Omay

In the 1980s a young anthropologist entered the Amazon rainforest to try to find and live amongst a previously uncontacted tribe, known locally as the Outcasts. Feared by neighbouring groups through stories of secretiveness and violence, they were mythologised as spirit people. Laura's only companion on her trip was her nine-year-old daughter Emilia. Venturing deep into the forest, Laura and Emilia found the group and lived on their fringes for months. But with the Huaorani initially hostile and refusing to engage, Emilia became increasingly ill. Laura faced a life-defining decision: leave the forest with her daughter or send her away and stay alone. As Laura tells her incredible story, an immersive binaural forest soundscape guides the way. Recorded in the Amazon by multi-award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry and mixed with Laura's taped forest recordings, we join Laura on a surprising journey deep under the forest canopy. In midsummer week, Radio 3 enters one of the most potent sources of the human imagination. 'Into the Forest' explores the enchantment, escape and magical danger of the forest in summer, with slow radio moments featuring the sounds of the forest, allowing time out from today's often frenetic world.