1
00:00:00,847 --> 00:00:03,520
The Sahara has always
intrigued me

2
00:00:03,687 --> 00:00:06,281
largely because
it's so close to Europe,

3
00:00:06,447 --> 00:00:09,439
it's just the other side
of the Mediterranean,

4
00:00:09,607 --> 00:00:13,282
and yet we know it as well as
we know the surface of the moon.

5
00:00:13,447 --> 00:00:16,996
So it's a mystery. We have
images of sand and palm trees,

6
00:00:17,167 --> 00:00:20,557
and I just wanted to find out
what more there was to it.

7
00:00:20,727 --> 00:00:22,957
It's the size
of the United States,

8
00:00:23,127 --> 00:00:25,436
and I wanted to see
how varied it was,

9
00:00:25,607 --> 00:00:28,041
and to meet the people
who lived there.

10
00:00:28,207 --> 00:00:30,516
There was a touch
of bravado as well.

11
00:00:30,687 --> 00:00:33,281
I knew it would be
physically demanding,

12
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but I needed a challenge
to show I haven't gone soft.

13
00:00:36,927 --> 00:00:40,602
But it was mainly curiosity
about a place that's so close,

14
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and a word we know so well,

15
00:00:42,727 --> 00:00:45,116
and yet we know
little more than that.

16
00:00:45,607 --> 00:00:48,440
We filmed in eight countries,

17
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in some of the biggest
countries in Africa,

18
00:00:52,247 --> 00:00:54,807
places like Algeria and Libya.

19
00:00:54,967 --> 00:00:57,356
We started in Gibraltar -

20
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you know, a little enclave
of Britishness

21
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which is only about
300 miles away from the desert -

22
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and went through places
like Morocco, Senegal and Mali.

23
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So about eight countries in all.

24
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We were away altogether
about four and a half months,

25
00:01:14,967 --> 00:01:19,040
but it's a very difficult area
to film in one go

26
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because you have
a lot of bureaucracy

27
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and there are certain times
of year

28
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when it's impossible
to film -

29
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during high summer for instance.

30
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The temperature goes up
to the mid-50s.

31
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The real problems are
mainly just accessibility -

32
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it's just getting out to the
place where you want to film.

33
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There are really no roads,
so you have to find tracks,

34
00:01:43,847 --> 00:01:47,760
and go at the time of year
when the sand is solid enough.

35
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Some places, we tried
to mix and match transport.

36
00:01:52,087 --> 00:01:54,078
We found an iron ore train

37
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that crosses Mauritania,
carrying iron ore to the coast.

38
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People sit
on the iron ore trucks

39
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and there's a little thing
at the end

40
00:02:02,727 --> 00:02:05,161
which looks
like a waste-recycling bin

41
00:02:05,327 --> 00:02:09,320
which is actually first class
and where they take passengers.

42
00:02:09,487 --> 00:02:12,320
Other areas, we just travelled
with camels.

43
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One of the problems once we were
there is just blowing sand.

44
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The wind blows all the time

45
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because the Sahara's
fairly unprotected.

46
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There was sand in the camera,
in your underwear, in the food.

47
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So keeping the camera equipment
clean

48
00:02:28,487 --> 00:02:32,844
and making sure that all
the technical material we had

49
00:02:33,007 --> 00:02:34,998
survived the sand and the wind

50
00:02:35,167 --> 00:02:38,477
was a really tough job,
and the crew did brilliantly.

51
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They've never had to work
on anything so difficult before.

52
00:02:42,727 --> 00:02:46,720
I found that we had
very few problems

53
00:02:46,887 --> 00:02:49,401
with working
in Islamic countries.

54
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You have to obey a different
set of rules generally,

55
00:02:53,447 --> 00:02:55,677
but hospitality
is very important

56
00:02:55,847 --> 00:02:57,917
to the people
who live out there.

57
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The first thing they must do
is to make you feel welcome,

58
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to share what little food
they have with you...

59
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We went and stayed
in a refugee camp,

60
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and lived in the mud buildings
of the family themselves.

61
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They had children to look after,
relatives as well,

62
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but they still insisted
on looking after us.

63
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So I never felt uneasy

64
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except in areas where
there were security problems,

65
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especially in Algeria

66
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where we were warned
that we were very much targets

67
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as Western journalists.

68
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We were protected there,

69
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but there was a kind
of frisson of danger

70
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to go into a place like that.

71
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Everybody was friendly. Despite
the fact that we filmed there

72
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during September 11th,

73
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there was no animosity
towards us.

74
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After September 11th, people
were anxious to reassure us

75
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that they were friendly
and wanted to see us out there.

76
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Generally, people are interested
if you're interested in them.

77
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We're not doing a political,
judgmental programme,

78
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we want to talk to the people
who live in the Sahara

79
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about how they live,
about how similar we are,

80
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and I think people
respond to that.

81
00:04:14,447 --> 00:04:16,438
There were one or two moments

82
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where I felt a sense
of "Oh, my God!

83
00:04:19,367 --> 00:04:22,837
"Where are we? And how
are we going to get out?"

84
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Generally speaking, we...

85
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We engaged the people to show
us around who know the desert,

86
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but there were
one or two moments.

87
00:04:32,807 --> 00:04:35,719
We had very strong sandstorms
in Mauritania,

88
00:04:35,887 --> 00:04:39,721
and there were one or two places
where we got completely lost.

89
00:04:39,887 --> 00:04:43,960
Landmarks disappeared, and even
the people who knew the desert

90
00:04:44,127 --> 00:04:47,517
were saying, "It's over there.
No, it's over there."

91
00:04:47,687 --> 00:04:50,918
And I wondered, "What does
happen if we get stuck?"

92
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And the other time
when I got quite shaken up

93
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was when I was walking
with the camel train

94
00:04:56,847 --> 00:05:00,840
across the Ténéré Desert - part
of the Sahara that's in Niger.

95
00:05:01,007 --> 00:05:03,760
It's one of the hottest parts
of the Sahara.

96
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I decided to walk with them.
The camera crew had all gone on,

97
00:05:07,847 --> 00:05:10,645
and I thought,
"This'll be fine."

98
00:05:10,807 --> 00:05:16,040
The camels go at a regular rate,
it's a fairly steady pattern.

99
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I stopped to write in a notebook

100
00:05:18,367 --> 00:05:21,962
and realised that three or four
camels had gone on ahead.

101
00:05:22,127 --> 00:05:25,961
Later, I stopped for a swig of
water, a few more had gone on.

102
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I realised that as fast as I
moved, I couldn't catch them up,

103
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and even if I caught up
a little way,

104
00:05:32,447 --> 00:05:35,120
I suddenly felt
the intensity of the heat,

105
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and I realised I didn't know
the language these people spoke.

106
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We just sort of talked
to each other -

107
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one of us spoke a bit of
French - but mainly by gesture.

108
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I couldn't see the guy at the
front and I was slipping back,

109
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and I'd heard how quickly
you become dehydrated

110
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once the water runs out,

111
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and people don't survive
more than a day in that sun,

112
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and I thought, "God! If they
just go on a bit further,

113
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"it may be too late!"
It was all right,

114
00:06:04,047 --> 00:06:07,005
but I knew what it was like
to be dehydrated

115
00:06:07,167 --> 00:06:09,556
and run out of water
in the Sahara!

116
00:06:10,127 --> 00:06:14,518
There are a number of tribes
right across the Sahara.

117
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In fact, the country boundaries
don't mean very much,

118
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especially in the centre,

119
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so we spent time with a number
of small tribal groups,

120
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one group particularly
called the Wodaabe.

121
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They're nomads and every year
they walk with their cattle

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south to where the water is

123
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and back north to where they
came from when it gets cooler.

124
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They walk enormous distances
so I tried to walk with them

125
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to see what it was like
to live like that, on the move.

126
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You never spend more than six
or seven days in one place.

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They move everything.

128
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We had these very natty
little tents

129
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that sort of scrumple up
into a tiny ball,

130
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and sleeping bags that go into
a bag the size of a tea cup,

131
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but they had proper beds, even
though they had to carry them

132
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every six or seven days.

133
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They were lashed
on top of a donkey -

134
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beds with four posts -

135
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because that was
a status thing for them.

136
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So it was interesting
to work out how they lived.

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Various tribes
that we were with...

138
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There was also a tribe
called the Dogon

139
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who live right down in
the southern part of Mali.

140
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They ran from the Islamic
invasions and hid in the rocks

141
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and have been cut off from
the world for about 600 years.

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Now people are visiting them,

143
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but their way of life
is wonderfully strange

144
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and different,

145
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and their idea
of how the universe was created

146
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is something that really
sort of shakes you.

147
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They all laid on dances
and things.

148
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The celebration's
very important.

149
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And I remember thinking
with the Dogon people,

150
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"They've laid
on a nice celebration for us.

151
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"They're all dancing."

152
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Then we went back to our camp
where we'd put our tents up,

153
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and we could hear them dancing
for the rest of the night.

154
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It was clearly for them
and not for us.

155
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I think after we'd gone,
they got out the millet beer,

156
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and their party went on
for about four or five days.

157
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Again, that was an insight
into how people relax,

158
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how they enjoy themselves,
the importance of ritual.

159
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So three or four separate
tribal groups.

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We were working and living
with the Touareg for a week -

161
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just walking with the camels
or filming the camels.

162
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That was interesting. They have
a different language

163
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and we'd have language courses
in the evening.

164
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They'd teach me Tamahaq
which is their language,

165
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so I learnt various things
like "Izzot",

166
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and I taught them things
like "Bottoms up"

167
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which they got the hang of
very quickly.

168
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Some of the great memories
of the journey

169
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were really about the sense
of isolation and space,

170
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and silence.

171
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I remember one particular time
in the Hoggar mountains

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which are about 9,000 feet up.

173
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The Sahara has
three big mountain ranges.

174
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And the Hoggar, as I say,
are 9,000 feet up,

175
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and sunrise and sunset there
are absolutely magical,

176
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because the mountains themselves
are so extraordinary.

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They're like the cores
of old volcanoes,

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all twisted
in different directions,

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and there's nobody there.
You're on your own.

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I suppose
some of the other moments

181
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were being with the Touareg,
walking with the camels,

182
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and just seeing
this vast, open area

183
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where one tree becomes
like a village or a house -

184
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it becomes that important.

185
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Most of the time
there's nothing,

186
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just moving along very slowly.

187
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It's so elemental and so basic,

188
00:09:54,247 --> 00:09:56,761
it starts you thinking
about yourself.

189
00:09:56,927 --> 00:10:00,397
I can understand why Judaism,
Christianity and Islam

190
00:10:00,567 --> 00:10:02,558
all came from the desert,

191
00:10:02,727 --> 00:10:05,560
because you start thinking
inside yourself

192
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because outside
there's nothing to see.

193
00:10:08,487 --> 00:10:10,557
So there were moments like that,

194
00:10:10,727 --> 00:10:13,958
and I suppose the evenings
we spent with the Touareg

195
00:10:14,127 --> 00:10:16,436
trying to teach other
the language -

196
00:10:16,607 --> 00:10:22,842
a lot of laughter there
which I'll remember very fondly.

197
00:10:23,007 --> 00:10:24,520
I suppose other things

198
00:10:24,687 --> 00:10:27,520
were being able
to go somewhere like Algeria

199
00:10:27,687 --> 00:10:29,837
that's very, very hard
to film in.

200
00:10:30,007 --> 00:10:31,998
I think we were one of the first

201
00:10:32,167 --> 00:10:35,239
to get permission to film there
for a long while.

202
00:10:35,407 --> 00:10:39,400
We went into the Casbah. Anyone
who's seen "The Battle of Algiers"

203
00:10:39,567 --> 00:10:42,081
knows about the importance
of the Casbah

204
00:10:42,247 --> 00:10:45,319
in the Algerian Revolution
against the French.

205
00:10:45,487 --> 00:10:47,796
That was the heart
of the resistance

206
00:10:47,967 --> 00:10:50,959
and it's still a hot bed
of violence and revolt,

207
00:10:51,127 --> 00:10:53,925
so we had armed guards
discreetly hidden.

208
00:10:54,087 --> 00:10:57,318
I remember going in. We were
told to be very careful,

209
00:10:57,487 --> 00:10:59,637
you never know
what might happen.

210
00:10:59,807 --> 00:11:02,241
We were just about to go
into the Casbah

211
00:11:02,407 --> 00:11:05,240
when suddenly there was
this terrific noise

212
00:11:05,407 --> 00:11:08,638
of a vehicle coming
round the corner and shouting,

213
00:11:08,807 --> 00:11:11,241
but it turned out
to be a wedding party,

214
00:11:11,407 --> 00:11:15,002
and there were some people
playing in the back of the van.

215
00:11:15,167 --> 00:11:18,921
They were playing little pipes
and drums and smiling at us.

216
00:11:19,087 --> 00:11:23,080
I was told that we were probably
the first Western journalists

217
00:11:23,247 --> 00:11:26,000
to film there
for six or seven years,

218
00:11:26,167 --> 00:11:28,840
and I feel privileged
to have done that.

219
00:11:29,447 --> 00:11:31,438
I've always...

220
00:11:31,607 --> 00:11:34,519
One of the reasons
why I wanted to do the Sahara

221
00:11:34,687 --> 00:11:38,157
was because I'd heard that
it was magical and strange,

222
00:11:38,327 --> 00:11:40,761
and it wasn't just flat,
sandy plains,

223
00:11:40,927 --> 00:11:44,636
and I'm glad to say that
was proved to be exactly right.

224
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Not only are there
mountain ranges,

225
00:11:47,287 --> 00:11:50,165
there's also lakes,
there are rivers.

226
00:11:50,327 --> 00:11:54,002
The River Niger flows right
into the centre of the desert.

227
00:11:54,167 --> 00:11:57,477
It flows up to Timbuktu
which we went to.

228
00:11:58,647 --> 00:12:03,437
The beautiful sand dunes
that you see on date packets -

229
00:12:03,607 --> 00:12:05,598
the sort of classic Sahara -

230
00:12:05,767 --> 00:12:08,839
only comprise about 15 per cent
of the land area,

231
00:12:09,007 --> 00:12:10,998
and they are beautiful.

232
00:12:11,167 --> 00:12:15,001
The sand seas where there's just
the wind blowing the grains

233
00:12:15,167 --> 00:12:18,477
into the most beautiful shapes
is wonderful to see,

234
00:12:18,647 --> 00:12:21,639
but deadly to cross
because the sand is so soft.

235
00:12:21,807 --> 00:12:25,197
Vehicles get stuck up sand
dunes and almost tip over.

236
00:12:25,367 --> 00:12:28,962
It's best not to touch, just
to look, and it is fantastic.

237
00:12:29,127 --> 00:12:31,118
A lot of it is very rocky.

238
00:12:31,287 --> 00:12:33,801
There are some wonderful
escarpments

239
00:12:33,967 --> 00:12:37,039
and volcanic cones of mountains
like the Hoggar.

240
00:12:37,207 --> 00:12:39,198
So it was always different.

241
00:12:39,367 --> 00:12:42,200
We went quite long distances
in our vehicles

242
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and every time I looked up,
it looked different.

243
00:12:45,607 --> 00:12:48,041
I said, "Where's
that mountain gone?"

244
00:12:48,207 --> 00:12:50,198
or "Why are we in a ravine?"

245
00:12:50,367 --> 00:12:52,358
And there IS wildlife there.

246
00:12:52,527 --> 00:12:54,518
You don't see much of it,

247
00:12:54,687 --> 00:12:57,599
but suddenly one night
we were with the Touareg

248
00:12:57,767 --> 00:12:59,837
and they found
this baby gazelle

249
00:13:00,007 --> 00:13:02,316
that had been born
the night before.

250
00:13:02,487 --> 00:13:04,921
I thought, "Gazelles
in the Sahara?!"

251
00:13:05,087 --> 00:13:08,682
but there are wild gazelles
and this baby was discovered

252
00:13:08,847 --> 00:13:10,917
so there are lots of surprises.

253
00:13:11,247 --> 00:13:14,796
The Sahara was the hardest
journey that I've ever done.

254
00:13:14,967 --> 00:13:17,117
Maybe because I'm getting older,

255
00:13:17,287 --> 00:13:20,677
but in logistical terms
it was the most difficult.

256
00:13:20,847 --> 00:13:25,238
There aren't creature comforts
in the Sahara, basically.

257
00:13:25,407 --> 00:13:28,399
There aren't hotels
where you can go and rest up

258
00:13:28,567 --> 00:13:30,956
while you have
four or five hard days.

259
00:13:31,127 --> 00:13:33,357
A lot of the time
was spent camping.

260
00:13:33,527 --> 00:13:37,520
More than half the journey was
spent in tents and campsites.

261
00:13:38,447 --> 00:13:42,520
We couldn't film
in the middle of the day

262
00:13:42,687 --> 00:13:44,678
for about three or four hours,

263
00:13:44,847 --> 00:13:47,156
just because it was
incredibly hot.

264
00:13:47,327 --> 00:13:50,319
In fact, the hottest sequence
I've ever filmed

265
00:13:50,487 --> 00:13:54,162
was done amongst the Dogon
people who live near the rocks,

266
00:13:54,327 --> 00:13:56,716
so the heat is reflected
off the rock.

267
00:13:56,887 --> 00:13:59,959
And we did this lunchtime
sequence at 12 o'clock

268
00:14:00,127 --> 00:14:03,676
in the open so the director
could get the light in there.

269
00:14:03,847 --> 00:14:07,237
Our soundman had a watch
with numbers and gadgets on,

270
00:14:07,407 --> 00:14:09,921
and he said
it was 56 degrees centigrade

271
00:14:10,087 --> 00:14:12,078
in the middle of that scene

272
00:14:12,247 --> 00:14:14,636
which is 132 degrees Fahrenheit.

273
00:14:14,807 --> 00:14:19,085
So I was burning on top, and
the food was very hot as well,

274
00:14:19,247 --> 00:14:21,238
and they kept laughing at me.

275
00:14:21,407 --> 00:14:23,921
They said, "Here,
it is a sign of a real man

276
00:14:24,087 --> 00:14:26,078
"if you can eat hot food!"

277
00:14:26,247 --> 00:14:29,717
I said, "Thanks very much!
I'm not a real man today!

278
00:14:29,887 --> 00:14:32,162
"I'm a cinder
on a pile of ashes!"

279
00:14:32,327 --> 00:14:36,115
So, um... I've never had heat
like that before,

280
00:14:36,287 --> 00:14:38,755
and I don't think
I've ever had to film

281
00:14:38,927 --> 00:14:41,441
only mornings and evenings

282
00:14:41,607 --> 00:14:44,201
because of the intensity
of the heat.

283
00:14:44,367 --> 00:14:46,437
And as I say,
just getting there.

284
00:14:46,607 --> 00:14:50,361
No roads so you're bumping
across very difficult terrain,

285
00:14:50,527 --> 00:14:52,518
being thrown about a lot,

286
00:14:52,687 --> 00:14:55,520
and if you get ill as I did -
just a 24-hour bug -

287
00:14:55,687 --> 00:14:59,680
it's awful because your body's
like a Kenwood mixer,

288
00:14:59,847 --> 00:15:01,838
just being thrown around.

289
00:15:02,007 --> 00:15:03,520
But I survived!

290
00:15:06,607 --> 00:15:10,202
Well, probably North London
for a while!

291
00:15:10,367 --> 00:15:13,245
Which is quite
a dangerous area to live!

292
00:15:13,407 --> 00:15:17,036
One or two ideas.

293
00:15:17,207 --> 00:15:19,846
I don't want to go
to extremes any more.

294
00:15:20,007 --> 00:15:22,396
I'd like somewhere
in the middle,

295
00:15:22,567 --> 00:15:25,127
possibly nice four star hotels.

296
00:15:25,287 --> 00:15:28,836
Something will come up. At
the end of every journey I do,

297
00:15:29,007 --> 00:15:31,157
I say, "That's
the last journey",

298
00:15:31,327 --> 00:15:33,318
and I'll say that for this one

299
00:15:33,487 --> 00:15:36,877
because I don't think
we could go through this again,

300
00:15:37,047 --> 00:15:40,960
but the travel bug is something
that once you're bitten by it,

301
00:15:41,127 --> 00:15:42,606
you're infected.

302
00:15:42,767 --> 00:15:44,917
After two or three weeks
at home,

303
00:15:45,087 --> 00:15:48,636
I start looking at the atlas,
wondering where to go next.