of Australia and New Guinea display an incredible artistic talent -- and all in the name of love! Collecting 'jewels' they set them in specially-built showcases and some even paint the walls with mashed berries. If all this isn't enough to woo potential mates, they also perform a most bizarre stiff-winged dance. But displaying darker emotions associated with sex, such as envy and jealousy, males will sometimes destroy a rival's construction and steal his jewels.

National Geographic joins author and explorer Piers Gibbon as he investigates one of mankind's ultimate taboos: cannibalism. Gibbon treks into the rain forest of Papua New Guinea to find tribe members who ate human flesh. And, meets the members of the once-feared Biami tribe to witness their ritual techniques.

A documentary following famed explorer Lewis Cotlow traveling into the heart of New Guinea in search of unknown tribal cultures.

"Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial" was a 1983 episode of the PBS science documentary series NOVA. It explored the field of anthropology, particularly in the context of Papua New Guinea, from the perspective of the people being studied.

In his now well-known role of narrator of wildlife expeditions, Attenborough accompanies a government-sponsored trek into the central New Guinea highlands to make contact with a group of natives never before seen by Europeans.