The central massif of the Himalayas presides over the landscape of Nepal, a constant presence
which also occupies the majority of its territory.
The white peaks have always attracted man
who considered them first as deities, then later as challenges.
But, further down, the secret forests of this part of the world conceal the most ancient
of all legends.
The human settlers of these valleys have had to find ways to survive on these sheer slopes.
Along the slopes they have created a safe place in which to grow their crops, away from
the wild beasts of the valley floor.
Their terraced fields look directly over the forests below, a superb vantage point from
which to survey the jungle of the unicorn.
In 398 B.C., the Greek historian Ctesias wrote a book about India and Nepal, and for the
first time spoke of a wild beast which, to this day, continues to fascinate mankind.
The inhabitants of the forest knew of its presence, and in the shadows of the humid
jungle its smell still lingers.
The legend lives here; the magical creature with a single horn, spoken of in countless
cultures, emerging from the mists of time, the most sought-after mystery.
But this animal has long been cursed, and time has not changed that. In the twenty-first
century it is still hunted, for the power that grows on its forehead.
We are going to enter the enchanted forest, the birthplace of the legend
ON THE TRACKS OF THE UNICORN.
Along the border between Nepal and India, there runs a strip of rainforests which alternate
with the meadows of the lowlands. Open jungle whose floor, rich in pasture, provides food
for many species of herbivores.
After Africa, these forests possess the greatest variety of animal species in the world.
And nonetheless, due to their inaccessibility, they remain virtually unknown.
Large deer such as the sambars are the food of the king of the shadows.
The presence of the Bengal tiger means the herbivores of the jungle must constantly be
on the alert. Danger is ever-present.
The pattern of the skin of this great feline forms part of the landscape, as it hunts for
the meat it needs to maintain its almost 300 kilos of striped body.
But the tiger is not the only giant of these forests. On the intense green ground there
is an animal which not even he would dare attack.
The gaur.
Weighing one thousand kilos, it is the largest wild bovine in the world.
A ton of bad temper, standing up to two metres tall.
The gaurs are not only have nothing to fear from the
tigers, but will even trample them down if one crosses the path of the herd.
A less violent way to escape from the tiger is to climb up into the higher levels of the jungle.
That is precisely what the langurs do. In India, these animals are sacred, as,
in their religion, they are related to the monkey god Hanuman. These primates are exclusively
vegetarian, specialised in the consumption of leaves. Such a poor diet that they are
forced to be constantly on the move across the roof of the jungle, in search of a decent tree.
More nutritious than leaves are these large flowers, on which the humming birds feed.
These birds are experts at extracting the sweet nectar contained inside the corollas,
along with the tiny insects that seek refuge there.
Their constant visits carry the pollen from one flower to another,
pollinating them, and so contributing to keeping the forest alive.