Tourism threatens Moken people of Myanmar's Mergui archipelago

Where the Indian Ocean rolls towards Myanmar's southwestern coast, a lacework of 800 islands rises, fringed with shimmering beaches on which there are no footprints.

Hornbills break a primeval silence as they flutter through the soaring jungle canopy.

Pythons slumber on the gnarled roots of eerie mangrove forests. Only rarely will you spot the people who live here - the Moken, who are shy, peaceful nomads of the sea.

The Mergui archipelago has been called the "Lost World", but outsiders have found it - first fishermen, poachers and loggers, and now developers and high-end tourists. The people losing this world are the Moken, who have lived off the land and the sea for centuries. The islands harbour some of the world's most important marine biodiversity.

They are also a big attraction for those eager to experience one of Asia's last tourism frontiers before, as many fear, it succumbs to the ravages that have befallen many once-pristine seascapes.

As the world closes in, the long-exploited Moken are rapidly diminishing in numbers and losing the occupations that sustained them for generations.