"We've had no food for four days and only river water to drink. We've had so much trouble, we haven't slept for eleven days", cries a desperate Bangladeshi refugee. The jungle is merciless and cruel. These refugess have fled political persecution in Nepal and Bangladesh. "In Bangladesh they cut us. Here, and here, they chopped us here, they chopped us and we had to leave. That's why we had to come to the jungle". Having landed in Brazil a month before, the refugees have traveled overland through Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, to Colombia. Most refugees stop off at the village of Bijao, the gateway to the most dangerous part of the Darien Gap. A migrant trafficking economy had opened up. Locals sell supplies to the travelers and guide them from there to the border with Panama. It's a risky business, but brings much needed capital into the community, which lacks schools and healthcare. Here, people die from treatable diseases such as malaria. Panama has now closed its border to all migrants, but undoubtedly a new gap will be found and the flow will continue.

Produced by Dateline, SBS Australia