“Sahara is one of the most powerful and evocative names on the world map. As a child, the images I had of the Sahara were both frightening and intriguing – palm trees, camels, turbanned travellers reclining, whilst being poured sparkling water by urn-carrying maidens in flimsy veils. It looked fun. I also knew that most western explorers who tried to cross it never came back. The combination of seduction and severity appealed to me. In the spring of 2000 I decided that it should be the next television journey. It promised to be tough, but that’s what the viewer seemed to like. It also offered the chance of going into, if not the unknown, certainly the very little known. (…) The filming took place between February 2001 and February 2002, with work on the book squeezed in between our various trips to the desert (the longest of which was a virtually non-stop seven weeks from Western Algeria to Timbuktu). (…) An average of 8.25 million people watched the four programmes, a bigger share of the audience than Full Circle. The call of the Sahara, it seems, is not just my own private fantasy.”
.
Michael Palin, 5th December 2002.
Este é o DVD que recomendo a quem não poder sair de casa para ir viajar, nesta caso pelo Sahara. O primeiro contacto que tive com ela foi à já uns anos quando passou pela primeira vez na RTP 2. Na altura não imginava sequer que tão brevemente iria também ao Sahara.
Michael Palin que se iniciou nestes documentários de viagem nos anos 80 com “Around the world in 80 days“, apresenta neste documentário uma fantástica visão do Sahara, começando em Marrocos, através do Atlas, seguindo pelo Sahara Ocidental e Argélia, contactando de perto com os refugiados, Mauritânia, Senegal, onde em Dakar apanha o épico comboio para Bamako. No Mali, uma passagem por locais como Dejné e pelo país Dogon, seguindo de barco pelo Niger até à lendária Timbuktu, seguindo para o Níger onde se junta a uma caravana de camelos que os acompanha novamente até à Argélia. Depois segue-se a Líbia e um regresso a Gibraltar sempre junto ao Mediterrâneo.
Sem dúvida uma viagem de sonho na sempre bem-humorada companhia de Michael Palin. É fantástico como ele consegue transmitir as sensações de viajar, desde a surpresa, ao cansaço e à sempre inevitável despedida de gentes e lugares
Olá! Gostou do que leu? Subscreva a minha newsletter e receba no seu e-mail as últimas novidades do blog Dobrar Fronteiras.
KIT DE VIAGEM
Quer organizar a sua viagem e ao mesmo tempo ajudar o projecto Dobrar Fronteiras? Siga os links abaixo para a suas reservas de hotéis, carros e seguros de viagem. Obrigado!
“Sahara is one of the most powerful and evocative names on the world map. As a child, the images I had of the Sahara were both frightening and intriguing – palm trees, camels, turbanned travellers reclining, whilst being poured sparkling water by urn-carrying maidens in flimsy veils. It looked fun. I also knew that most western explorers who tried to cross it never came back. The combination of seduction and severity appealed to me. In the spring of 2000 I decided that it should be the next television journey. It promised to be tough, but that’s what the viewer seemed to like. It also offered the chance of going into, if not the unknown, certainly the very little known. (…) The filming took place between February 2001 and February 2002, with work on the book squeezed in between our various trips to the desert (the longest of which was a virtually non-stop seven weeks from Western Algeria to Timbuktu). (…) An average of 8.25 million people watched the four programmes, a bigger share of the audience than Full Circle. The call of the Sahara, it seems, is not just my own private fantasy.”
