Showing Sahara by Michael Palin

Michael Palin's epic voyages have seen him circumnavigate the globe, travel from the North to the South Pole, and circle the countries of the Pacific Ocean, but perhaps the greatest single challenge he has faced is his latest: a crossing of the vast and merciless Sahara Desert. As the journey unfolds, the Sahara reveals not only the emptiness of endless sand dunes, but a huge and diverse range of cultures and landscapes, and a long history of civilisation, trade, commerce, and conquest.

He walks with nomadic herders and rides with a camel caravan through Niger, scales the Hoggar Mountains and flies into the oilfields of Algeria, before investigating Colonel Gaddafi's Libya and the stunning classical remains of Tunisia, where Life of Brian was filmed and Palin crucified. This is Michael Palin, explorer-adventurer, at his hard-pressed best.