The Lost Waters of the Nile
In the Southern Sudan the White Nile pours into a bog that's as big as the whole of Ireland, and half of it simply disappears. Now, the biggest engineering project in Africa, the Jonglei Canal, proposed by Britons in 1903, is being built by a French company with Pakistani engineers riding a huge German excavator. It will bypass the swamp, save the water and could drastically alter the whole region.
This international activity centres on the territory of half-a-million Dinka, who are well-adjusted to a harsh environment, breed cattle for their bovine beauty, have little interest in agriculture, and were recently at war with the Arab North. Will the new canal destroy their unique way of life? Or will it lead to reconciliation between communities with dramatically different cultures? Narrator PAUL VAUGHAN
Film editor M. A. C. ADAMS
Editor SIMON CAMPBELL-JONES
Written and produced by ALEC NISBETT