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00:00:39,007 --> 00:00:42,044
(DRUMS AND CHANTING)

2
00:01:14,287 --> 00:01:17,882
In a room in a bungalow in Mpulungu, Zambia,

3
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a man believed to be a murderer
is undergoing ritual interrogation.

4
00:01:25,407 --> 00:01:30,640
His interrogator, dressed in red,
calls himself Doctor Baela - the healer.

5
00:01:30,807 --> 00:01:33,799
0thers call him a witch doctor.

6
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(DRUMS AND RATTLING)

7
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This ceremony - a disturbing combination
of exorcism, magic show and histrionics -

8
00:02:04,007 --> 00:02:09,365
is my introduction to one of the more
advanced ex-British colonies of Africa.

9
00:02:14,087 --> 00:02:18,000
Dr Baela has only recently arrived
in town from Zaire.

10
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He's already caught a thief. He's a big attraction.

11
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He agrees to give me
a private consultation - in public.

12
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- Have I any evil spirits in me?
- (INTERPRETER SPEAKS)

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00:02:36,687 --> 00:02:40,043
(SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

14
00:02:40,207 --> 00:02:43,677
(INTERPRETER)
He says you have got a shadow.

15
00:02:43,847 --> 00:02:50,798
You have got a shadow.
This shadow is an evil shadow.

16
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I have an evil shadow?

17
00:02:53,567 --> 00:02:56,604
(INTERPRETER SPEAKS)

18
00:02:57,927 --> 00:03:03,877
- (SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)
- It is a bad shadow.

19
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- What form does the shadow take?
- (BAELA SPEAKS)

20
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(INTERPRETER) He can see a shadow
of a woman. I don't know who she is.

21
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What does she look like?

22
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(INTERPRETER) She is not tall. She is fat, a bit.

23
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I have a long journey ahead of me.
Is this shadow dangerous for me?

24
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(INTERPRETER SPEAKS)

25
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With his mesmerising, high-pitched voice
and lazy, bloodshot, unavoidable eyes,

26
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Dr Baela is certainly charismatic.
But should I believe him?

27
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(INTERPRETER) You have a bad shadow.

28
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You can be rich, but sometimes that thing
can drive out all your wealth.

29
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- Can drive out?
- All your riches.

30
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- All my?
- Your money, wealth.

31
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- I see. Can drive out all my money.
- Just like stealing.

32
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When he tells me I'm bewitched by an evil
shadow, it hardly matters what I believe -

33
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everyone else believes him.

34
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Can he help me?

35
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Yes, he can help with medicine,
but it won't be on the National Health.

36
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What is in the medicine?

37
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(INTERPRETER)
The medicine is to wash in, not to drink.

38
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- I wash in the medicine?
- Yes.

39
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Half expecting him to produce a chicken,
I'm relieved to be prescribed tree bark -

40
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one of his less menacing props.

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(INTERPRETER)
It's to wash the evil spirits from your body.

42
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I'm not sure how I'm going to wash with it.
Maybe I should just clout the evil spirits.

43
00:05:02,687 --> 00:05:04,086
Thank you.

44
00:05:05,647 --> 00:05:08,480
There is another side to life in Mpulungu -

45
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the refreshingly un-spellbinding world of fish.

46
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100 tons of Lake Tanganyika's finest
is shipped south every month.

47
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It's the direction we must go.

48
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We've been trying to reach the tip of Africa
in time to catch the supply ship, Agulhas,

49
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which makes the only yearly crossing
to Antarctica from Cape Town.

50
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If we miss this connection,
we fail to reach the Pole.

51
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I take the first fish lorry out of town.

52
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I feel as weary now as at any time
on the journey.

53
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It could be the heat, the memory of Dr Baela,

54
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or the realisation of the distance
we still have ahead of us.

55
00:06:01,127 --> 00:06:06,076
Even the news seems ominous -
in the first democratic election for 18 years,

56
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Kenneth Kaunda has been rejected
by the people he's ruled since independence.

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(KAUNDA 0N RADl0)
I tried to do my very best for Zambia,

58
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its people and mankind as a whole.

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If my very best did not completely
meet the aspirations

60
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of all those I tried to serve,

61
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this was never out of lack of choice.

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This is the nature of multiparty politics.

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You win some and you lose some elections.

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(PALIN) Not everybody's as gloomy as me
and Kenneth Kaunda.

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For the supporters of Frederick Chiluba,
the slogan has worked - their hour has come.

66
00:07:08,727 --> 00:07:12,037
It is our duty to build this vibrant Zambia.

67
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The hour... The hour is ours.

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(THEY CHANT)

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Unfortunately, they think that the coming of their
hour is being witnessed by a BBC news crew.

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It's too late to tell them
these pictures won't be on for a year.

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- Have a beer. It's great. Congratulations.
- Thanks.

72
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- Keep the hour going.
- To the Third Republic. Is that right?

73
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- Yeah.
- Takes me back.

74
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I still don't really understand the politics.

75
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200 miles south from Mpulungu,

76
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my already confused system
experiences violent culture shock.

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This is Shiwa - an English country estate
in the heart of the Zambian bush.

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It's owned and run by John Harvey and
his wife, Lorna. They've agreed to put us up.

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I'm not sure if I'm really here at all.

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It's like a tired traveller's dream -
everything you think you miss about Britain.

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00:08:59,687 --> 00:09:05,398
The dream was here long ago. It belonged
to Lorna's father, Sir Stewart Gore-Browne.

82
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He came to this hilltop 80 years ago.

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He now lies buried here.

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0n his grave is the name
the local people gave him - Chipembele.

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It means "rhinoceros".

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A rhino charges and then stops,
and he was just like that -

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evil-tempered man, and he would get very angry
and five minutes later could be asking for a loan.

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Our children are like that.

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Here, he wanted to recreate the type of life
that he'd known in England -

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a big house, a big estate, himself as the squire.

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(LIVELY SINGING)

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His paternalist ambitions were not only fulfilled,
they still shape life at Shiwa.

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Every Sunday, the wives and children of
the estate process to the Gore-Browne chapel.

94
00:10:17,567 --> 00:10:21,606
There are always two services,
one Catholic, one Protestant,

95
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according to which missionary got there first.

96
00:10:25,447 --> 00:10:30,043
This is the Catholic service
and they're singing the "Gloria".

97
00:11:14,927 --> 00:11:20,320
Sir Stewart's military background
still casts a long shadow over Shiwa.

98
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This is the muster ceremony.

99
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Every morning at seven o'clock,
the estate workers are summoned for roll-call.

100
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Each man is then given his daily tasks.

101
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The man who may inherit Sir Stewart's dream
is John Harvey's son, David.

102
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He learnt farming in England.
Conditions are tougher here.

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As a precaution against ticks, Shiwa's cattle
must be put through the dip once every week.

104
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There are 2,000 of them.
The process takes three days.

105
00:12:19,967 --> 00:12:26,281
A 150% inflation rate is the last in a series
of misfortunes that have beset the Harveys.

106
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They've always had to be ingenious,

107
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but the estate is littered with
the ghosts of "good ideas at the time".

108
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This was an essential-oils factory
supplying perfumes to Europe.

109
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Since then they've tried timber, eggs, chickens.
Nothing lasted for long.

110
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John won't give up.
His latest hope is a safari company.

111
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If you look around Zambia, you will find
that people like David, my son, are staying here.

112
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His two brothers are here.

113
00:13:04,647 --> 00:13:10,005
There are lots of people of that age group -
trained overseas, educated in England -

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00:13:10,167 --> 00:13:14,797
who are coming back because
they feel there is a life to be made here

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00:13:14,967 --> 00:13:19,040
and that they can make enough money
to live happily.

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00:13:19,207 --> 00:13:23,837
Do you think you will retire
or will you always be running Shiwa?

117
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Well... Remember I told you that I was a soldier

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and there is a saying that old soldiers fade away.

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- They never die.
- No, they never die!

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I think that's going to happen to me.

121
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Every evening, the flag bearing
the Harvey coat of arms is lowered

122
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and dinner is taken in the traditional
British style - but the talk is of Africa.

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I was taken to see a witch doctor in Mpulungu

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who told me that I had an evil shadow
and gave me something to get rid of it.

125
00:14:04,447 --> 00:14:08,565
I thought at the time, "This is a joke, a fraud."

126
00:14:08,727 --> 00:14:13,482
But ever since, especially
as I didn't feel well the night afterwards,

127
00:14:13,647 --> 00:14:16,161
I've thought, is there anything in it?

128
00:14:16,327 --> 00:14:19,842
- What do you think?
- I think there is a darker side.

129
00:14:20,007 --> 00:14:26,037
I know of an incident in Chisamba,
where we have another farm,

130
00:14:26,207 --> 00:14:30,564
of a farmer losing a motor, having a motor stolen,

131
00:14:30,727 --> 00:14:36,723
and he got very frustrated
and ended up bringing in the witch doctor.

132
00:14:36,887 --> 00:14:40,880
And he lined all his staff up

133
00:14:41,047 --> 00:14:46,440
and the witch doctor tapped each member
of staff on the shoulders with a stick,

134
00:14:46,607 --> 00:14:49,246
and walked down this line.

135
00:14:49,407 --> 00:14:54,561
Eventually he came to a man
and he tapped him on the shoulder

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00:14:54,727 --> 00:14:58,197
and tore a strip of skin off him.

137
00:14:58,367 --> 00:15:01,996
This man then duly broke down and cried

138
00:15:02,167 --> 00:15:06,160
and admitted he was involved
with stealing the motor.

139
00:15:06,327 --> 00:15:09,842
- Would you use a witch doctor?
- I think I would.

140
00:15:10,007 --> 00:15:12,726
That makes me feel awful.

141
00:15:12,887 --> 00:15:18,678
Since I left Shiwa, another chapter has been
written in its brave but blighted history.

142
00:15:18,847 --> 00:15:24,877
John and Lorna Harvey were attacked and killed
in southern Zambia six months later.

143
00:15:31,247 --> 00:15:34,159
At the nearest railhead we pick up a train

144
00:15:34,327 --> 00:15:39,321
with a family travelling
with everything and the kitchen sink.

145
00:16:00,687 --> 00:16:04,521
I'm glad to be back on trains
where, however briefly,

146
00:16:04,687 --> 00:16:08,316
you do run the risk of meeting people.

147
00:16:08,487 --> 00:16:14,084
There seemed to be your whole house
going onto the train.

148
00:16:14,247 --> 00:16:19,958
My son is moving to Livingstone.
It's my son's household.

149
00:16:20,127 --> 00:16:24,245
And what did he have? Bed, chairs and table.

150
00:16:24,407 --> 00:16:27,319
- Has he taken everything?
- Everything.

151
00:16:35,647 --> 00:16:38,559
No problem finding a seat in the dining car.

152
00:16:38,727 --> 00:16:42,766
This is due to a complete lack
of anything on which to dine.

153
00:16:42,927 --> 00:16:46,237
Everything except the tablecloth is off.

154
00:16:58,727 --> 00:17:03,243
Few borders are as emphatic
as that between Zambia and Zimbabwe

155
00:17:03,407 --> 00:17:05,398
at the Victoria Falls.

156
00:17:12,287 --> 00:17:19,204
The River Zambezi, which marks the frontier,
plunges 300 feet over cliffs a mile long.

157
00:17:27,887 --> 00:17:32,244
The column of spray thrown up
can be seen 20 miles away.

158
00:17:32,407 --> 00:17:37,800
It drew Livingstone here in 1855 -
the first white man to set eyes on the falls.

159
00:17:41,727 --> 00:17:47,723
At the bottom of the gorge, the river
is flung about in a series of tortuous rapids.

160
00:17:47,887 --> 00:17:51,402
There are people crazy enough
to take boats over them

161
00:17:51,567 --> 00:17:55,560
and, what's more,
people daft enough to pay them to do it.

162
00:17:59,447 --> 00:18:06,239
I'll try to make it easy for you to know which side
is going first onto the downstream side.

163
00:18:06,407 --> 00:18:12,323
The way I'll do it is to call for that side
which is going first onto the downstream side.

164
00:18:12,487 --> 00:18:17,925
When I say, "Crush forward", the first three
go to crush and two go right up on top.

165
00:18:18,087 --> 00:18:19,679
Hang on.

166
00:18:19,847 --> 00:18:22,566
This is the world of white-water rafting.

167
00:18:22,727 --> 00:18:26,515
Alex, our driver and guide,
may look like Superman

168
00:18:26,687 --> 00:18:31,283
but he's as tightly wrapped
in a life jacket as the rest of us.

169
00:18:31,447 --> 00:18:35,599
When I call "Go", turn around
and face onto the wave side.

170
00:18:35,767 --> 00:18:37,917
You guys all set?

171
00:18:38,647 --> 00:18:40,160
Go!

172
00:18:40,327 --> 00:18:42,318
Come on back!

173
00:18:48,327 --> 00:18:52,957
0ne of us has fallen overboard already.
This doesn't bode at all well.

174
00:18:53,127 --> 00:18:56,437
- You ready for some action?
- We've just had some.

175
00:18:56,607 --> 00:18:58,598
Let's go rafting.

176
00:19:06,447 --> 00:19:12,363
I have the extraordinary sensation
that my stomach is several yards behind me.

177
00:19:21,127 --> 00:19:26,645
For those interested in technicalities -
Nigel's camera is strapped to his shoulder

178
00:19:26,807 --> 00:19:31,801
and my microphone is waterproofed
inside three condoms.

179
00:19:43,407 --> 00:19:48,481
I'm still here. You haven't got rid of me yet.
There's harder ones to come.

180
00:19:48,647 --> 00:19:55,644
Starting from rapid number four will be some
real good white water. Big class-four rapid.

181
00:19:55,807 --> 00:19:59,641
After that rapid, number five is a class-five rapid

182
00:19:59,807 --> 00:20:04,437
and then we're riding in some good
class-four and five white water.

183
00:20:04,607 --> 00:20:09,727
What's the class system of rapids then?
What's the worst?

184
00:20:09,887 --> 00:20:14,039
The highest class you can run in a raft
is a class five.

185
00:20:14,207 --> 00:20:16,801
So we're going for the highest?

186
00:20:16,967 --> 00:20:23,406
We are. It's one of the biggest white waters
you can get in the whole world.

187
00:20:23,567 --> 00:20:26,957
So we're doing some real white-water rafting.

188
00:20:30,327 --> 00:20:32,966
(SCREAMING)

189
00:20:49,367 --> 00:20:51,358
There's hardly time for fear,

190
00:20:51,527 --> 00:20:56,920
though at this point I distinctly remember
something I want to change in my will.

191
00:21:16,727 --> 00:21:21,721
The joy of survival is tempered
by the knowledge that there's worse to come.

192
00:21:23,807 --> 00:21:27,038
(SCREAMING)

193
00:21:44,727 --> 00:21:49,960
The final irony is that in sheer exhilaration
at surviving nine rapids,

194
00:21:50,127 --> 00:21:53,961
I swim for shore, hit a rock, and crack a rib.

195
00:21:58,487 --> 00:22:02,878
Next day, I make my way painfully slowly
across the Zambezi Bridge,

196
00:22:03,047 --> 00:22:07,359
trying to ignore any connection
between witch doctors and rafting.

197
00:22:07,527 --> 00:22:11,486
But if I think I did something silly yesterday,
watch this.

198
00:22:16,807 --> 00:22:22,564
A man throws himself
into the 300-foot gorge... and back again.

199
00:22:24,087 --> 00:22:26,078
For fun.

200
00:22:28,487 --> 00:22:31,285
This is the sport of bungee jumping.

201
00:22:31,447 --> 00:22:36,441
It makes white-water rafting
look like a day at the paddling pool.

202
00:22:40,287 --> 00:22:45,315
And it's so popular that people
are actually queuing to jump off.

203
00:22:45,487 --> 00:22:49,958
Five, four, three, two, one...

204
00:22:50,127 --> 00:22:52,083
Bungee!

205
00:22:55,887 --> 00:22:59,243
If something about the Zambezi Gorge
attracts loonies,

206
00:22:59,407 --> 00:23:02,956
then something about Zambia
has attracted misfortune.

207
00:23:03,127 --> 00:23:08,963
Apart from my rib, I've had a suitcase stolen
and one of our crew has had malaria.

208
00:23:09,127 --> 00:23:14,599
Last night I finally tried Dr Baela's medicine.
Perhaps it was a bit late.

209
00:23:14,767 --> 00:23:19,716
Anyway, the end of the bridge
marks somewhere new - Zimbabwe.

210
00:23:26,287 --> 00:23:32,396
At first Zimbabwe looks old-fashioned
but, compared to Zambia, it's a land of progress.

211
00:23:34,727 --> 00:23:41,326
Blessed with huge coal reserves, they've kept a
lot of steam engines - and not just for nostalgia.

212
00:23:46,727 --> 00:23:50,197
But Bulawayo station
does take me back a few years

213
00:23:50,367 --> 00:23:53,200
to those days before white-water rafting

214
00:23:53,367 --> 00:23:58,839
when climbing on the footplate at Sheffield
Midland was the ultimate excitement.

215
00:24:00,527 --> 00:24:05,521
With a cracked rib, it's the ultimate test
of the unreformed trainspotter.

216
00:24:11,527 --> 00:24:17,716
- How old is this locomotive?
- I think it's about 30 years old.

217
00:24:17,887 --> 00:24:20,560
- How old are you?
- I'm 34.

218
00:24:20,727 --> 00:24:23,639
- About the same age.
- Almost the same.

219
00:24:23,807 --> 00:24:26,196
Why did you become an engine driver?

220
00:24:26,367 --> 00:24:31,043
I've always liked trains.
I used to like trains when I was young.

221
00:24:39,647 --> 00:24:45,643
The railways of southern Africa were once
described as "the sinews of empire".

222
00:24:49,287 --> 00:24:52,438
The man who built them was Cecil John Rhodes.

223
00:24:52,607 --> 00:24:57,078
His mixture of megalomania and foresight
opened up the continent

224
00:24:57,247 --> 00:25:00,557
and created a country in his name - Rhodesia.

225
00:25:00,727 --> 00:25:05,198
This train proves he put his money
where his mouth was.

226
00:25:05,367 --> 00:25:10,202
A hundred years ago it was all the rage
to have your own railway coach,

227
00:25:10,367 --> 00:25:14,997
and as Rhodes owned a large chunk of Africa,
he was not to be left out.

228
00:25:15,167 --> 00:25:18,637
This one was made for him
by Pullman in 1895

229
00:25:18,807 --> 00:25:22,402
and has everything
your African commuter could want.

230
00:25:22,567 --> 00:25:27,595
A complete kitchen range
and many other delights besides.

231
00:25:27,767 --> 00:25:31,316
His own bathroom complete with enamel bath.

232
00:25:31,487 --> 00:25:33,842
Bedroom - mahogany panelled.

233
00:25:34,007 --> 00:25:37,966
And his reception room
where he could entertain other people

234
00:25:38,127 --> 00:25:42,245
who'd made spectacular amounts of money
from carving up Africa.

235
00:25:42,407 --> 00:25:46,161
This was also the coach
in which he made his last journey.

236
00:25:46,327 --> 00:25:50,923
At the age of 49 in 1902 he was brought
from Cape Town, where he died,

237
00:25:51,087 --> 00:25:55,842
to the place where he had requested
to be buried, just outside Bulawayo.

238
00:26:02,607 --> 00:26:08,284
In his will he wrote, "I admire the grandeur
of the Matapos Mountains in Rhodesia.

239
00:26:08,447 --> 00:26:13,316
"Therefore I desire to be buried on the hill
which I called 'The View of The World'

240
00:26:13,487 --> 00:26:18,720
"in a square to be cut in the rock, covered
by a brass plate with these words thereon.

241
00:26:18,887 --> 00:26:22,516
"Here lie the remains of Cecil John Rhodes."

242
00:26:25,687 --> 00:26:30,556
Here, despite threats by Zimbabwe's rulers
to dig him up and send him back,

243
00:26:30,727 --> 00:26:34,720
Cecil Rhodes, the empire builder, still lies.

244
00:26:38,887 --> 00:26:43,358
Rhodesia disappeared a decade ago
after a violent guerrilla war,

245
00:26:43,527 --> 00:26:47,520
but the country feels as English
as anywhere I've been.

246
00:26:47,687 --> 00:26:53,842
Bulawayo's streets and parks are evidence
of that most European concept - civic pride.

247
00:27:05,207 --> 00:27:09,678
The trauma of independence
has had little effect on the BBC -

248
00:27:09,847 --> 00:27:12,407
the Bulawayo Bowling Club.

249
00:27:25,007 --> 00:27:30,957
Membership has dwindled from 400 to 120,
but there are still five greens

250
00:27:31,127 --> 00:27:34,676
and Pearle Sheppard,
the club secretary, is bullish.

251
00:27:34,847 --> 00:27:37,600
Our youngest member is a boy of about 14.

252
00:27:37,767 --> 00:27:42,443
Goes to boarding school,
so he just plays at school holidays.

253
00:27:42,607 --> 00:27:46,725
Our oldest member is that lady
you saw on the green. She's 86.

254
00:27:46,887 --> 00:27:49,481
So you get a very representative crowd -

255
00:27:49,647 --> 00:27:54,482
people from all walks of life
and all ages all come and play bowls.

256
00:27:54,647 --> 00:27:58,560
- Do you have any black African players?
- We don't, no.

257
00:27:58,727 --> 00:28:02,879
The Africans are not
particularly interested in bowls.

258
00:28:03,047 --> 00:28:05,686
All the clubs are open, of course.

259
00:28:05,847 --> 00:28:10,841
The only black bowlers in Bulawayo
belong to the Blind Bowlers Association.

260
00:28:11,007 --> 00:28:17,242
They have been brought into the game
through the association that helps blind people,

261
00:28:17,407 --> 00:28:20,444
and they encourage them to play bowls.

262
00:28:20,607 --> 00:28:26,159
It's fantastic to see some of them play
because they might not be able to see,

263
00:28:26,327 --> 00:28:30,320
yet they sometimes play incredible bowls.

264
00:28:32,007 --> 00:28:35,079
0ne place no member of the BBC
would be seen

265
00:28:35,247 --> 00:28:39,240
is the gloriously named
Umshitshimbo Beer Garden.

266
00:28:41,807 --> 00:28:47,404
# Young boy dances, left in a dusty township... #

267
00:28:47,567 --> 00:28:52,118
The Umshitshimbo Garden
is a concrete patch behind a downtown hotel,

268
00:28:52,287 --> 00:28:58,283
but it's one of the most popular places
in Bulawayo to drink and jive.

269
00:28:58,447 --> 00:29:00,438
The music scene is thriving.

270
00:29:00,607 --> 00:29:06,443
Bands like Southern Freeway - fronted by
a South African, Steve Dyer - pack the place.

271
00:29:06,607 --> 00:29:09,997
(SOUTHERN FREEWAY SING "THABISO")

272
00:29:30,807 --> 00:29:34,277
There's low life and high life
at the Umshitshimbo.

273
00:29:34,447 --> 00:29:36,756
Shots of gin top up the lager,

274
00:29:36,927 --> 00:29:42,399
and when the band stops, there are long
announcements on the dangers of AIDS.

275
00:29:42,567 --> 00:29:44,637
No one listens.

276
00:29:48,927 --> 00:29:52,681
Still, it's the happiest memory
I take away from Bulawayo.

277
00:30:07,367 --> 00:30:12,361
(SOUTHERN FREEWAY
CONTINUE SINGING "THABISO")

278
00:30:25,247 --> 00:30:29,718
200 miles south,
we reach our last country in Africa -

279
00:30:29,887 --> 00:30:33,516
our springboard to Antarctica
and the South Pole.

280
00:30:37,647 --> 00:30:39,683
0n the banks of the Limpopo,

281
00:30:39,847 --> 00:30:45,399
miles of razor wire guard the Republic
of South Africa from the rest of the world.

282
00:30:50,287 --> 00:30:52,755
Life changes completely.

283
00:30:52,927 --> 00:30:58,638
Despite years of sanctions and universal
ostracism, Western luxury starts here.

284
00:30:58,807 --> 00:31:02,720
Where else in Africa
could you rent a white BMW?

285
00:31:03,847 --> 00:31:09,240
Country number 14 is undergoing as profound
a change as any we've passed through.

286
00:31:12,567 --> 00:31:17,038
Four months before we arrived,
apartheid was officially abolished.

287
00:31:17,207 --> 00:31:20,756
No one quite knows
where South Africa goes next.

288
00:31:32,647 --> 00:31:36,083
In the shadow of slag heaps is Johannesburg -

289
00:31:36,247 --> 00:31:38,715
the biggest city we've seen since Cairo.

290
00:31:38,887 --> 00:31:43,358
Unlike Cairo, Johannesburg
is cool, calm and corporate.

291
00:31:44,327 --> 00:31:50,436
Retrieving the gold on which their wealth
is built leads to spectacular engineering.

292
00:31:56,047 --> 00:32:03,044
- We're travelling at 70 metres a second.
- 70 metres a second. Two kilometres down.

293
00:32:07,767 --> 00:32:09,997
This is Western Deep Levels mine.

294
00:32:10,167 --> 00:32:15,560
It's in the "Guinness Book of Records" for
the deepest penetration of man into the earth.

295
00:32:15,727 --> 00:32:18,036
Two and a half miles.

296
00:32:18,207 --> 00:32:20,402
7,000 men work down here.

297
00:32:20,567 --> 00:32:26,039
They're drawn from so many different tribes
that a mining language has developed.

298
00:32:26,207 --> 00:32:32,316
Fanakalo is the Esperanto of the mines.
It's taught in the world's deepest classroom.

299
00:32:32,487 --> 00:32:37,038
Yenalo... sar-har.

300
00:32:39,007 --> 00:32:42,920
Yenalo... sar-har.

301
00:32:44,367 --> 00:32:49,202
Yenalo... sar-har.

302
00:32:49,367 --> 00:32:54,487
Yenalo... sar-har.

303
00:32:54,647 --> 00:32:57,559
Ini-lo.

304
00:32:58,527 --> 00:33:02,281
(CLASS) Yenalo... sar-har.

305
00:33:03,487 --> 00:33:07,605
Yenalo... spa-ne-rer.

306
00:33:09,647 --> 00:33:13,242
Yenalo... spa-ne-rer.

307
00:33:14,287 --> 00:33:17,882
Yenalo spa-ne-rer.

308
00:33:18,047 --> 00:33:21,437
Mosheh. Ini-lo?

309
00:33:21,607 --> 00:33:25,316
- Yenalo spa-ne-r.
- Spa-ne-rer.

310
00:33:26,727 --> 00:33:29,082
Ini-lo?

311
00:33:29,247 --> 00:33:33,798
- Yenalo spa-ne-rer.
- Mosheh.

312
00:33:33,967 --> 00:33:35,764
Spa-ne-rer.

313
00:33:37,567 --> 00:33:39,876
Armed with the word for "spanner",

314
00:33:40,047 --> 00:33:44,325
we leave the air-conditioned tunnels
for where mining gets painful.

315
00:33:44,487 --> 00:33:47,718
- Bit dangerous here.
- Where's the water from?

316
00:33:47,887 --> 00:33:52,165
This is from where they're drilling.
It's drilling water.

317
00:33:52,327 --> 00:33:57,640
We're walking up the strike gully
towards the strike itself.

318
00:33:57,807 --> 00:34:01,277
- We'll be going up a ladderway.
- Sure.

319
00:34:01,447 --> 00:34:06,760
- It's quite hot now, isn't it?
- Yeah. Hot and wet.

320
00:34:18,887 --> 00:34:21,526
It's 30 degrees centigrade.

321
00:34:21,687 --> 00:34:27,796
Crouched in a chamber four foot high,
a team has been drilling for six hours.

322
00:34:27,967 --> 00:34:33,519
0ne man operates the drill, one checks
the equipment, one directs cooling water.

323
00:34:33,687 --> 00:34:38,556
An engineer directs operations
into an inch-wide gold-bearing seam.

324
00:34:38,727 --> 00:34:41,525
He's the only white man.

325
00:34:54,327 --> 00:34:57,319
It takes nearly four hours to change shifts.

326
00:34:57,487 --> 00:35:01,116
The technicians are gathering at the crucible.

327
00:35:01,287 --> 00:35:06,805
It's a very select band that witnesses
the final act of the drama.

328
00:35:06,967 --> 00:35:09,606
Is the gold coming through?

329
00:35:09,767 --> 00:35:15,922
If you look there, you'll see the gold
is now a greeny-silvery colour.

330
00:35:16,087 --> 00:35:21,161
- It's changing, yeah.
- You see it coming through the top.

331
00:35:21,327 --> 00:35:24,797
That's how you know
where the gold is coming out.

332
00:35:24,967 --> 00:35:28,926
So how much gold is there
in this particular smelting?

333
00:35:29,087 --> 00:35:35,879
In this one we're probably getting about
three bars of gold - that's about 80 kilograms.

334
00:35:36,047 --> 00:35:39,960
Why do you have feather dusters in here?

335
00:35:40,127 --> 00:35:45,884
It's a very industrial environment
and there are feather dusters. What are they for?

336
00:35:46,047 --> 00:35:50,359
All the dust in the smelt house
could contain gold,

337
00:35:50,527 --> 00:35:54,520
so every spot of dust is collected
and put into the furnace.

338
00:35:54,687 --> 00:36:01,525
Nothing is taken out.
Even overalls are put into the furnace sometimes.

339
00:36:01,687 --> 00:36:04,326
- I won't get an internal check?
- No.

340
00:36:06,927 --> 00:36:11,398
In Johannesburg, I'm made aware
of how long I've been away.

341
00:36:11,567 --> 00:36:17,403
We left in high summer. Now it's less
than a month to the festive season.

342
00:36:17,567 --> 00:36:22,516
(HE HUMS "IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER")

343
00:36:22,687 --> 00:36:25,565
# Snow had fallen snow on snow

344
00:36:25,727 --> 00:36:28,287
# Snow on snow

345
00:36:28,447 --> 00:36:34,079
# In the bleak midwinter long ago #

346
00:36:34,247 --> 00:36:38,081
There's nothing like Christmas
to provoke homesickness.

347
00:36:38,247 --> 00:36:43,844
But if all goes well, I could get home from
the South Pole in time to start shopping.

348
00:36:44,807 --> 00:36:47,196
(BELL RINGS)

349
00:36:54,607 --> 00:36:59,397
But Africa has one last
and particularly nasty trick in store for us.

350
00:36:59,567 --> 00:37:02,365
Back at the hotel, a message is waiting.

351
00:37:02,527 --> 00:37:06,520
Though it isn't from my witch doctor,
it might as well be.

352
00:37:06,687 --> 00:37:12,478
I can't quite believe the news and double-check
with our production office in London.

353
00:37:23,287 --> 00:37:28,122
Hello. Mimi? Yeah. It's Michael.
I've just got your fax.

354
00:37:28,287 --> 00:37:31,882
Yeah. I can't believe it. Is that?

355
00:37:32,047 --> 00:37:36,040
About the Agulhas. They have no berths at all?

356
00:37:37,687 --> 00:37:44,559
The Agulhas is sailing to Antarctica,
but all places on board have been taken.

357
00:37:44,727 --> 00:37:46,797
There is no room for us.

358
00:37:46,967 --> 00:37:52,280
While our London office tries every alternative,
we can only hope and wait.

359
00:37:53,447 --> 00:37:55,961
We decide to spend the day at Soweto.

360
00:37:56,127 --> 00:38:00,643
It has a Latin motto.
"Conjuncte Agamus" - "Let's pull together".

361
00:38:01,647 --> 00:38:04,115
The place is full of surprises.

362
00:38:04,287 --> 00:38:10,283
This house, I'm told, boasts the ultimate
in status symbols - a white security guard.

363
00:38:13,967 --> 00:38:19,439
Jimmy, my guide, lives round here.
He's a man of sharp wit and little sentiment.

364
00:38:19,607 --> 00:38:25,477
He tells me that in Soweto,
BMWstill means "Break My Windows".

365
00:38:25,647 --> 00:38:31,438
Jimmy, to all intents and purposes,
this looks like the Beverly Hills of Soweto.

366
00:38:31,607 --> 00:38:34,201
What sort of people live here?

367
00:38:34,367 --> 00:38:37,279
(JIMMY) It's the affluent black people.

368
00:38:37,447 --> 00:38:42,567
Professional people,
businessmen, doctors, lawyers...

369
00:38:42,727 --> 00:38:46,356
Successful people, hard workers.

370
00:38:46,527 --> 00:38:52,318
These are the people who work for the bank,
not in the bank.

371
00:38:52,487 --> 00:38:56,878
(PALIN) If you make a lot of money in Soweto,

372
00:38:57,047 --> 00:39:00,756
do people tend to stay here or want to move?

373
00:39:00,927 --> 00:39:06,240
(JIMMY) There's a feeling of people moving.
I've been seeing signs - "For Sale" -

374
00:39:06,407 --> 00:39:13,404
because the Group Areas Act is over,
so it's a question now of economic apartheid.

375
00:39:13,567 --> 00:39:17,924
Those who have the money
can move with the Joneses.

376
00:39:18,087 --> 00:39:20,726
(PALIN) Why do they move from Soweto?

377
00:39:20,887 --> 00:39:26,359
(JIMMY) It's a feeling of... people tend
to look for what they couldn't be given.

378
00:39:26,527 --> 00:39:31,043
What you were prohibited from doing
is exactly what you want to do.

379
00:39:31,207 --> 00:39:37,521
Now it's open, people feel it's much nicer
in the city, in the suburbs. Convenient.

380
00:39:37,687 --> 00:39:43,762
Five minutes drive from wherever
to the city or buses and transportation.

381
00:39:45,407 --> 00:39:48,877
Transportation is a way
to make money in Soweto.

382
00:39:49,047 --> 00:39:51,720
So serious is the violence on railways

383
00:39:51,887 --> 00:39:55,766
that Sowetans prefer to fight for a place
on a private minibus.

384
00:39:55,927 --> 00:40:00,921
There are currently 145,000 of them,
and the numbers are rising.

385
00:40:03,967 --> 00:40:06,925
Simply because there's more people...

386
00:40:07,087 --> 00:40:11,683
Soweto was set up in 1933
to house a cheap labour force.

387
00:40:11,847 --> 00:40:16,921
Shanty settlements like this one
are the legacy of that decision.

388
00:40:17,087 --> 00:40:22,719
These are the families of people who
are not wanted and probably never will be.

389
00:40:22,887 --> 00:40:26,721
If you leave your family,
you could try one of the hostels.

390
00:40:26,887 --> 00:40:29,196
Jimmy doesn't recommend it.

391
00:40:29,367 --> 00:40:32,245
How can you have 16 men in one room?

392
00:40:32,407 --> 00:40:38,164
16 smells of food -
this one cooking that, this one doing this.

393
00:40:38,327 --> 00:40:44,084
Sometimes people want to rest - you've been
working at night, others during the day.

394
00:40:44,247 --> 00:40:47,080
Men in general put together.

395
00:40:47,247 --> 00:40:50,478
These are the barbers. Street barbers.

396
00:40:50,647 --> 00:40:55,960
Money making, of course.
It's connected electrically from the battery.

397
00:40:56,127 --> 00:41:00,120
That's how they get the electricity
to do all this.

398
00:41:00,287 --> 00:41:05,281
- That's just someone doing a bit of work?
- Yeah. Just a bit of work.

399
00:41:08,687 --> 00:41:12,965
- How much do they pay for this?
- 12 to 15 rand per bed.

400
00:41:13,127 --> 00:41:18,645
- Different hostels have different prices.
- For a month. £3 a month.

401
00:41:18,807 --> 00:41:23,005
What are they earning?
Are these the lowest wage earners?

402
00:41:23,167 --> 00:41:28,161
Most people in the hostel are low wage earners,
but you get a few earning more.

403
00:41:28,327 --> 00:41:32,525
Roughly 500 rand a month,
depending where they're working.

404
00:41:32,687 --> 00:41:36,646
500 would be worth about £100 a month.

405
00:41:36,807 --> 00:41:40,516
- There'd be people here with £100 a month?
- Yeah.

406
00:41:40,687 --> 00:41:44,805
(PALIN) It's much nicer inside than it is out.

407
00:41:44,967 --> 00:41:50,166
(JIMMY) You can't imagine living
eight in one. It's like dormitory style.

408
00:41:50,327 --> 00:41:54,400
If you spend all your life here, this is pretty bad.

409
00:41:55,967 --> 00:41:58,959
Before I leave, I have some visiting to do.

410
00:41:59,127 --> 00:42:04,155
It's a sign of the times that the Gwangwa
family - neighbours of ours in London -

411
00:42:04,327 --> 00:42:10,402
have because of their ANC membership
only just been allowed back into their country.

412
00:42:10,567 --> 00:42:15,038
Six months ago,
this visit would never have been possible.

413
00:42:18,327 --> 00:42:20,397
Wrong day.

414
00:42:23,887 --> 00:42:27,641
There's Michael, there's Michael, there's Michael.

415
00:42:27,807 --> 00:42:30,196
Hey! There you are!

416
00:42:30,367 --> 00:42:32,597
Hello!

417
00:42:33,967 --> 00:42:38,006
- How great to see you.
- How great to see you.

418
00:42:38,167 --> 00:42:41,045
- That's wonderful.
- Keeto.

419
00:42:41,207 --> 00:42:43,004
Hello.

420
00:42:43,167 --> 00:42:46,921
And my My-Lucy?
Where's My-Lucy? Somewhere else.

421
00:42:47,087 --> 00:42:51,922
That's right. Oh, look at that.

422
00:42:52,087 --> 00:42:58,401
"Welcome, Michael, to the Gwangwa family."

423
00:42:58,567 --> 00:43:01,923
- You do that for everybody!
- No!

424
00:43:02,087 --> 00:43:06,763
This is... They use... cow dung.

425
00:43:06,927 --> 00:43:12,524
- Cow dung, is it?
- That's the decorations that they do.

426
00:43:12,687 --> 00:43:17,841
- Fresh cow dung.
- We couldn't get the cow dung in London!

427
00:43:21,207 --> 00:43:25,723
Kicking our heels for another day,
we join a football crowd.

428
00:43:25,887 --> 00:43:28,355
Sport is multiracial in South Africa now,

429
00:43:28,527 --> 00:43:32,679
but rugby remains the white game
and soccer the black game.

430
00:43:32,847 --> 00:43:36,840
(SOFT SINGING)

431
00:43:53,727 --> 00:43:56,287
Today's match is a Cup semi-final.

432
00:43:56,447 --> 00:44:00,918
Sundowns of Pretoria are taking on
Cosmos of Johannesburg.

433
00:44:20,727 --> 00:44:22,718
(HORN TRUMPETS)

434
00:44:35,327 --> 00:44:37,682
Oh, what a shot!

435
00:44:45,407 --> 00:44:47,682
It was a very good shot.

436
00:44:48,647 --> 00:44:53,402
We leave Johannesburg with nothing decided
- but we leave in style.

437
00:44:55,527 --> 00:45:01,159
This is the Blue Train, which runs expensively
between Pretoria and Cape Town.

438
00:45:01,327 --> 00:45:06,321
I justify it as a reward
for all our rough-riding through Africa.

439
00:45:06,487 --> 00:45:10,480
The Nile Valley Express in Sudan
carried 4,000 people.

440
00:45:10,647 --> 00:45:15,641
The Blue Train's carrying just 92
and no one's allowed on the roof.

441
00:45:17,887 --> 00:45:22,677
The contrast with everything
that's gone before is almost unnerving.

442
00:45:22,847 --> 00:45:26,283
What does one do with nine pieces of cutlery?

443
00:45:33,287 --> 00:45:39,283
The answer is you order a bottle of South
African Chardonnay and stop feeling guilty.

444
00:45:39,447 --> 00:45:44,441
After all, how many people here
have cracked ribs and evil shadows?

445
00:45:56,967 --> 00:46:00,562
No one ever gets on, no one ever gets off.

446
00:46:00,727 --> 00:46:05,881
In this air-conditioned double-glazed luxury,
I feel like an overfed goldfish -

447
00:46:06,047 --> 00:46:12,156
able to observe the world from my bowl
whilst remaining completely detached from it.

448
00:46:13,207 --> 00:46:16,438
It could quite easily drive you mad.

449
00:46:19,007 --> 00:46:23,398
The last 900 miles of Africa
run across the High Veld

450
00:46:23,567 --> 00:46:26,639
and the wide, dry plain they call the Karoo

451
00:46:26,807 --> 00:46:32,439
to approach the Cape in a scenic display
of mountains, valleys and vineyards.

452
00:47:14,167 --> 00:47:18,683
7,000 miles, and nearly three months
after entering Port Said,

453
00:47:18,847 --> 00:47:23,238
the unmistakable shape of Table Mountain
marks the end of Africa.

454
00:47:36,087 --> 00:47:38,203
I think Africa's changed me.

455
00:47:38,367 --> 00:47:43,441
Until Mpulungu I was an incurable optimist,
but something went wrong there

456
00:47:43,607 --> 00:47:50,399
and I've reached Cape Town
as an incurable fatalist - what will be, will be.

457
00:47:51,407 --> 00:47:56,879
From the top of Table Mountain, you can see
where the Indian and Atlantic 0ceans meet.

458
00:47:57,047 --> 00:48:01,916
Beyond that,
2,500 miles over the horizon, is Antarctica.

459
00:48:02,087 --> 00:48:04,885
But the most poignant sight of all

460
00:48:05,047 --> 00:48:09,996
is the red-hulled supply ship
we've chased through Africa to reach.

461
00:48:20,727 --> 00:48:26,040
We made it, but our appeal for space
on board the Agulhas has failed.

462
00:48:26,207 --> 00:48:31,486
When she sails tomorrow on the only
voyage of the year to the Antarctic,

463
00:48:31,647 --> 00:48:33,763
we'll still be here.

464
00:48:33,927 --> 00:48:37,283
The journey, it seems, is over.