He’s been Around The World In Eighty Days, Pole To Pole and has even come Full Circle, but crossing the world’s largest desert is perhaps Michael Palin’s greatest challenge yet. He’ll have to contend with 5,200 miles of harsh, barren sands in the world’s hottest, driest climate, but Palin certainly has the endurance to match, and there’ll be plenty of sights, sounds and stories to follow along the way as his adventure unfolds over four episodes on BBC One.
The first instalment, entitled ‘A Line in the Sand’, opens rather appropriately with a 21-gun salute (albeit in honour of the Queen’s birthday), as a slightly nervous Palin makes his final preparations in a Gibraltar hotel room and sets forth on his epic journey, which begins with a short trip across the Strait to Morocco, and the northern coastal city of Tangier. After undertaking some much needed camel-riding practice for the sands ahead, a traditional steam bath helps to relieve the strains brought on by a game of beach football, and Michael duly makes his way through a city largely unchanged from its past as a freeport.
Following a visit to the local Anglican church, the journey moves through the Atlas mountains to the medieval town of Fez, and its labyrinth of a marketplace, before progressing to the hustle and bustle of Marrakech, and some rather more sedate villages housing the Berber people, who originally inhabited Morocco. A precarious journey ensues along a narrow dirt road in the mountainside, but Palin and his guide reach the village of Arrend unscathed, and after sampling the national dish of tagine (meat and potato stew), a coach brings Michael to the impressive earth towers of Ait Benadou, and the edge of the desert itself.
The journey leaves Morocco altogether and moves into a territory called Western Sahara, which the Moroccan government took control of from Spain in 1975. As a result, 170,000 inhabitants fled to refugee camps on the Algerian border, and they’ve since formed a political and military organisation called the Polisario front, which represents the affected communities. One of the biggest is situated at the Smara camp, where 40,000 people live in a surprisingly well organised environment; the residents have access to education, healthcare and a thriving marketplace, but they also have a desire to return to their homeland, and some never got the chance, as is illustrated when Michael is shown the camp’s cemetery.
After enduring a cold shower at the home of his guide, Bashir, Michael continues his drive across the Western Sahara, stopping only to make a satellite phone call home, and to avoid being shot at by thousands of Moroccan troops patrolling a 1600-mile long wall, which is used to keep the Polisario army out of the country. By day 15, the trek advances into Mauritania, and Michael stops off in Zouerat, a city which has accrued wealth from the export of its iron ore deposits. Shipments leave on trains over two kilometres long which also carry passengers, so Michael takes up the chance and successfully jockeys for a place on the first class compartment.
The archetypal Saharan town of Chinguetti is the next port of call, and particularly a fort hotel formerly used by the French Foreign Legion, which offers a breathtaking view of a sand dune ‘sea’. The landscape is disturbed, however, by the unlikely sight of a speeding motorcycle, which is in town with 319 other vehicles for the Paris-Dakar rally, causing a host of media crews and equipment to descend on the local airport. Amongst the competitors are Dave Hammond of Cirencester, who has reached the heights of 21st place, but he has no time to take in the view before he’s racing the two thousand miles to Dakar, which is Mr Palin’s next destination.
Michael Palin’s journeys have always translated themselves into well-made television programmes, but like all travelogues, they’ve sometimes suffered from being interminably dull in places; after all, I’m sure they’ve not all been scheduled on a Sunday by accident. Perhaps for that reason, this adventure spans few episodes, but despite the fairly well-paced nature of the show, some of the elements of this first show still feel quite bland and plain boring. However, Michael’s affable manner (and voiceover) adds a bit of much needed entertainment value along the way, and with the excellent camerawork and production values, Sahara with Michael Palin makes a reasonably good start to hopefully becoming a very interesting series.
Rating: 7/10
Sahara with Michael Palin airs on Sunday 13th October at 7pm on BBC One.