1
00:00:40,558 --> 00:00:42,867
After two days in the wilderness,

2
00:00:43,038 --> 00:00:47,350
we have reached the border
between Sudan and Ethiopia.

3
00:00:47,518 --> 00:00:52,638
My fear is that our contacts will have found
getting here as difficult as we have,

4
00:00:52,798 --> 00:00:56,916
but, to my relief, there is a Dr Livingstone.

5
00:00:57,078 --> 00:00:59,638
You must be Graham. Sorry we're late.

6
00:00:59,798 --> 00:01:06,397
Sorry my trousers are ripped. We were trying
to pull the vehicle out... it was stuck...

7
00:01:06,558 --> 00:01:09,755
He's Graham Hancock, British journalist.

8
00:01:09,918 --> 00:01:12,990
- We had the same.
- It's as bad that way?

9
00:01:13,158 --> 00:01:17,117
- It's awful. Really dire.
- So you arrived late too?

10
00:01:17,278 --> 00:01:23,148
We got here at two in the morning and
we've just been waiting for you to turn up.

11
00:01:23,318 --> 00:01:26,549
We've got to clear customs on both sides?

12
00:01:26,718 --> 00:01:31,348
You'll have no problem on that side.
There's nobody there.

13
00:01:31,518 --> 00:01:36,467
If we can get going and we have
few problems on the Sudanese side,

14
00:01:36,638 --> 00:01:39,948
can we get to Gondar?

15
00:01:40,118 --> 00:01:45,750
We can get to Gondar, but it will take us,
I would guess, not less than eight hours.

16
00:01:45,918 --> 00:01:49,911
- Really? So we won't?
- That's if we go now.

17
00:01:50,078 --> 00:01:53,593
The problem is driving this road in the dark.

18
00:01:53,758 --> 00:01:57,717
In the dark, you can't see what you're getting into.

19
00:01:57,878 --> 00:02:03,794
- How far is the road bad?
- It's bad for about 200 kilometres.

20
00:02:03,958 --> 00:02:06,916
- Is that most of the way to Gondar?
- Yes.

21
00:02:07,078 --> 00:02:11,037
I think I'll go home. I want to go home!

22
00:02:18,758 --> 00:02:21,750
To avoid the war-torn south of Sudan,

23
00:02:21,918 --> 00:02:26,230
our route takes us
in a wide detour away from 30 degrees -

24
00:02:26,398 --> 00:02:32,394
across the highlands of Ethiopia to Gondar,
Lake Tana and the capital, Addis Ababa.

25
00:02:36,918 --> 00:02:42,948
Next morning, after a mercifully short night
in a village of mud huts, we're on the move.

26
00:02:50,358 --> 00:02:52,667
The landscape is a surprise -

27
00:02:52,838 --> 00:02:57,707
lush green meadows and the first mountains
we've seen since Norway.

28
00:02:58,998 --> 00:03:01,831
We're here because of a civil war in Sudan,

29
00:03:01,998 --> 00:03:08,756
but until four months ago
one just as fierce was being waged in Ethiopia.

30
00:03:10,518 --> 00:03:13,715
Not everyone has surrendered.

31
00:03:13,878 --> 00:03:18,952
This lonely countryside provides
perfect cover for bandits and privateers.

32
00:03:20,198 --> 00:03:24,988
We're accompanied everywhere by soldiers.
The guns are loaded.

33
00:03:40,718 --> 00:03:44,506
In the villages,
there are more obvious signs of war.

34
00:03:44,678 --> 00:03:48,273
The children have not been to school for years.

35
00:03:50,718 --> 00:03:55,269
There's little work.
Shelter is basic and food is scarce.

36
00:04:08,118 --> 00:04:11,554
We stop for a breakfast cuppa
with our armed escorts.

37
00:04:11,718 --> 00:04:13,117
Thank you.

38
00:04:13,278 --> 00:04:17,749
The youngest, politest,
least aggressive army I've ever seen.

39
00:04:17,918 --> 00:04:21,274
Is anyone ever shot at on these roads?

40
00:04:21,438 --> 00:04:24,794
There's constant incidents on these roads

41
00:04:24,958 --> 00:04:29,110
where lone vehicles,
particularly at night, are stopped

42
00:04:29,278 --> 00:04:32,827
and the vehicle is stolen,
sometimes people get killed.

43
00:04:32,998 --> 00:04:36,070
Sometimes they'll attack more than one vehicle.

44
00:04:36,238 --> 00:04:39,071
So it's considered a sensible precaution

45
00:04:39,238 --> 00:04:42,992
to send along a few armed guards with a convoy.

46
00:04:43,158 --> 00:04:47,390
- Who pays the wages of the guards?
- They draw no salary.

47
00:04:47,558 --> 00:04:51,949
They're a volunteer army.
None of them have any income from it.

48
00:04:52,118 --> 00:04:55,793
They just get food, accommodation
and cigarettes.

49
00:04:55,958 --> 00:05:00,986
- How old are they?
- I would say not more than 18. 16 to 18.

50
00:05:01,158 --> 00:05:07,472
Those who successfully overthrew
the dictatorship were almost all kids of this age.

51
00:05:07,638 --> 00:05:13,429
A year ago, Mengistu was heading
the largest army in sub-Saharan Africa,

52
00:05:13,598 --> 00:05:17,273
a massive dictatorship, huge security apparatus.

53
00:05:17,438 --> 00:05:22,910
Nobody would have believed he could be removed
by a bunch of kids from the hills.

54
00:05:23,078 --> 00:05:28,835
Can you sense when you come into a village
that there's a different atmosphere?

55
00:05:28,998 --> 00:05:35,392
Definitely. I've been here for years and
the atmosphere is the most noticeable change -

56
00:05:35,558 --> 00:05:41,827
the feeling of relief, that people feel that
they're in control of their own lives again.

57
00:06:00,438 --> 00:06:03,475
Ethiopia continues to provide surprises.

58
00:06:03,638 --> 00:06:07,426
I don't think any of us
associated the place with floods.

59
00:06:33,798 --> 00:06:37,916
The cool mountain air
and the beauty of the scenery is welcome.

60
00:06:38,078 --> 00:06:42,993
It's easy to forget
this is not quite the paradise it seems.

61
00:06:43,158 --> 00:06:46,116
0ur vehicle becomes separated from the rest.

62
00:06:46,278 --> 00:06:51,227
Though we must wait for them,
a roadside stop is highly risky.

63
00:07:00,798 --> 00:07:05,394
Everyone breathes easier
when the convoy catches up with us.

64
00:07:07,398 --> 00:07:10,470
Now at least we're moving targets.

65
00:07:23,398 --> 00:07:26,515
We head out of the unstable border country

66
00:07:26,678 --> 00:07:31,468
to the comparative safety
of the first sizeable settlements.

67
00:07:37,398 --> 00:07:41,869
- This is the place where they go.
- Is this where they live?

68
00:07:42,038 --> 00:07:44,757
- Around here.
- Nearby.

69
00:07:44,918 --> 00:07:49,548
You getting out? What will we do
without you? Thanks very much.

70
00:07:49,718 --> 00:07:53,506
Thanks for looking after us.
We got through safely.

71
00:07:53,678 --> 00:07:57,671
(SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

72
00:07:57,838 --> 00:08:01,990
Give these men promotion. Make them sergeants.

73
00:08:02,158 --> 00:08:04,956
Thank you. Thanks a lot.

74
00:08:05,118 --> 00:08:08,474
Bye. Thank you very much.

75
00:08:09,278 --> 00:08:13,715
Thanks a lot. Bye, guys.
Thank you. What a fine army.

76
00:08:13,878 --> 00:08:16,346
Thank you very much indeed.

77
00:08:19,318 --> 00:08:21,786
OK. Thank you.

78
00:08:23,158 --> 00:08:27,913
We'll know who to ask for next time!
Thanks a lot. Cheers.

79
00:08:28,078 --> 00:08:33,357
They're suddenly happy. I can understand why.
They can go and eat and sleep.

80
00:08:33,518 --> 00:08:37,989
- Everything I want to do!
- Where the air is sensibly cool.

81
00:08:38,158 --> 00:08:41,946
Yeah. It's rained.
This is significant. It's just rained.

82
00:08:42,118 --> 00:08:46,157
There's been a thunderstorm.
Hailstones have fallen.

83
00:08:46,318 --> 00:08:49,310
Thank you. Just giving the weather forecast.

84
00:08:49,478 --> 00:08:54,711
It's the first rain
that we've had since northern Norway.

85
00:08:54,878 --> 00:08:58,632
We've been dry too long, especially in the Sudan.

86
00:08:58,798 --> 00:09:03,349
So we go on. Does that mean we're safe?
We're out of bandit country?

87
00:09:03,518 --> 00:09:08,831
Yes. There's about 65 kilometres
between here and Gondar, and it's safe. Um...

88
00:09:08,998 --> 00:09:15,187
And er... Yes, it's all a lie.
It's the most dangerous 65 kilometres of all!

89
00:09:15,358 --> 00:09:18,509
Everyone says, "The next bit of road is fine."

90
00:09:18,678 --> 00:09:25,277
- That's where we end up getting hijacked.
- It's been one hell of a journey. So we go.

91
00:09:25,438 --> 00:09:28,111
Do you want to come?

92
00:09:29,358 --> 00:09:31,155
Gondar.

93
00:09:42,118 --> 00:09:48,114
0nce the capital of Ethiopia,
Gondar is like somewhere out of a different age.

94
00:09:53,238 --> 00:09:59,507
I'm not surprised to learn that the country works
to a different calendar. It's only 1984 here.

95
00:10:06,238 --> 00:10:11,028
Through the smoke and mist
loom the twin pillars of Ethiopian history -

96
00:10:11,198 --> 00:10:13,666
Church and empire.

97
00:10:16,558 --> 00:10:19,516
This is the castle compound.

98
00:10:19,678 --> 00:10:23,910
It was established in 1635
when Gondar became the capital city.

99
00:10:24,078 --> 00:10:27,991
The emperor Fasiladas built the first castle here,

100
00:10:28,158 --> 00:10:30,626
but over the next 150 years

101
00:10:30,798 --> 00:10:35,633
the successive emperors each built
their own massive castle as well.

102
00:10:35,798 --> 00:10:39,586
The tradition of emperors
is very old in this country.

103
00:10:39,758 --> 00:10:42,556
It goes back before recorded history.

104
00:10:42,718 --> 00:10:48,748
For the last 750 years, there's been
an unbroken line until Haile Selassie in '74.

105
00:10:48,918 --> 00:10:52,228
That must make Ethiopia unique in Africa.

106
00:10:52,398 --> 00:10:57,028
- Completely unique.
- And it wasn't colonised, was it?

107
00:10:57,198 --> 00:11:01,111
No. It's never been colonised. The Italians tried.

108
00:11:01,278 --> 00:11:06,830
- There seems a European influence here.
- There were Portuguese in Ethiopia.

109
00:11:06,998 --> 00:11:12,630
They'd been invited in to help deal
with the Muslim threat and they stayed on.

110
00:11:12,798 --> 00:11:16,108
There's a possible Portuguese influence here.

111
00:11:16,278 --> 00:11:18,712
Presumably they were despots?

112
00:11:18,878 --> 00:11:24,589
You could say, almost without exception,
that all Ethiopian emperors were despots.

113
00:11:24,758 --> 00:11:28,433
Very dictatorial, very single-minded.
Their word was law.

114
00:11:28,598 --> 00:11:32,716
Was their any attempt to form a constitution?

115
00:11:32,878 --> 00:11:39,226
A constitution was created by Haile Selassie,
but it stated that his power was inviolable.

116
00:11:39,398 --> 00:11:41,912
- Very clever!
- Yes.

117
00:11:45,318 --> 00:11:49,106
This is Taffara, the unhappiest lion in Africa.

118
00:11:49,278 --> 00:11:54,716
He was owned by Haile Selassie,
the former emperor. He's about 20 years old now.

119
00:11:54,878 --> 00:11:59,872
- He's spent most of that in here.
- They didn't get rid of the lion.

120
00:12:00,038 --> 00:12:03,030
The symbol of imperial power, no.

121
00:12:03,198 --> 00:12:08,272
It's really horrible in there.
What a terrible place to keep any animal.

122
00:12:08,438 --> 00:12:10,793
Look at the flies round him.

123
00:12:10,958 --> 00:12:15,907
It's almost a punishment
because he was associated with the emperor.

124
00:12:18,878 --> 00:12:24,908
The surrounding mountains have enabled
Ethiopia to develop in its own individual way.

125
00:12:25,078 --> 00:12:31,187
There's little to suggest much has changed
since the emperors built their castles.

126
00:12:38,198 --> 00:12:41,713
The country has remained
traditional, agricultural

127
00:12:41,878 --> 00:12:47,714
and, apart from Mussolini's brief invasion
in the 1930s, largely cut off from the West.

128
00:12:47,878 --> 00:12:52,349
But not everyone wants to turn their back
on the outside world.

129
00:12:52,518 --> 00:12:57,672
- Mohamed, you listen to the radio?
- Yes. Particularly BBC.

130
00:12:57,838 --> 00:13:02,389
- The World Service?
- BBC World Service, yeah.

131
00:13:02,558 --> 00:13:04,867
What do you listen to?

132
00:13:05,038 --> 00:13:08,587
I have a great interest to listen to football,

133
00:13:08,758 --> 00:13:11,989
particularly England club football.

134
00:13:12,158 --> 00:13:18,313
- Do you have a favourite team?
- That is Manchester United.

135
00:13:18,478 --> 00:13:21,754
- Yes.
- I love when there's a match!

136
00:13:21,918 --> 00:13:25,877
Did you hear the football last Saturday?

137
00:13:26,038 --> 00:13:30,236
Because of some problems,
I didn't hear the football.

138
00:13:30,398 --> 00:13:35,552
So you can't tell me whether my team won?
My team is Sheffield Wednesday.

139
00:13:35,718 --> 00:13:37,993
I know about them.

140
00:13:38,158 --> 00:13:44,631
We beat Manchester United in the League Cup
last season. I was there. So bad luck!

141
00:13:48,558 --> 00:13:52,790
There's an urgent need
I have to attend to before I leave Gondar.

142
00:13:52,958 --> 00:13:58,635
The successful semi-circumnavigator must
ensure his equipment is in working order.

143
00:13:58,798 --> 00:14:01,107
Excuse me. Good morning.

144
00:14:03,238 --> 00:14:08,870
I take my trousers - ripped in action
in the Sudan - to a local tailor.

145
00:14:11,558 --> 00:14:14,072
Can you mend that?

146
00:14:15,198 --> 00:14:18,952
Only they've got to last me to the South Pole.

147
00:14:22,718 --> 00:14:25,107
He's having a go straightaway.

148
00:14:37,678 --> 00:14:40,238
- Now...
- Beautiful piece of mending.

149
00:14:40,398 --> 00:14:45,426
That is brilliant.
That's about one minute, ten seconds flat.

150
00:14:45,598 --> 00:14:49,386
- And it's completely invisible.
- Two birr.

151
00:14:49,558 --> 00:14:54,996
Two birr. Ethiopian birr.
I'm still on Sudanese money.

152
00:14:55,158 --> 00:14:58,673
- A birr is about 50 US cents.
- Is it?

153
00:14:58,838 --> 00:15:02,592
- Or 30 pence.
- So this is?

154
00:15:02,758 --> 00:15:06,228
- Two of them is about a dollar.
- Two?

155
00:15:06,398 --> 00:15:10,869
Thank you very much.
That's really good, excellent. Thank you.

156
00:15:11,038 --> 00:15:14,348
Look at that. Near perfection.

157
00:15:17,038 --> 00:15:23,034
We head south to one of the least known
and yet most important places in Africa.

158
00:15:25,798 --> 00:15:29,268
This is Lake Tana, where the Blue Nile rises.

159
00:15:29,438 --> 00:15:34,034
It's a natural reservoir,
providing water for Sudan and Egypt.

160
00:15:38,998 --> 00:15:43,594
It's the only lake in Africa
where these papyrus reed boats are found.

161
00:15:43,758 --> 00:15:48,309
Their design has been traced back
to ancient Egypt.

162
00:15:51,958 --> 00:15:58,397
They look fragile, yet they've been
crossing the lake for thousands of years.

163
00:16:11,958 --> 00:16:18,750
The wood is in great demand. It'll be used
for heating, cooking, building and fencing.

164
00:16:20,358 --> 00:16:26,149
In the green highlands round Lake Tana,
Graham and I are taken on an expedition.

165
00:16:29,958 --> 00:16:34,748
The countryside is no different
from when the Victorians came this way,

166
00:16:34,918 --> 00:16:38,911
risking their lives to find the source of the Nile.

167
00:16:40,638 --> 00:16:46,235
I'm risking little more than a clean shirt,
but I'm realising my childhood ambition -

168
00:16:46,398 --> 00:16:52,997
to be an explorer, to see strange and wonderful
things in strange and wonderful countries.

169
00:17:10,558 --> 00:17:15,712
That is incredible. I've never
seen anything like that in my life.

170
00:17:24,958 --> 00:17:29,031
- It's only just left the lake, hasn't it?
- That's right.

171
00:17:29,198 --> 00:17:33,032
- Lake Tana is the source of the Nile?
- Effectively, yes.

172
00:17:33,198 --> 00:17:39,034
It drains a lot of the mountains round about
and most of it pours out down this river.

173
00:17:39,198 --> 00:17:45,194
- It's extraordinary, the power.
- You can see how it manages to reach Egypt.

174
00:17:49,758 --> 00:17:56,357
Well worth leaving the North Pole for.
I've never seen anything as powerful as that.

175
00:18:20,598 --> 00:18:24,147
0nce on the road south, we're back to reality.

176
00:18:24,998 --> 00:18:29,992
A poor country, exhausted by years
of war and misgovernment.

177
00:18:44,158 --> 00:18:48,868
Three days after entering Ethiopia,
we have our last sight of the Nile,

178
00:18:49,038 --> 00:18:52,030
which we've followed for 2,500 miles.

179
00:18:54,718 --> 00:18:57,869
It makes a spectacular exit in a deep gorge,

180
00:18:58,038 --> 00:19:02,828
spanned by a single bridge
carrying the road to the capital.

181
00:19:05,918 --> 00:19:11,993
0ur safe arrival in Addis Ababa marks the end
of the most difficult stretch since the Pole.

182
00:19:12,158 --> 00:19:17,232
We should be feeling pretty pleased
with ourselves. So should Addis.

183
00:19:18,998 --> 00:19:23,514
Four months earlier,
Colonel Mengistu and his Soviet-style regime

184
00:19:23,678 --> 00:19:26,988
were chased out of the country after 17 years.

185
00:19:28,638 --> 00:19:32,711
The monuments that every Ethiopian
was expected to admire

186
00:19:32,878 --> 00:19:36,917
are now being taken for scrap.

187
00:19:39,198 --> 00:19:42,395
But there's little sign of any joie de vivre.

188
00:19:42,558 --> 00:19:48,394
The country should be having a ball,
but no one seems to have the energy.

189
00:19:49,918 --> 00:19:55,914
Addis Ababa is a city still in shock, unable
to comprehend quite what has happened to it.

190
00:20:00,398 --> 00:20:06,394
I suppose it must be depressing to realise
that everything you believed in was false.

191
00:20:08,398 --> 00:20:15,270
The statue of Lenin that was the centrepiece
of the capital is now lying on the corporation tip.

192
00:20:15,438 --> 00:20:18,157
Discarded. Redundant.

193
00:20:23,678 --> 00:20:29,275
Determined to be tolerant, the new left-wing
government has allowed a demonstration.

194
00:20:29,438 --> 00:20:35,911
It's taking place in the square
which Mengistu used only for military parades.

195
00:20:36,078 --> 00:20:39,707
They're angry at plans to partition the country

196
00:20:39,878 --> 00:20:45,350
and they're staging the biggest peaceful protest
Ethiopia has ever seen.

197
00:20:49,078 --> 00:20:51,717
(GUNFIRE)

198
00:20:51,878 --> 00:20:54,676
Suddenly, there's gunfire and people run.

199
00:20:54,838 --> 00:20:59,468
No one knows what it means,
but that's the way the city is.

200
00:21:02,838 --> 00:21:07,150
The only point of stability and continuity
seems to be the Church.

201
00:21:08,758 --> 00:21:13,593
0n a wet Sunday morning, over
a thousand people have come to worship here.

202
00:21:25,838 --> 00:21:30,150
Christianity has continued unbroken
in Ethiopia for 1,600 years -

203
00:21:30,318 --> 00:21:34,311
all the more remarkable
as everywhere else around is Muslim.

204
00:21:36,798 --> 00:21:40,791
(SERVICE RELAYED OVER SPEAKERS)

205
00:21:46,718 --> 00:21:52,873
The rituals of the Ethiopian 0rthodox Church
have many similarities with the Jewish tradition.

206
00:21:53,038 --> 00:21:55,393
It goes back to the Queen of Sheba.

207
00:21:55,558 --> 00:22:01,110
According to legend, she was an Ethiopian
and mother of King Solomon's son.

208
00:22:03,198 --> 00:22:06,031
(CHANTING)

209
00:22:22,558 --> 00:22:25,550
(RHYTHMIC DRUMBEATS)

210
00:22:30,518 --> 00:22:36,309
The "kebero" drum and the silver "sistra"
are straight out of the 0ld Testament.

211
00:23:18,478 --> 00:23:24,474
Next day we're on the move - heading south
on the unaccustomed luxury of a metalled road.

212
00:23:25,798 --> 00:23:31,191
But we haven't left the Church behind.
These priests are appealing for funds.

213
00:23:31,358 --> 00:23:37,115
They often collect money by upturning
their umbrellas and catching contributions.

214
00:23:39,078 --> 00:23:42,912
I'm riding with 0xfam,
which I've supported for years.

215
00:23:43,078 --> 00:23:47,674
Nick Roseveare has promised to show me
how my money's being spent.

216
00:23:47,838 --> 00:23:53,071
What can Ethiopia itself do
to improve food production?

217
00:23:53,238 --> 00:23:58,517
The policies of the new government
are ones which I think will help a lot

218
00:23:58,678 --> 00:24:01,397
to get agriculture more efficient.

219
00:24:01,558 --> 00:24:07,428
Something like 90-92% of the population
are dependent on agriculture

220
00:24:07,598 --> 00:24:12,353
and the vast majority of them
simply produce for their own needs.

221
00:24:12,518 --> 00:24:18,957
(PALIN) If they were able to produce
a small surplus and sell it at market value,

222
00:24:19,118 --> 00:24:21,632
how much would that improve matters?

223
00:24:21,798 --> 00:24:24,676
A lot. It would take time.

224
00:24:24,838 --> 00:24:28,956
It's not going to happen next year
or even in five years,

225
00:24:29,118 --> 00:24:35,114
but, progressively, with incentives
for people to produce more than they need,

226
00:24:35,278 --> 00:24:40,557
eventually Oxfam hopes
to do itself out of a job, really.

227
00:24:43,358 --> 00:24:46,828
In the south, drought is not the main problem.

228
00:24:46,998 --> 00:24:53,995
This creek provides water, but the water is
tainted - animals use it, vehicles go through it -

229
00:24:54,158 --> 00:24:59,312
and it has to be carried over long distances -
traditionally the woman's job.

230
00:25:06,238 --> 00:25:11,073
For an outlay of £2,000 -
raised in this case by Comic Relief -

231
00:25:11,238 --> 00:25:14,230
water now comes direct to this village.

232
00:25:14,398 --> 00:25:20,155
A 90-foot well has been sunk and water
pumped up by the simplest technology.

233
00:25:31,838 --> 00:25:34,306
Excuse me.

234
00:25:37,438 --> 00:25:41,636
I'd give that to my own children -
and I'd have the beer!

235
00:25:43,198 --> 00:25:45,666
That really is very good.

236
00:25:47,078 --> 00:25:51,230
In theory, the return on this investment
is better health

237
00:25:51,398 --> 00:25:54,356
and, for the women, extra time and freedom.

238
00:25:56,158 --> 00:26:01,630
My own state of health is currently uneasy,
but the hospitality keeps coming.

239
00:26:01,798 --> 00:26:04,915
This is the local bread.

240
00:26:05,078 --> 00:26:08,309
- Is it bread?
- It's more like a pancake.

241
00:26:09,318 --> 00:26:12,867
More like a car-seat cover!

242
00:26:13,038 --> 00:26:17,987
- So you just tear a bit off... Very strange texture.
- Bit rubbery.

243
00:26:18,158 --> 00:26:20,718
- And dip it in these.
- In the sauce.

244
00:26:20,878 --> 00:26:26,032
What's the least harmful for a man
in my delicate metabolic situation?

245
00:26:26,198 --> 00:26:28,792
Potato, if you can bear it.

246
00:26:28,958 --> 00:26:32,268
Do you have to eat
with your right hand only here?

247
00:26:32,438 --> 00:26:38,707
People do, but it's not because
it's your only clean hand. It's not such a taboo.

248
00:26:38,878 --> 00:26:44,111
In Sudan and Egypt, it's very bad
to touch food with the left hand.

249
00:26:44,278 --> 00:26:49,830
One of the best car-seat covers
I've ever had! Sour, isn't it?

250
00:26:49,998 --> 00:26:55,709
It's pounded, then fermented
and then used as a sort of pancake mixture.

251
00:26:55,878 --> 00:26:58,950
Is it particularly Ethiopian?

252
00:26:59,118 --> 00:27:02,110
- Uniquely so.
- Uniquely?

253
00:27:02,278 --> 00:27:07,796
They don't export it?
Maybe we could start a teff franchise.

254
00:27:11,718 --> 00:27:17,509
In the busy town of Shashamene, a walk
through the streets becomes a major event.

255
00:27:17,678 --> 00:27:21,114
The apathy I saw in Addis has no place here.

256
00:27:21,278 --> 00:27:25,669
As far as the locals are concerned,
the circus has come to town.

257
00:27:26,558 --> 00:27:31,757
Behave normally, just carry on,
do whatever you're doing and I will too.

258
00:27:31,918 --> 00:27:35,149
There's nothing to do but enjoy it.

259
00:27:35,318 --> 00:27:39,231
Where did you get that? Oh, there they are.

260
00:27:39,398 --> 00:27:43,152
Can I have one? Can I have one?

261
00:27:45,918 --> 00:27:48,910
- How much?
- 25.

262
00:27:52,198 --> 00:27:56,237
I'll continue my gentle walk.

263
00:27:56,958 --> 00:28:00,075
Now... Ho ho ho.

264
00:28:00,238 --> 00:28:02,706
Mmm. It's good here.

265
00:28:45,398 --> 00:28:48,868
Hello. Mr Palin. Do you want me to?

266
00:28:49,038 --> 00:28:51,506
The end of a long day's travelling

267
00:28:51,678 --> 00:28:57,708
and a reminder that even time itself
is not the same in Ethiopia as anywhere else.

268
00:29:01,198 --> 00:29:02,995
29th?

269
00:29:03,158 --> 00:29:05,956
- One.
- One?

270
00:29:06,118 --> 00:29:08,757
- One, '84.
- Oh, it's '84 again.

271
00:29:08,918 --> 00:29:14,276
When the world adopted the Gregorian calendar,
Ethiopia got left behind -

272
00:29:14,438 --> 00:29:18,067
by seven years and eight months, as it happens.

273
00:29:19,598 --> 00:29:24,467
0utside, by Lake Awasa,
it could be 1984 BC for all I care.

274
00:29:37,998 --> 00:29:43,026
It's a place of soothing tranquillity,
where limbs are rested, brains cleared

275
00:29:43,198 --> 00:29:45,473
and, hopefully, stomachs settled.

276
00:29:45,638 --> 00:29:50,758
Surrounded by all this, the problems
of the journey ahead seem unimportant.

277
00:29:55,838 --> 00:29:58,306
It's a short-lived illusion.

278
00:29:59,318 --> 00:30:03,436
Hello? I'm ringing from Awasa in Ethiopia.

279
00:30:03,598 --> 00:30:06,158
I've just had some bad news.

280
00:30:06,318 --> 00:30:10,106
My friend who was going to meet us
at the border...

281
00:30:10,278 --> 00:30:12,917
The Kenyan border at Moyale.

282
00:30:13,078 --> 00:30:18,869
He's been taken ill and he's in hospital,
so he won't be able to come and meet us.

283
00:30:19,038 --> 00:30:22,508
Yeah. Can you hear me?

284
00:30:22,678 --> 00:30:26,227
Is there any chance
you could send vehicles to meet us?

285
00:30:26,398 --> 00:30:32,792
It would be the end of this week.
Friday. Probably Friday morning.

286
00:30:32,958 --> 00:30:36,997
If you can do what you can. I appreciate that.

287
00:30:39,838 --> 00:30:46,835
We're promised emergency help, but first
we must get to the border, 330 miles away.

288
00:30:47,838 --> 00:30:53,629
Nick has returned to 0xfam and we're left
to face the realities of travel in Ethiopia.

289
00:30:53,798 --> 00:30:58,269
There are no trains, precious few buses,
so it's time to hitch.

290
00:31:06,518 --> 00:31:11,751
You can take us some of the way?
Is that right? He'll take us...

291
00:31:11,918 --> 00:31:14,796
He says he'll take us as far as he's going.

292
00:31:14,958 --> 00:31:17,950
10 or 15 kilometres from here.

293
00:31:18,118 --> 00:31:23,715
There doesn't seem to be anything else,
so we'll take this and see. OK.

294
00:31:35,678 --> 00:31:38,954
Like the Lord Mayor's Show, isn't it? Hello!

295
00:31:40,038 --> 00:31:44,828
National Westminster Bank float.
Last seen on the Embankment!

296
00:31:49,758 --> 00:31:53,512
That's a hat. That's a chapeau.

297
00:31:54,478 --> 00:31:55,957
Whoa!

298
00:31:56,118 --> 00:31:58,507
(BANGING)

299
00:31:58,678 --> 00:32:02,466
Oh, dear. He's just lost his hat!

300
00:32:04,038 --> 00:32:06,791
That great hat that I liked so much.

301
00:32:06,958 --> 00:32:09,426
Oh, dear. That's bad.

302
00:32:17,318 --> 00:32:20,116
Would have been a terrible loss.

303
00:32:21,758 --> 00:32:23,749
Tell you what...

304
00:32:27,718 --> 00:32:31,074
Excuse me. You have this hat.

305
00:32:33,478 --> 00:32:36,276
That's better. Can I have yours?

306
00:32:38,758 --> 00:32:43,627
Can I have yours? Your hat?
Where's your hat gone?

307
00:32:45,998 --> 00:32:47,989
Where's his hat?

308
00:32:49,678 --> 00:32:51,669
Fair swaps.

309
00:32:52,958 --> 00:32:55,836
This could take years.

310
00:32:55,998 --> 00:32:58,796
That's right. I covet this.

311
00:33:03,718 --> 00:33:06,232
My head's too big.

312
00:33:07,238 --> 00:33:10,708
I'm a fashion victim. Oh... It's gone!

313
00:33:14,038 --> 00:33:17,235
Well caught at second slip by Roger Mills.

314
00:33:19,998 --> 00:33:22,796
That's it. Immaculate.

315
00:33:25,198 --> 00:33:28,793
Your head's very small. Whoa!

316
00:33:32,238 --> 00:33:34,706
It's just not going to stay on.

317
00:33:34,878 --> 00:33:40,350
This stretch of road is almost all that exists
of the great Pan-African Highway -

318
00:33:40,518 --> 00:33:44,193
a post-colonial dream that never became reality.

319
00:33:44,358 --> 00:33:47,395
Rather like Ethiopian public transport.

320
00:33:52,078 --> 00:33:58,153
A hitch-hiker's nightmare - a hot day,
an empty road and 7,000 miles still to go.

321
00:33:58,318 --> 00:34:02,357
Somewhere at the end of the road
is the border town of Moyale.

322
00:34:02,518 --> 00:34:08,753
If our vehicles are there, we can embark
on the 400-mile run to the equator and Nairobi.

323
00:34:11,598 --> 00:34:13,907
Fortune favours the brave.

324
00:34:14,078 --> 00:34:19,106
11 hours after setting out from Lake Awasa,
on our 11th day in Ethiopia,

325
00:34:19,278 --> 00:34:22,588
we've almost reached country number ten.

326
00:34:26,798 --> 00:34:32,077
This is Moyale - the frontier town
between Ethiopia and Kenya.

327
00:34:32,238 --> 00:34:37,471
We're here thanks to various vehicles -
of which this is the most comfortable.

328
00:34:37,638 --> 00:34:42,632
We just hope that the vehicles
from A&K will be here to meet us.

329
00:34:42,798 --> 00:34:48,430
But at least we're here. I shall go
and have some back surgery immediately.

330
00:35:00,398 --> 00:35:02,866
I never feel comfortable at borders,

331
00:35:03,038 --> 00:35:07,316
and there's the fear
that there might not be anyone to meet me.

332
00:35:07,478 --> 00:35:12,836
But how could a company with a name
like Abercrombie & Kent let you down?

333
00:35:12,998 --> 00:35:17,435
- Hi, Michael. I'm glad you could made it.
- I'm pleased to see you.

334
00:35:17,598 --> 00:35:21,591
- You got the message?
- Yeah. Thank goodness.

335
00:35:21,758 --> 00:35:25,068
- How's Monty?
- He's much better.

336
00:35:25,238 --> 00:35:29,311
- You might be able to see him in Nairobi.
- Good.

337
00:35:29,478 --> 00:35:32,231
- Are you Abercrombie or Kent?
- Kabagere.

338
00:35:32,398 --> 00:35:35,231
- Mr Abercrombie. Mr Palin.
- Welcome.

339
00:35:35,398 --> 00:35:40,711
Nice to see you. You don't know how nice!
So, country number ten. Shall we go?

340
00:35:40,878 --> 00:35:43,995
Yes. Let's get everything sorted. Let's go.

341
00:36:37,078 --> 00:36:43,677
In contrast to their bleak surroundings,
the tribes of Northern Kenya love display.

342
00:36:43,838 --> 00:36:48,150
These are the Samburu -
the word means "butterfly".

343
00:36:50,198 --> 00:36:54,510
I spent time with them nine years ago
making "The Missionary".

344
00:36:54,678 --> 00:37:00,196
Today I'm back in Lerata to see
if the roof we built for the school is still there.

345
00:37:00,358 --> 00:37:03,350
They've been told to expect a celebrity.

346
00:37:12,198 --> 00:37:17,397
It's a wonderful welcome... but not for me.
They all love Wendy.

347
00:37:17,558 --> 00:37:20,550
(CHILDREN SHOUT)

348
00:37:26,598 --> 00:37:33,356
Took you a while! Took your time.
It's the hat, isn't it? Now you know!

349
00:37:33,518 --> 00:37:36,715
There you are. Let's go.

350
00:37:36,878 --> 00:37:42,271
Will you show me the school?
I want to see if the roof's still on. It's still on.

351
00:37:43,358 --> 00:37:47,351
Norman Garwood's work for you.
Let's have a look inside.

352
00:37:57,758 --> 00:38:02,548
Hello. Good morning. I last came here...
Hello. Good morning.

353
00:38:02,718 --> 00:38:07,030
- Good morning.
- I'm honoured. Beautifully done.

354
00:38:07,198 --> 00:38:12,795
You must have been practising.
I was here nine years ago to make a film

355
00:38:12,958 --> 00:38:18,715
and during the film, our technicians,
our carpenters, put a roof on the school.

356
00:38:18,878 --> 00:38:23,906
I'm glad the roof is still on
and it's nice to be here again.

357
00:38:24,078 --> 00:38:30,347
Do any of you know where I came from
to make the film? What country?

358
00:38:30,518 --> 00:38:34,830
- Anyone know what country I come from?
- England.

359
00:38:34,998 --> 00:38:38,115
- Very good. What's your name?
- Solomon.

360
00:38:38,278 --> 00:38:41,907
The wisdom of Solomon. I come from England.

361
00:38:42,078 --> 00:38:46,310
Does anyone know the capital city of England?

362
00:38:47,318 --> 00:38:51,516
- London.
- Very good. Man in the lovely hat there.

363
00:38:51,678 --> 00:38:56,433
I come from London and this time
I've come from somewhere different.

364
00:38:56,598 --> 00:39:02,787
I'm going to show you where I've come from
on this world. I've brought my own world with me.

365
00:39:08,598 --> 00:39:12,113
Encourage me. Say, "Come on!"

366
00:39:12,278 --> 00:39:14,109
OK.

367
00:39:15,318 --> 00:39:19,948
Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!

368
00:39:25,838 --> 00:39:28,147
Right. We did it.

369
00:39:28,318 --> 00:39:31,196
Last time I came, we left a roof

370
00:39:31,358 --> 00:39:37,797
and this time I'd like to give something
to the school because it's close to my heart.

371
00:39:37,958 --> 00:39:40,916
So I want you to have my globe.

372
00:39:41,078 --> 00:39:45,310
This has been with me round the world
and this far down the world.

373
00:39:45,478 --> 00:39:49,790
- Would you like this for your school?
- Yes.

374
00:39:49,958 --> 00:39:55,430
It's very useful. You can look at it
and you can also play football with it.

375
00:39:55,598 --> 00:39:59,307
There you are. That's right! Oh!

376
00:40:03,838 --> 00:40:06,147
My world!

377
00:40:11,038 --> 00:40:13,029
This way.

378
00:40:16,518 --> 00:40:18,986
Be careful with the world!

379
00:40:23,758 --> 00:40:30,596
I may have left the world behind in Lerata,
but I'm also about to leave miles of dirt track.

380
00:40:36,838 --> 00:40:40,626
Where the good road begins,
so does old colonial Africa -

381
00:40:40,798 --> 00:40:46,031
clustered round Mount Kenya,
1,700 feet high and bang on our halfway mark.

382
00:40:58,438 --> 00:41:02,351
The equator divides the world
into two hemispheres.

383
00:41:02,518 --> 00:41:07,387
This is the northern hemisphere
and this is the southern hemisphere.

384
00:41:07,558 --> 00:41:14,031
If you drain a sink north of the equator
and you watch the water as it drains,

385
00:41:14,198 --> 00:41:18,510
you will see that the water
always rotates clockwise.

386
00:41:18,678 --> 00:41:23,149
This phenomenon is caused
by the rotation of the earth.

387
00:41:24,278 --> 00:41:28,794
The effect is stronger according
to how far north or south you are

388
00:41:28,958 --> 00:41:31,756
and weaker near to the line.

389
00:41:31,918 --> 00:41:38,187
That's why we have to give some distance from
the equator so the rotation can be noticeable.

390
00:41:39,198 --> 00:41:46,149
This is the Coriolis effect. Peter Muciri has
given this lecture every day for six years.

391
00:41:46,318 --> 00:41:49,833
It's delivered in the burnt-out shell
of an old hotel.

392
00:41:49,998 --> 00:41:52,796
The equator used to run through the bar.

393
00:41:52,958 --> 00:41:55,870
I bet they floated matches in their beer.

394
00:41:56,038 --> 00:42:02,227
This changes to counter-clockwise
now we are in the southern hemisphere.

395
00:42:13,118 --> 00:42:18,954
Now we are right on the equator
and as we drain the water there is no rotation -

396
00:42:19,118 --> 00:42:25,114
it just drains straight down - and that's
how we prove we are on the equator.

397
00:42:28,638 --> 00:42:31,106
It does work.

398
00:42:31,278 --> 00:42:33,746
(WATER TRICKLES)

399
00:42:35,718 --> 00:42:38,232
(WATER TRICKLES)

400
00:42:49,358 --> 00:42:52,350
Nairobi is the centre of the safari business.

401
00:42:52,518 --> 00:42:55,430
Safari is a Swahili word meaning "journey".

402
00:42:55,598 --> 00:43:01,195
Now it's come to mean a journey
where animals meet tourists and vice versa.

403
00:43:01,358 --> 00:43:04,987
And a highly competitive business it is too.

404
00:43:06,838 --> 00:43:08,829
- Hello.
- Jambo.

405
00:43:08,998 --> 00:43:12,308
I'm going on safari for a few days

406
00:43:12,478 --> 00:43:18,508
and I've been told if I come to your shop,
I'll get a free "I Love Kenya" sticker.

407
00:43:18,678 --> 00:43:23,354
- Definitely.
- OK. So what is safari gear?

408
00:43:23,518 --> 00:43:29,753
We start from trousers, shirts,
jackets, shoes, socks. Everything.

409
00:43:29,918 --> 00:43:35,788
- Bring your own underwear, though.
- No, we've got that as well. In khaki.

410
00:43:35,958 --> 00:43:41,749
- Do you want to start with the jackets?
- Sure, yeah. Absolutely.

411
00:43:41,918 --> 00:43:44,955
This is called a photojournalist vest.

412
00:43:45,118 --> 00:43:50,112
- I'd like to be a photojournalist.
- The pockets are there for films.

413
00:43:50,278 --> 00:43:53,270
Whisky flask there, gin there.

414
00:43:53,438 --> 00:43:57,033
- That's fun.
- This is camouflage.

415
00:43:57,198 --> 00:44:03,307
We used to have original camouflage but
the government banned it because of the army.

416
00:44:03,478 --> 00:44:06,629
People getting muddled up with soldiers?

417
00:44:06,798 --> 00:44:11,792
This is a zip-off trouser.
You can zip it off and make it into shorts.

418
00:44:11,958 --> 00:44:14,631
- I see.
- It's multi-purpose.

419
00:44:14,798 --> 00:44:17,471
- And there's this.
- Show me this.

420
00:44:17,638 --> 00:44:20,948
This has the map of Kenya on it.

421
00:44:21,118 --> 00:44:24,349
It's a map as well. Find your way around.

422
00:44:24,518 --> 00:44:31,151
- It's very "Out Of Africa" style.
- Yes. The uniforms in that movie, we did.

423
00:44:31,318 --> 00:44:34,230
- Did you really?
- Yes.

424
00:44:38,038 --> 00:44:41,508
I think the only thing wrong is the hat.

425
00:44:48,398 --> 00:44:52,789
From Nairobi, we descend
the eastern rim of the Great Rift Valley -

426
00:44:52,958 --> 00:44:58,954
a dramatic 2,000 mile split in the earth's crust,
running the length of East Africa.

427
00:45:13,758 --> 00:45:18,786
Wildlife thrives on the valley floor,
but we all have one eye on the weather.

428
00:45:18,958 --> 00:45:22,075
It looks as if the rains have broken early.

429
00:45:28,398 --> 00:45:33,518
Maybe this is why it all looks green and cosy -
like Surrey with hippos.

430
00:45:33,678 --> 00:45:39,435
In fact, it's the Mara River
in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park.

431
00:45:39,598 --> 00:45:42,954
Abercrombie & Kent have camping rights here.

432
00:45:43,118 --> 00:45:47,908
Their vehicles - bogged down by rain -
have only just arrived.

433
00:45:56,798 --> 00:45:59,790
It's the old-fashioned way to see animals.

434
00:45:59,958 --> 00:46:04,349
No hotels or lodges,
just simple tents and canvas showers.

435
00:46:04,518 --> 00:46:07,590
It's authentic and terribly expensive.

436
00:46:26,398 --> 00:46:31,313
The team that brought me down
from the border are looking after me -

437
00:46:31,478 --> 00:46:37,155
Kalului the driver and Wendy,
who describes herself as "an old colonial hand".

438
00:46:37,318 --> 00:46:40,833
Today they're joined by a few extra helpers.

439
00:46:40,998 --> 00:46:44,354
Let me introduce you to Patrick.

440
00:46:44,518 --> 00:46:47,590
- This is Michael Palin.
- Pleased to meet you.

441
00:46:47,758 --> 00:46:51,831
- Welcome to the camp, sir.
- A lot of friends.

442
00:46:54,118 --> 00:47:00,307
Patrick, the maître de camp, has safaried with
Hemingway, Marshal Tito and Prince Charles.

443
00:47:00,478 --> 00:47:02,469
It's a palace.

444
00:47:02,638 --> 00:47:08,634
This is clearly going to be unlike any other
camping holiday I've ever been on. Thank God.

445
00:47:09,878 --> 00:47:14,394
There's a light here.
Some drinking water. A match box.

446
00:47:14,558 --> 00:47:20,349
Here's your washing towel.
You can have your washing water here.

447
00:47:20,518 --> 00:47:24,670
- Outside bathroom.
- Just to wash your hands.

448
00:47:24,838 --> 00:47:29,514
- OK, thank you. Welcome, sir.
- Thank you very much, Patrick.

449
00:47:29,678 --> 00:47:32,351
(GRUNTING)

450
00:47:33,478 --> 00:47:36,675
Unfortunately, the jacuzzi's already full.

451
00:47:46,398 --> 00:47:52,394
As we're going to be here a day or two,
I think I'd better go and introduce myself.

452
00:48:05,718 --> 00:48:10,234
I swear they can understand every word I say.

453
00:48:18,838 --> 00:48:23,309
Their expressions make me feel
I know what they're saying too.

454
00:48:23,478 --> 00:48:26,948
"0h, no. Not another film crew."