Sahara with Michael Palin

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Michael Palin

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Sahara with Michael Palin: Episode 4: Dire Straits

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Dire Straits

Episode 4

Episode 4: Dire Straits

BBC One - Sahara with Michael Palin, Dire Straits

Michael arrives at the border of Niger and Algeria and makes a quick detour into Libya.

Trekking across the Sahara. Michael arrives at the border of Niger and Algeria, the lawless, desolate region where Mark Thatcher famously got lost.

Series charting Michael Palin's trek across the Sahara Desert. Michael arrives at the border of Niger and Algeria, the most desolate crossing, and then turning north Michael passes through the mountains of the Hoggar massif before pausing in the oil and gas fields of central Algeria. Then onto Libya to attend the very last reunion of the Desert Rats of Tobruk, before turning west along the north coast past deserted classical sites at Apollonia, Cyrene and Leptis Magna.

Crossing into Tunis, Michael relives the filming of The Life of Brian in Monastir, before taking the Maghreb Express to the dangerous city of Algiers, and then west to Algeria's second city, Oran.

Just along the coast is Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on Morocco's coast, where Michael talks to would-be immigrants before returning to Gibraltar. En route he learns of the terrible fate that has engulfed many Saharan people who attempt the eight-mile crossing.

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Factual: Travel

Michael Palin explores nine countries and cultures during a trek across the Sahara Desert.

Series in which Michael Palin explores nine fascinating countries and their cultures during a trek across the Sahara Desert.

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Sahara with Michael Palin

Episode 4: Dire Straits

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