Headshrinkers of the Amazon is out on National Geographic Channel worldwide.

Directed by Osca Humphreys and presented Piers Gibbon, it is all about the Shuar people of Ecuador. The story is kickstarted by the discovery of some footage shot by an explorer in the 1960′s – which looks like it shows the only known footage of a genuine headshrinking ceremony, with a real human head being shrunk to the size of an orange.

On the way to find out what is really going on in the footage Piers meet the President of the Shuar, a battalion of jungle fighting specialists, a Catholic missionary who campaigns against headshrinking by converting the Shuar to Christianity, oh and a member of a lynch mob who is happy to talk about the day they dragged someone off into the jungle and “turned him into powder”…

Here are some of Piers’ favourite photos from the shoot. Thanks to everyone at Diverse TV and of course the Shuar for all their hospitality. Rocfoto took the best shots, and thanks to all the crew for taking photos on my Lumix LX3 as well. The music is a Shuar dance tune. Sadly, there was no room in the final edit for the Shuar dancing scene…(the slideshow has been updated… same photos but better edit of the audio)