Hunters of the South Seas

Writer Will Millard explores the extraordinary people of the Coral Triangle in the Western Pacific. Here whale hunters, spear fishermen and ocean traders all live in close connection to the sea.

A voyage of discovery

One area on our planet, above all others, demonstrates man’s extraordinary amphibious abilities: the Coral Triangle in the southwestern Pacific. Set apart from the modern world, it is the last place on Earth where people who have lived their lives entirely at sea can still be found.

Each isolated community has adapted different but equally ingeniously to the challenges of their surroundings. They are famed for the unique skills that have enabled them to survive and thrive in and on the ocean. From the whale hunters of Lamalera who catch huge prey using just hand-thrown harpoons to the free-diving Bajau spear-fishermen of Sulawesi who stalk the seabed on just a lungful of air – these are the last true people of the sea.

Delving deep into this vast seascape, explorer Will Millard travels to meet, live and learn from the last true people of the sea – at a time when great changes are arriving on their shores.

Full of wonder and adventure, this series is a personal and intimate exploration of one of the world’s last remaining wild places and the people who call it home.