Les Routes de l'impossible

Zanskar is a region of India located in the highest populated valley of the Himalayas, at more than 4,000 meters above sea level. To reach the small village of Ralakum, Nima and her son begin a long journey with their 4x4. Once the long car journey is over, the worst begins as there are two days of walking in the cold and ice. Tashi and Thinle also take risks to reach isolated villages in order to sell their fruits and vegetables. Cars sinking into ice and lack of oxygen seem almost insignificant compared to the recent floods which have devastated certain areas.

In Alaska, the cold turns the water into an ice highway, a vital route for the inhabitants but very dangerous for those who venture where the ice is not thick enough. The oil truckers face another danger, avalanches. The roads are sometimes impassable, the pilots earn their living with short flights, but the cold can easily damage their machines. The gold prospectors are ready to brave the cold water and the blizzard to try their luck in this lucrative business. As global warming hits the region very hard, new dangers appear.

In Thailand, the Karen people are isolated in the mountains and make a modest living from growing rice and corn. Anuwat, one of them, has to travel to his field along mountain roads that have been ravaged by storms. In his 4x4, he has to take all the risks but can count on the solidarity of the locals. In Laos, Ham, like all the other farmers, has been badly affected by the ban on poppy cultivation. His old military truck could implode at any moment under the weight of the goods and passengers in its trailer.

In Albania, men challenge precipices every day. Luan's truck no longer has brakes and cans filled with gasoline that clutter the passenger compartment are connected to the engine by a garden hose. System D is the rule in these mountains because the country is still struggling to recover from its past. Albania lived for 45 years under one of the harshest communist regimes in the world and Albanians were only allowed to own a private car from 1991. Many villages are only accessible by road. The other valleys are not better off. From the spectacular Koman Lake to the turquoise waters of the Kir River, the trails are still a challenge and the ghosts of "Kanun", a customary law, which authorizes blood vengeance, have not completely dissipated.

Kenya is developing at full speed thanks to its agriculture and tourism, but is struggling to catch up in terms of road infrastructure. The country is split in two because of climate change. In the north, entire regions are suffering from profound drought, while in the south, populations find themselves threatened by rising water levels. Daily life requires courage from its inhabitants. Adam transports fish from Lake Victoria to Mbita on rutted tracks. In the Turkana region, David, a taxi driver, never hits the road with fewer than 15 customers for 8 seats!

Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world. To travel in this territory of 60 million inhabitants lacking reliable infrastructure, some workers are forced to resort to archaic means. So, Masinis cobbled together his own motor wagon to use the old railway line. The pitiful state of the rails forces him to take great risks. But without it, farmers, villagers and gold prospectors would find themselves very destitute. For his part, Rudi must also face many dangers at the wheel of his minibus.

The Central American country of Guatemala is going through a never-ending economic crisis. Urban or rural, all populations are affected and rely on their courage or the Mayan gods they worship. Anthony, 18, a taxi driver, transports his clients to the mountains aboard a tuk-tuk. Tomas, a shaman, and Eric, his disciple, go on a pilgrimage towards a Mayan city that is very difficult to access. Hugo goes shark hunting for the first time. Finally, Maria Rosa and her children live near a landfill, which they try to take advantage of to go to Mexico, the beginning of the American dream.

In Chad, even the desert is experiencing flooding on an unprecedented scale. More than a million people are affected by rising waters. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of fields have disappeared, a tragedy in a country where a third of the population is food insecure. In the south, although rich in oil, each trip is an epic for the local populations who do not benefit from the benefits of black gold. Norbert and Souleymane exhaust themselves every week on a broken track to supply the surrounding markets. In the Salamat region, transporting people is a daily challenge. The raging waters have washed away parts of the road, and in places, the track is submerged for hundreds of meters.