COLOMBIA, April 6 -- IN an extreme environmental and political climate in the Colombian savannah, one maverick village has relied on its homegrown inventions to survive, down to adapting childrens see-saws to draw water for the community.

None of the villages inventions are patented, but they have nonetheless made their mark on the wider world.

Amid the vast, remote and sparsely populated plains of eastern Colombia, known as Los Llanos, about a days drive from the capital Bogotá, an 80 sq km (31 sq mile) patch of luscious man-made forest flourishes.

There, for over half a century, a small and self sustaining community called Gaviotas has been defying all odds, thriving on the inhospitable land, helped by a myriad of quirky, futuri...