The vanishing sea tribe

Thailand's Moken tribe foresaw and survived the 2004 tsunami, but are the traditions that saved them being abandoned?

On Thailand's tropical Surin Islands lies one of the world's fastest disappearing cultures.

The Moken, a nomadic sea tribe that has roamed the Andaman sea for centuries, are in a desperate fight to keep their traditions alive. Having survived the 2004 tsunami by recalling their ancestors' cautionary tales, the winds of modernity are now proving a greater threat to their way of life.

Two hundred Moken gypsies live on the Surin Islands, as part of one of the only communities where children still speak fluent Moken and young men spear fish the traditional way, by holding their breath and diving to great depths.

But the islands are part of a national park, so the Moken are prohibited from cutting down trees to make their traditional boat, the kabang.