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  • 4 days ago
River.Monsters.S09E06
Transcript
00:00I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist and underwater detective.
00:10Her body was eventually found, the attacker's identity unknown.
00:17In seas and rivers around the world, I've gotten hands-on
00:23with some of the planet's most nightmarish creatures.
00:29Beasts that have often been blamed for mysterious deaths.
00:38But this time, it's different.
00:41In a forest as old as the dinosaurs,
00:44I'm on a mission to hunt down a monster from my past,
00:49in a place I've never been.
00:52My target is a freshwater giant with a gruesome rap sheet.
00:57This is a very serious injury.
01:00And I'm not letting up till I've settled an old score.
01:05It's fish, it's fish.
01:06And it pulled a cow, it pulled a cow into the water.
01:09Here we go, here we go.
01:11It's fish, it's fish.
01:12I don't want to fish, it's fish.
01:13I don't get in trouble.
01:14I don't want to fish.
01:15I don't want to fish.
01:16I don't want to fish.
01:17We have a fish!
01:18Ah!
01:19Ahhh!
01:20Ah!
01:21Ah!
01:22From a remote lake in Malaysia, Southeast Asia,
01:41comes a disturbing report of a double tragedy.
01:44The sun is out and the water is calm.
01:54But something isn't right.
02:05When the empty boat is eventually spotted, no one can find any sign of its missing owner.
02:10A dive team is called in, fully equipped to scour the depths.
02:30Within hours though, one of the search party has also vanished.
02:40It takes another day to locate both victims.
02:57In each case, the simple explanation is accidental drowning.
03:02This is where things get interesting.
03:08Almost immediately, people start blaming the two deaths on a creature that lives in the lake.
03:15Previous strange sightings of something that produces bubbles at the surface suggest to some at least that what happened was no accident.
03:24Even more surprising though, is the proposed identity of the killer.
03:29Arapaima are not native to Malaysia, they are a predatory fish from South America.
03:36Yet according to this report, one of them could have ended up in the lake after it was released as an unwanted pet many years ago.
03:45The idea of a deadly arapaima is certainly intriguing.
03:50I know from painful experience that this fish can blast out of the water like a missile.
03:57A big one could potentially knock a man out of a boat or ram a diver.
04:11On the other hand, descriptions of the supposed arapaima are pretty sketchy, ranging from dark brown to silver in colour and anything from 4 feet to 15 feet in length.
04:23Then, there's this internet photo, claiming to show the captured beast.
04:30Sitting here thousands of miles away, it's hard to judge it, but I have to say, I'm sceptical.
04:40So is there really a rogue arapaima on the loose?
04:44And if so, did it have anything to do with the two deaths?
04:48I think there could be more to this mystery than meets the eye.
04:55So I'm heading to the scene of the tragedy.
05:07Created some 30 years ago to provide hydropower, Malaysia's Lake Kenyir is said to be deeper than Loch Ness.
05:18Entombed within it are the remains of 13 flooded villages.
05:26I often get vital clues from villagers.
05:30But out here, there doesn't appear to be a living soul.
05:34One really odd thing about this lake is just how few people there are.
05:49Apart from a few scattered tourist attractions, it's pretty well deserted.
05:55And even these modern resorts look as if they've almost been left to the jungle.
06:01It's really, it's really quite spooky.
06:10In their native Amazon, arapaima stick to shallow lakes and slow-moving rivers.
06:15So my immediate instinct is to check out the quiet backwaters.
06:31Just like the day when the men went missing, the lake is dead calm.
06:35And I'm itching to interrogate it.
06:40The way I know best.
06:44Arapaima give themselves away when they surface to gulp air.
06:48But for several hours, there isn't so much as a ripple.
06:54Have I perhaps bitten off more than I can chew?
06:58With hundreds of islands and hidden coves,
07:01Kenyir is more labyrinth than lake.
07:06Searching it thoroughly could take a lifetime.
07:08But it's a long time.
07:09Arapaima give themselves away when they surface to gulp air.
07:11But for several hours, there isn't so much as a ripple.
07:13Have I perhaps bitten off more than I can chew?
07:17With hundreds of islands and hidden coves,
07:19Kenyir is more labyrinth than lake.
07:23Searching it thoroughly could take a lifetime.
07:29But my boat driver, Arman, reckons he knows someone
07:32who might have a lead.
07:39Kairul Abu Bakar is a wildlife guide
07:41who spent ten years recording everything
07:44that lives in and around the lake.
07:49Elephants.
07:53Black painter.
07:56Tiger.
07:58Are there many tigers here?
08:01I think so, because we found a lot of footprints.
08:05To me, I mean, who are they?
08:08They are the batek tribe.
08:11They live in the forest?
08:12They don't live in the towns and the villages?
08:13No.
08:14They stay in the forest,
08:15but they migrate from one place to one place,
08:19looking for food.
08:21I'm intrigued by these batek,
08:22but it's a big fish I need to focus on.
08:26I'm wondering about what's under the water.
08:29Have you ever seen an arapaima?
08:31I heard rumours about arapaima a few years ago,
08:35but I never seen it.
08:37So, all the time you stay in the forest?
08:39Yeah, just say the story, but I never seen it.
08:43What Kairul tells me next, however,
08:45completely blows open my investigation.
08:49When I was young, we go to picnic.
08:52We saw a group of cows go to the edge of the water
08:56and get some drink.
08:58And suddenly, something big, like a crocodile,
09:02come up from the water and catch the baby cow
09:06and pull it into the water.
09:07But it's no crocodile.
09:09You don't have a crocodile?
09:10No crocodiles here?
09:11No crocodile.
09:12So he's taking it to fish?
09:13It's fish, it's fish.
09:14And it pulled a cow into the water?
09:16Your whole family saw it?
09:17Yeah.
09:19Do you have any idea what it was?
09:22We call it a tapa.
09:24Tapa?
09:25It's a very big fish.
09:29The tapa is the only fish that's ever beaten me.
09:34In India, where human limbs have been found in its stomach,
09:39it's known as the serang.
09:42Many Hindus regard it as sacred
09:45and say you must leave it alone.
09:48Is it still there? I can feel it.
09:50It's off, it's off, it's off.
09:52Perhaps I should have listened.
09:57The more I tried to catch it,
10:00the more I seemed to be cursed.
10:03Oh!
10:05Right to the bitter end,
10:06I was left empty handed.
10:09That could be the net result of my return to India,
10:13a broken line.
10:17Capable of growing as long as a man,
10:19the tapa is Malaysia's biggest freshwater fish.
10:23Unusually for a catfish,
10:26it's known to gulp air.
10:28And despite its size,
10:30it's surprisingly agile.
10:35After Chirul's story,
10:37I'm wondering if the tapa could be the culprit.
10:43Like the arapaima,
10:45the tapa is carnivorous.
10:47And it too can launch itself out of the water.
10:50But which, if either of these two predators,
10:56arapaima or tapa,
10:58is actually stalking this lake?
11:01Something on here.
11:03Something on here.
11:08A double tragedy on Malaysia's Lake Kenya,
11:12has stirred up speculation about a giant fish.
11:16And I'm on the trail of two possible culprits.
11:18Rumour has it that a South American fish,
11:19called an arapaima,
11:20is on the loose,
11:21on the wrong side of the world.
11:23But maybe the middle of the fish,
11:24is not the same.
11:25A double tragedy on Malaysia's Lake Kenya,
11:28has stirred up speculation about a giant fish.
11:32And I'm on the trail of two possible culprits.
11:37Rumour has it that a South American fish,
11:41called an arapaima,
11:42is on the loose,
11:43on the wrong side of the world.
11:46But maybe the mysterious lake monster,
11:49is a native tapa.
11:51The only fish that's ever defeated me.
11:55Something on here.
12:08I'm gonna swing it in the boat.
12:10I've hooked a third predator for my list.
12:17Quite a feisty thing.
12:19What it lacks in size,
12:21a snake head more than makes up for,
12:24with aggression.
12:26Those teeth are,
12:27they're like daggers really.
12:29They are capable of actually sawing pieces of flesh,
12:33out of another fish.
12:35It's a bit like the teeth on a saw blade,
12:37if they shake the head side to side like that,
12:40they can actually rip a piece of flesh out.
12:44Very aggressive when it comes to protecting their young.
12:47They've even been known to go for people.
12:52But despite its attitude,
12:55this fish is not one of my suspects.
12:57Although it's called the giant snake head,
13:00these grow to a maximum size of about 40 pounds,
13:02something like that.
13:04And at that size,
13:05there's no way that a snake head could jump out of the water,
13:08and pull somebody from the boat.
13:10It's encouraging to have caught something.
13:21But I'm no closer to finding the alleged lake monster.
13:30Any kind of lead would be welcome.
13:32I'm hoping that whoever lives in this floating houseboat,
13:37might have some information.
13:42The owner is a fisherman named Mok San,
13:44who tells me he's lived here since the lake was created.
13:52You ever see anything strange in the water?
13:54People say that there's arapaima in here.
13:56You ever seen arapaima?
13:57Like Kairul, he's heard the rumours about an arapaima,
14:07but hasn't seen it himself.
14:10He says that even though there's a large bounty on its head,
14:14no-one has ever cashed in.
14:18Another fish I'm interested in is the tapa.
14:21Have you ever seen or heard stories about them taking fish or animals
14:29from the surface of the water?
14:36Before the valleys here were flooded,
14:38there were apparently many tapa in the rivers.
14:41Mok San recounts stories of them grabbing dogs and wild pigs.
14:45The tapa will feed them to the animals.
14:48They say it's like this.
14:50But the danger is that the water can climb up to the ground.
14:56It's like a little bit.
14:58It's a little bit.
14:59But it sounds like the lake could also be harbouring
15:02a very different kind of killer.
15:04And this one is no fish.
15:08It's like that.
15:10It's like a little bit.
15:12Wow, we were just talking about tapa attacking things on the surface
15:17and he's just said to me,
15:20what you've got to worry about here is something else.
15:22And at first I thought he was talking about a whirlpool.
15:24Apparently it's not a whirlpool, the water isn't turning.
15:27It actually bubbles up and it starts fairly small,
15:30but it spreads to cover an area about 40 feet across.
15:33That's actually wider than the width of this boat here.
15:36And he says you get sediment and air and all sorts coming up from the bottom.
15:38Certain deep lakes are known to belch deadly gases.
15:45He says it's very scary, it's very spooky.
15:48Particularly if you're on a small boat, you don't want to be anywhere near it.
15:51Could this strange phenomenon explain the missing boatman?
15:57One thing that's becoming clear to me is that this lake is even more mysterious than I thought it was.
16:04Mok San's warning has put me on edge.
16:10The more I get to know this place, the more sinister it feels.
16:16But maybe at last I'm about to get a breakthrough.
16:19Tipped off about my investigation, a witness has come forward.
16:29Someone who claims to have seen and photographed the elusive lake monster.
16:35Two mysterious deaths have drawn me to Malaysia's Lake Kenyer,
16:53where my suspect list is growing.
16:55There are rumours of a rogue arapaima, but so far I've failed to find a witness.
17:08Now, I've been contacted by a man who claims to have seen and photographed this lake phantom.
17:14All I know about him is that he's a fisherman who goes by the name of Matt Rambo.
17:22Hello.
17:24Hello, are you Matt?
17:26Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:27Hello, I'm Jeremy.
17:29You saw the arapaima in the lake.
17:31Can you tell me exactly how that happened?
17:34One evening, he was out fishing on the lake. He's in his boat. It's just him in the boat.
17:47He saw this fish about six foot down in the water.
17:55And the thing is, the boat was approaching it.
17:57Ah, so you surprised it. The fish is there, the boat comes and it goes away.
18:08He says it was pale grey and about six feet long, which does fit with an arapaima.
18:16But his story comes with a twist.
18:19So you had it on your phone, but since then the phone has fallen in the lake.
18:31He'd heard the stories about arapaima, so he says he's absolutely sure it was arapaima.
18:36He did get a picture on the phone, and he says it wasn't that clear, but you could identify it from it.
18:40Since then, unfortunately, he's dropped the phone in the lake, so that the lake has taken back the evidence of this sighting.
18:49But he's certain that it was an arapaima.
18:56Arapaima or not, at least I now have a possible location.
19:00And I'm curious to revisit the one photo that does exist.
19:07The photo that was posted online.
19:10I think the key detail for me is the soil here, the colour of it.
19:16If you look at anywhere on the lake here, it's this sort of red-y orange colour, whereas here it's almost white or grey.
19:24Then there is this house in the background.
19:26That doesn't look like any of the buildings I've seen on the lake here.
19:30So, although this is a genuine picture of a big arapaima, I am pretty certain that it wasn't taken here.
19:43If some kind of creature really is to blame for what happened, then I'm almost certain that it's not the fish everyone's been talking about.
19:51It is possible that somewhere on this lake there is an escaped arapaima on the loose.
20:02But even if there is, do I believe that it could have knocked somebody out of a boat and rammed a diver?
20:09There are two very specific circumstances when arapaima will go for people.
20:16The first one is when you've got one cornered in a net.
20:21The second circumstance is when the arapaima are defending their nests.
20:25Now, here, nobody tries to net arapaima.
20:30And in order to have a nest, you have to have two individuals which find each other somehow and form a breeding pair.
20:39Which brings me to the biggest factor really, which is just the math.
20:44In order to fall foul of an arapaima on this huge lake, it would be an absolute million to one freak accident.
20:58I don't think an arapaima can be the culprit.
21:01And that leaves me to focus on my second suspect.
21:12The only river monster that's ever eluded me.
21:25Tapa can certainly grow big.
21:27But do they deliberately attack people?
21:41The grisly human remains reported from their stomachs in India could just have been scavenged from the dead.
21:51Before I can accuse this fish, I'm going to need proof of intent.
21:57Prompted by stories of aggressive tapa in another part of Malaysia,
22:02I'm heading to Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
22:10Tapa also live here.
22:13Not in empty backwaters, but in busy rivers where people live, work and play.
22:20In the village of Pandan, I'm told that many parents keep their children out of the water for fear of them being snatched by one of these fish.
22:33A few inquiries lead me to a man named Madahi who still remembers the day someone was attacked right in front of his house.
22:47So this was a young boy, three, four years old.
22:53He was with his mother and father on a platform.
22:58He was with his mother and dad called the tailed.
23:05My mother told the story to live with his mother.
23:08Both parents are busy with their daily chores.
23:09I don't know the whole thing they live there.
23:14The elderly are people who include other things.
23:16They don't let kids here bathe on their own, they're always sort of supervised to some extent.
23:29Madahi describes bubbles at the surface.
23:35This is a key detail for me, since tapa are thought to control their buoyancy by gulping and then releasing air.
23:46There's a splash. Something's grabbed him by the leg.
23:53The buoy could easily have vanished.
23:57But his quick-thinking father pulls him to safety.
24:02If he hadn't done that, the child could well have disappeared.
24:06And this definitely wasn't a crocodile?
24:11So this was a fish? This was ikan tapa?
24:13Yeah, yeah, yeah. Memang ikan tapa.
24:17There were marks on his leg.
24:20This was a fish that they estimate would have been 60, 70 pounds in weight or something.
24:24And this happened just a couple of hundred yards down the river from here.
24:30Madahi's account adds to other reports from along this river of a fish that attacks ducks, dogs, and even boat propellers.
24:40But what I discover next is in a different league.
24:47I'm in Malaysia, on the trail of a freshwater giant that could be responsible for two mysterious deaths.
25:06The tapa is a fish that's cut through my line before.
25:17Oh! It's off, it's off, it's off.
25:20And I'm determined not to let it get away a second time.
25:27On a busy river in Borneo, I've already heard stories of tapa attacking boat propellers, and even children.
25:34Now I'm trying to find out if it's bold enough to target a full-grown person.
25:44People say that you have a story about somebody in the water.
25:47Nia Leng, a village elder, tells me that with this fish, even adults are fair game.
25:53In the incident he recounts, the victim is in water up to his chest.
26:03This was actually a man bathing in the river here, completely naked.
26:07And a tapa bit him in the groin.
26:24This is a real step up, this is something more serious.
26:27With nothing to protect his skin, what happened?
26:31He actually had one testicle removed.
26:35This is a very serious injury.
26:42Though the man survived, it seems that a big tapa will go for pretty much anything.
26:50Even if it occasionally ends up with more than it can swallow.
26:54The tapa is now my prime suspect, but I know from bitter experience that catching it won't be easy.
27:08In theory, a lure that mimics a small fish should trigger a predatory response.
27:16And by towing it behind the boat, I can cover large stretches of river.
27:24But the hours slip by without a take.
27:47I'm starting to wonder if I might have gotten here too late.
27:54This river is the first place where I've heard stories of tapa actually going for people.
28:05So it's clearly a fish with attitude.
28:08But what's equally clear travelling along the river is the sheer amount of fishing pressure.
28:13Everywhere you look there's lines going into the water, there's nets.
28:16So the question facing me is whether the big ones are still actually here.
28:24But where on earth do I go next?
28:25The tapa is the only fish that's ever defeated me.
28:27And to put that right, I'm ready to take a gamble.
28:29Yeah, the but it's right.
28:30Doubling back, I return to the mainland, where I've obtained special permission to visit a tribe of hunter-gatherers who live deep in the forests of Taman Negara.
28:31But where on earth do I go next?
28:32But where on earth do I go next?
28:34The tapa is the only fish that's ever defeated me.
28:39And to put that right, I'm ready to take a gamble.
28:43Yeah, the but it's right.
28:48Doubling back, I return to the mainland, where I've obtained special permission to visit a tribe of hunter-gatherers who live deep in the forests of Taman Negara.
28:58The Batek, I've discovered, do hunt fish.
29:07I'm hoping they'll know about the tapa and where I can find one.
29:13But I've no idea if they'll welcome an outsider.
29:17In the heart of the Malay Peninsula, I'm about to meet an isolated tribe of hunter-gatherers.
29:35This is Jeremy.
29:38Hello.
29:40Jeremy.
29:42The Batek are a remnant population with ancient African roots.
29:46Yeah.
29:48At Kampung Au, they seem friendly enough.
29:53And our conversation soon turns to the tapa.
29:57So it's a very long fish.
29:59A big one could be the length of this table.
30:01Yeah, yeah.
30:07Before long, my guide Roslan and I are hearing all kinds of hair-raising, first-hand accounts.
30:13So you were chased but it didn't eat you?
30:20Yeah.
30:22So it's not a log or a tree.
30:28Something hit the boat.
30:30It's easy to warm to these fellow fishermen who are positively eager to share their knowledge.
30:35If I want to catch one, can you suggest a good river?
30:45I'm soon cramming my notebook with suggestions.
30:49And by all accounts, I've come to the right place.
30:53They're definitely talking a big fish, an aggressive fish, one that they respect.
30:58So if I want to catch one, they say, strong tackle, get off the main river, go up a side tributary.
31:10Taking the Batek's advice, I head deeper into the forest.
31:15The water looks perfect for fishing.
31:18But I know this can change quickly if it rains heavily.
31:22According to Roslan, a tupper likes nothing better than live meat.
31:35It's about three foot.
31:38He tells me he once saw a big one grab a monkey off an overhanging branch.
31:42So the tupper came right out?
31:44Came right down, like that grab, just disappeared.
31:47And you saw that?
31:48I saw that.
31:50The boatman, meanwhile, says he's seen a tupper trying to swallow a still thrashing six-foot monitor lizard.
31:58How big was this tupper?
32:0460, 70 kilos, so it's 150 pounds.
32:07Yeah.
32:09By any measure, that's a big fish.
32:12Roslan has come prepared.
32:14Local legend has it that this small Kelly catfish is just what you need to rile a tupper.
32:23It doesn't look very appetizing, but there's a story, the locals say, that the tupper is jealous of these rather luxuriant whiskers on the chin.
32:32The tupper has rather pathetic ones, they're very short like that, so the tupper is jealous of this fish.
32:36When it sees it, it makes it angry.
32:39Sounds like the tupper has serious anger management issues.
32:42Let's hope it works.
32:50I decide to fish over a deep pocket in the river.
32:53And within minutes, something powerful has hit the bait.
33:12Once we've gone to the boat.
33:25And...
33:27Now.
33:33We've got a snake head.
33:34The float just vanished, and I thought, it's got to be a tupper.
33:38I was using a large bait.
33:40That engulfed a three-pound catfish.
33:43And it just reminds you that fish are not like us.
33:46We cut things into bite-sized lumps and chew them.
33:50Fish very often just swallow something whole.
33:54Powerful, muscular fish.
33:57And you can see why they call them snake head.
33:59That head is just like a snake's.
34:01I'm pleased with that, very pleased with that.
34:04I feel sort of warmed up, ready for a tupper now.
34:19Clearly, there are predators on the move.
34:26But after a promising curtain-raiser,
34:29I'm failing to draw the main act out of the shadows.
34:35It looks like I could be in for a long night.
34:43Local fishermen like Rosland simply tie their lines to flexible branches,
34:47and don't come back until dawn.
34:49But that's not my style.
34:54If I hook a tupper, I want to bring it in quickly, get a good look at it, then release it unharmed.
35:02So I'm placing my baits carefully on the edge of deep water,
35:07and then running the lines back to my rods on a small, clear space on the opposite bank.
35:12A little bit. That's it. That's good. Live there.
35:16What will happen is that the weak line there will break, and I'll be into a fish.
35:21That's the theory anyway.
35:22This is the deepest pool and the deepest jungle.
35:38I can almost smell them.
35:42Maybe this is going to be tonight.
35:44But as the night wears on, I'm tortured by bad memories.
36:01Daylight brings a mixed result.
36:24The whole night here, 12 hours, with nothing taking either of the baits.
36:34But Rosland has just put me this.
36:39The messy raking bite is as good as a calling card.
36:43Definitely a tupper.
36:47And that was close.
36:50It shows very graphically what those teeth are capable of.
36:58Almost certainly, the beast that mauled Rosland's bait will now be too wary to bite again.
37:05Which leaves me with no option but to move on.
37:08Has the curse of this fish come back to haunt me?
37:19This does all look like the beginnings of the monsoon.
37:22And the thing is, if the monsoon really hits and the rain starts tipping down, the water starts coming up,
37:28I've been told that is it as far as my fishing goes, as far as my chances of a big tapper go.
37:33So, it's true to say that time is running out.
37:45As I race to find a new fishing spot, the monsoon launches its first big salvo.
38:03After a huge storm, I'm worried that the rivers could swell and become unfishable.
38:12Potentially in a matter of hours.
38:19Setting up on the bank as before would eat precious time.
38:22So, I decide to moor up and fish from the boat.
38:32All I can do now is wait.
38:35And hope that the fishing gods will see fit to lift their curse.
38:40We've got a fish.
38:54But there's work to do.
38:56It's on a tree.
38:58Let's go above it.
39:00It's round a tree, I think.
39:04Okay, keep in the middle.
39:05Out in the middle, please.
39:10It's coming up.
39:11It's coming up.
39:16All right.
39:18I'm ready.
39:19Here we go.
39:20Here we go.
39:21Here we go.
39:22It's clear.
39:23It's clear.
39:25Lift.
39:26Lift, lift, lift, lift.
39:27Now!
39:33We have it.
39:34We have it.
39:35Tapper.
39:36We have it.
39:37Let's go to the bank.
39:40At long last, my tapper curse has lifted.
39:55Right, let's have a look at this beast.
40:02Lengthwise, it just goes on and on.
40:06This is a fish with eyes bigger than its stomach.
40:13Dogs, huge lizards, a cow, and even humans.
40:20I've heard enough about its feeding habits to know that this is a beast that means business.
40:25So what about the boatman and the diver on Lake Kenyere?
40:32Did they, in fact, fall foul of a tapper?
40:37The one thing that's actually bothering me is the teeth.
40:38They're very sharp.
40:39They're very numerous.
40:40If one of these jumped out of the water and grabbed you, your arm or your leg is going
40:52to look basically like hamburger meat.
40:54And yet, neither of those corpses at Lake Kenyere had so much as a scratch.
41:06For so long, this creature has been my nemesis.
41:09But that doesn't make it guilty of homicide.
41:14Maybe for once, the real culprit isn't an animal.
41:18But even if the two deaths on Kenyere remain a mystery, it hasn't all been in vain.
41:28At long last, I've finally caught it.
41:37The tapper is no longer the one that got away.