In the first programme, Sass, a 34-year-old from Oxford, spends time with the Kuna tribe in Panama. The Kuna Indians live on a stunning scattering of coral islands off the coast of Panama. A monogamous tribe with tight-knit families, they're a deeply spiritual people who believe that their homes and families are protected by ever-present spirits. At home, Sass packs every moment of her day, leaving no time for herself. When she's not working, she's rowing, horse-riding and doing out-reach work. But there's a reason for her jam-packed lifestyle: 21 years ago, Sass had to choose between her parents. When she decided to live with her father, she never saw her mother again and it's never ceased to haunt her. When she arrives on the island, she does what she always does – throws herself into everyday life, constantly on the go as she helps her host family with all the chores. However, her attempts at the embroidery for which the Kuna are renowned aren't quite so successful. The Kuna are worried by Sass's recurring nightmares and introduce their unique cures to help her vanquish them. And, as the days pass, Sass forms a powerful bond with the woman she's living with. In the process, she makes an extraordinary discovery – it's as if she's found the mother she feels she's never had.
Ecuador's Waorani tribe are the hosts to the latest British woman to immerse herself in tribal living, in the series that provides a unique and intimate insight into the lives of women in tribes across the world, and a life-changing experience for the Western women involved. Deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle is one of the world's most isolated tribes – the Waorani. Once known as "the savages", they have a fearsome reputation. But behind this formidable façade is a way of life unchanged for centuries. Living with them for nearly a month is 46-year-old Karen. Ten years ago, the mother of two walked out of a turbulent marriage. Now she is a successful businesswoman and a workaholic – but she's invested so much time in her work and her children that she's lost sight of just who she is. She wholeheartedly embraces Waorani life as she joins in an exhausting boar hunt in the jungle, bathes in piranha-infested rivers, helps to build the chief's hut, plants manioc and forms a close friendship with the village's champion weaver. The tribe is impressed by Karen's can-do approach to life. This is a woman who doesn't think twice about plucking a wild turkey or gutting a boar. It's not long before they honour her with a special Waorani name, Bopo, which means tall, strong tree. And the Waorani believe they may have found Karen what they think she really needs ... a Waorani husband.
A former alcoholic Scottish air hostess experiences life with one of Ethiopia's most fiercely independent nomadic tribes, as Tribal Wives continues. 28 year-old Lana hasn't touched a drop for over a year, but she is still deeply troubled by her alcoholic past. Ethiopia's nomadic Afar tribe have a tough reputation, carrying guns to protect their cattle and camel herds from rival clans and wild animals. For the women, female circumcision is common and their strict Muslim culture forbids alcohol. Anyone found drinking is immediately beaten and ostracised. From doing house repairs to milking cattle and goats, collecting water from a river where crocodiles prowl to chopping wood, baking bread to walking miles to do the laundry in a lake, Lana discovers how demanding everyday life is for Afar women and learns some of their innermost secrets.
Yvonne, a 36-year-old, single, working mother of three, spends some time with the Himba tribe, as the series in which six women each live for nearly a month with six different tribes around the world continues. Like many women today, juggling the pressures of Western life, the six feel something may be missing. By spending time with tribes in which women's roles are very different, they hope they can find some answers and, in doing so, change their own lives. The Himba is a semi-nomadic tribe of pastoralists who live on the harsh, sun-baked plains of northern Namibia. The women are striking, covering their hair and bodies in red ochre. It's a polygamous tribe, where men can have up to five wives and marriages are arranged for girls when they are as young as 12. Like so many women, Yvonne feels ground down by her daily routine and by coping with the demands of family life. She wants to discover just who she is as she travels to Africa to join these strong, powerful women. Theirs is a tough existence where food is scarce but it's also a sisterhood laced with humour. In temperatures in excess of 45 degrees centigrade, Yvonne gets to grips with Himba life. But, as she struggles with the tribe's deep gender divides and arranged marriages for young girls, she begins to make discoveries about herself ... especially when drought threatens to devastate the village.
The Maasai are one of the world's most famous and largest tribes in Africa. They are polygamous, with men allowed to have up to ten wives, and women expected to marry and bear children from the age of 14. They still practise female circumcision and shave their heads and scar their faces as signs of beauty. Living with them for the next month is 33-year-old teacher and life coach Dionne Braham. She's single and lives at home with her mum in London. She hasn't had any luck with men and has given up on ever finding the right one. With no relationship and uncertain about whether she'll ever have children, she feels stuck in a rut. Living as a Maasai woman and learning from their lives, she makes a radical choice.
The Mentawai live deep in the jungle on a remote island off the coast of Indonesia - a monogamous tribe where women are tattooed and sharpen their teeth. Their lives are dominated by the spirit world and male sikerei, or witch doctors, watch over the village. Living with them for the next month is 38-year-old Andy Wraith. Andy is deeply-driven. Not happy with just being a dentist, she's also qualified as a doctor and an anaesthetist. She has run marathons, rowed for her university and fenced for Britain. But she realises that she has a problem. In her cluttered and successful world, she seems to have forgotten herself. Amongst the Mentawai, high-flying Andy is adopted as a daughter of the tribe, and is forced to revaluate just what success means.
Twenty-three-year-old Charlie Brades from Hampshire joins the Yoruk, a tribe of nomads who live in the remote mountains of southern Turkey. Charlie is fiercely independent but her life has been far from carefree. Her mother has a long history of mental illness and as a teenager Charlie was often left to her own devices. Living in a one-roomed tent with a Yoruk family of seven - including the father's two wives - proves quite a challenge for Charlie, but ultimately forces her to confront some home truths.
Linda Plover from Liverpool is going to live as a 'Tribal Wife' with the Babongo in southern Gabon. Linda is haunted by memories of a poverty-stricken childhood and feels an overwhelming sense of bitterness towards her mother. As she struggles with the demands of her new role as sidekick to tough-talking Babongo matriarch, Mama Tito, she begins to see her past from a whole new perspective - and for the first time ever, realises that there are two sides to every story.
40-year-old Michelle Frost from London is travelling to northern Mexico to stay with the Rarámuri, an ancient tribe who live perched on the edge of the spectacular Copper Canyon. Although bright, bubbly and self-assured on the surface, Michelle suffers from a crippling lack of self-confidence, which she feels is hampering her chances of meeting a partner. Initially frustrated with the simplicity of life with the tribe, as events unfold Michelle realises that life with the Rarámuri is far from uncomplicated.
Becky Camilleri, a PA from London's East End, travels to the idyllic island of Kitava, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. Becky is successful, talented and beautiful but unlucky in love. A string of failed relationships have knocked her confidence and left her deeply distrustful. Living as a Kitavan woman, Becky struggles with the edicts laid down by her strict tribal 'father' but her island relationships cast light on those back home and throw up some surprising revelations about her past.
Jackie Davis from Bristol spends some time with the Karen, Thailand's largest hill tribe. Jackie is divorced, with two young children, and grappling with life as a single parent. She knows that things need to change but can't figure out how. As she settles into life in an all female household with four generations of Karen women, she learns some simple but powerful lessons.
Anna De Vere from London is going to stay with the Hamar in southern Ethiopia. Anna has a comfortable life in London, living with her partner and running her own business, but deep down she has a feeling that something is lacking. As she immerses herself into life with the tribe, she is confronted with the harsh reality of the plains, where it hasn't rained for months, and where young Hamar women are ritually whipped in a celebrated tradition.
