All language subtitles for Sahara with Michael Palin 3of4 Absolute Desert 720p HDTV x264 AAC MVGroup org_Subtitles01.ENG

The Niger River brought me to the
heart of the Sahara but no further.

From here on, the only ships
I'll see are ships of the desert

and where better to get acquainted
with them than the city of Timbuktu?

CAMEL GROANS

Well, I've reached Timbuktu.

CAMEL GRUNTS
I said I've reached Timbuktu.

CAMEL GRUNTS
Not again - I've reached Timbuktu!

And...back in the Sahara,

for the first time
in the land of the Tuareg,

the Saharan nomad traders who
founded Timbuktu about 800 years ago
as a trading post

for that most precious commodity
of the Sahara - salt.

The extraordinary thing is that
still today

the salt is brought down on camels
in these great tablets,
as it was all those years ago,

from the mines
800km up into the desert.

Nothing's really changed, has it?
Well, you've changed, but...

you look the same as the original
camels and herders, don't you?

How is it lugging all that salt
around? It must be sheer hell!

Is it nice now it's finished?

CAMEL GRUNTS
Yeah.

'But things HAVE changed.'

Today, the Tuareg are more likely to
be found camped against the walls,

sheltering from the desert,

and the walls aren't what they were.

Once inside the crumbling ramparts,

it's hard to tell
what it is about this desert city

that has enthralled travellers

and why it is that so many risked
their lives to reach these streets.

This mosque is evidence
of the golden age of Timbuktu.

El-Saheli,
inventor of mud-brick architecture,

designed and built it for Mansa
Moussa, the immensely rich emperor,

at a time when Mali
was the greatest empire in Africa.

This great mosque here at Timbuktu
is an extraordinarily powerful
and quietly affecting building.

It's built on almost 100 columns

and it creates
a sort of forest of cool

in this cauldron of heat outside.

It was originally constructed
in 1325

and the sheer scale of the place
is testimony

to the power of the Islamic presence
in the Middle Ages.

# Allahu akbar. #

It's Friday in Timbuktu, the
holiest day of the week for Muslims,

and, after prayers, the imam
invites me back to his house.

16th century. Alors, tu vois
maintenant la lune, le soleil...

'The imam has scientific texts
that clearly show
the planets circling the sun.

'They date back hundreds of years,
preserved by the dry desert air.

'It's convincing evidence that the
scholars of Timbuktu knew a lot more
than their counterparts in Europe.'

In 15th-century Timbuktu, the
mathematicians knew about rotation
of the planets and the eclipse.

They knew things we had to wait
for 150 years to know in Europe,

when Galileo and Copernicus came up
with these same calculations...

..and were given a hard time for it.

CHILDREN RECITE THE KORAN

In another part of the imam's house

is a school
where children learn the Koran.

On est en train de lutter

afin que Tombouctou retrouve
son visage d'avant...

He explained to me that he hopes
that Timbuktu can one day regain
some of its former glory

and become once again
the great centre of scholarship.

..que Tombouctou puisse retrouver
sa culture d'avant.

CHILDREN RECITE

After the Middle Ages,
Timbuktu slid into decline,

but its mystique grew, stoked by the
fact that no-one could get to it.

In 1826, a Scot, Alexander Laing,
rediscovered Timbuktu.

'His house is for sale, if you
fancy a weekend hideaway.'

Over a period of about 350 years,

43 separate people
tried to get to Timbuktu

and only four of them succeeded.
Laing was the first.

When he got here,
it looked pretty much like this.

It was certainly not the fabled city
of wealth that he'd expected.

He stayed for a while
and they were hospitable.

As he went home, he fell out with
the people who were taking him back.
They asked him to convert to Islam.

He said no,
so they cut his head off, aged 33.

That was the end of Laing, but his
house is here and it's available.

I can see myself festering here,
gazing mournfully back at the past,

but the desert beckons.

East of Timbuktu,
the Sahara is virtually inaccessible

to all but the nomads
who move their cattle across it.

Each year, they have a get-together
at Ingal, in the Republic of Niger.

These are the Wodaabe - a tall,
elegant people thought originally
to have come from Ethiopia.

They walk and ride
hundreds of miles a year,

seeking pasture for their cattle.

They move camp
every six or seven days,

so all they own must be portable.

GIRL SPEAKS TO DONKEY

Rains have brought food and water
and they must take advantage of the
conditions to fatten their cattle.

The Wodaabe grow no food, so without
the animals, they would not survive.

The fattening of the animals
on the salt grass

is celebrated at an annual festival
called Cure Salee -

the salt cure.

This great gathering of the
nomadic clans is now only days away.

'One of their spokesmen -
they don't have chiefs - is Doulla.'

Tous les gens de meme famille?
One pere, one mere...

Ah, oui.

'In a combination of French
and a little English, he explains

'that everyone in this group
comes from the same family line.'

Perri!

Ah, Perri. Qui est Perri?
Je te presente Perri. Ah, ca va?

'He introduces me to Perri, sporting
heavy-duty Austrian sunglasses,

'which I never see him remove.

'Though Perri looks
like the Godfather,

'Doulla assures me
he's only the brother-in-law.'

..comme il est cher. Ah, oui.

The obvious non-family member
is a French student called Celine,

who's been living with the group.

She shares everything. The contents
of her medicine bag are in demand.

What are relationships like among
the Wodaabe between men and women?

Some of them have three or four
wives. Are there problems there?

It's a free life here.
The woman is...

I can't say free,
but more or less free,

like all around the world
are free women. So, she can...

She is with her husband. Yes.
But if she want, she can leave him.

She can go to... She can go...

She can go to...with another man.

They're quite liberated sexually.

More or less, yes. Yeah.

It's important for them to look
beautiful. Yes, very important.

When a man choose a woman
or when a woman choose a man,

the first thing they look
is the beauty of the person.

MEN SING

This must be one of the most
extraordinary beauty contests

I've ever seen.

It's called the Gerewol,

and it is a sort of Wodaabe
equivalent of the high school hop.

The young men go to enormous lengths
to make themselves irresistible.

This means plenty of make up,
exotic hairdressing,

the ability to repeat the same song
and the same movement

for hours on end,
and some very fancy eye work.

How long do they dance for?

Something like seven days.
Seven days? Yeah. Seven days?!

Now it's the girls' turn.

Once decked out in all their finery
by doting mothers,

aunts and grannies, they will parade
in front of the boys,

and make their choice of partner.

They look very beautiful,
very young, and rather frightened.

MEN SING

Now comes the time for the girls
to play their part in the ceremony.

Now is the...

Do they come forward. Yes. People
like a woman, want to choisi.

Though the girls have
the right to choose,

it looks to be more of an ordeal
than a privilege.

Their choice must be made
in full view, for everyone to see.

Nerves are beginning to show.

And do the girls...
Do they choose...

They choose one boy? Yes, yes.

They go up and they put
their hand on him?

Yes, maybe one woman, maybe two.

Ah. If you're supposed to... Ah.

Yes.

Guided
by the mistress of ceremonies,

each girl walks the line
until contact is made,

and the choice announced
in the traditional way.

WOMAN CALLS OUT

Now the worst is over. Her chosen
one will meet up with her later.

He's hers for the night.

COW MOOS

Next morning, over breakfast,

I meet a boy and a girl who got
together at last year's Gerewol.

Raine, tucking into millet porridge,
was chosen by Goode,

and they now have to decide whether
they want to get married or not.

This is not a marriage
for the parents...

Non - non c'est past mariage
pour les parents.

..so they love each other and sort
of like each other? Voila. Yeah.

It's a...mariage pour l'amour.

Oui. Yes.

'Doulla explains that although
they've been lovers for a year,

'Goode wants to go to Cure Salee

'and see how Raine shapes up
in the big Gerewol dance.'

Le garcon... Yeah...
..qui danse bien... Oh, yes, I see.

'If he dances well,
sings well and looks good,

'she'll very likely
decide to be his wife.'

..danse, comme il va faire,
et apres vont faire la mariage.

Then they can claim the family bed,

the most important of all
Wodaabe status symbols.

CATTLE MOO

But until Cure Salee is over,
Goode's keeping everyone guessing.

Well, we're on our way.

The great Wodaabe family outing
has begun to Cure Salee,

which is an enormous festival
where all the nomads come together
for this great once-yearly event.

I'm not sure quite what goes on -
all sorts of festivities, dancing -
and it's just a bit of a long walk.

Coming!

SPEECH INAUDIBLE

The town where Cure Salee is
celebrated is 60 miles from the camp

and no, I admit it,
I don't walk the whole way.

I ride to Ingal in a bush taxi
with 15 Wodaabe crammed on board,

reducing their travelling time
from two days to two hours.

Well, we've now reached... Foma.

Foma. It means "hello" in Wodaabe.

We've reached the big city.
It isn't a big city at all.

This is Ingal and it's where
Cure Salee takes place.

After where we were, it's a shock,

because there's walls, there's cars,
there's police.

There are people
looking to rent out property.

They've got this courtyard from some
Hausa boys. Probably at a high rent.

It's not totally comfortable here.
Country boys come to the big city.

There are lots of their families out
there, but they haven't found them.

It's just very different and there's
a slightly hostile, cautious feeling

about it all. Salut. Hello. Foma.
How are you?

They're so lovely. They walk at this
gentle pace and out there is mayhem.

Cure Salee is everything -
a party, trade fair, highland games,
sports day and agricultural show.

For one week a year,

this little backwater
is filled to bursting,

as thousands come to eat and drink,
buy and sell, see and be seen,

race camels and generally celebrate

living in a land without boundaries.

SHRIEKS

Un ami? 'For Doulla and Perri,
it's also a chance to go shopping.'

Alaykum as-salaam. Marhaba.

Halak zain. Halak zain. Halak muhhi.
I don't know all the rest.

I only know the start.

There's 17 different things
we have to say.

So, what are we going to buy? I want
to buy the sugar. Sugar. Sucre.

For 80 personnes, so...
80 personnes.

So, that's 80 people
you're getting provisions for.

Will you stay four days here?

I don't know.
I want to dance and see people.

So, you're going to buy new clothes
here?

I want to come see this man.

Perri's a bit of a dude, isn't he?
Perri always looks rather dashing.

Mine is... Is this new too? Oui.

This is very old. That's old.

Yeah. Not very well worn.
Oh, yes, look at that.

Something like this.

You're so much... The clothes are
so much more interesting than mine.

It's nothing. These trousers, here
they are in beige! It's good, too.

I like these. Me too, I like them.
You like them? People like this.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

Bonjour!

Qu'est-ce que c'est, ce chose ici?

Ca, c'est le... C'est du sel.

Oh, that's salt? Yeah. Sel.

Du sel. It looks like solid bars.
C'est de Bilma.

Ah - this is salt from Bilma, where
the caravans go. Pour les caravanes.

The salt trade
is the oldest in the Sahara,

but Cure Salee
is not stuck in the past.

It's a bit hot for ski-ing. Yes.
In the evening you can do.

Do you ski on sand?
Yeah, on sand. Ski for the desert.

Yeah? Ski on desert, yeah.
Do you sink into the sand?

I have picture for these skis.
Have you got one? Yes.

Let me show it first. OK.

These are European skis,
the same as snow skis? Yes.

Same as snow skis.
Comment tu t'appelles?

Mon nom, c'est Abdul Qadir Danger.
Abdul Qadir Danger. Danger? Yeah.
Abdul Qadir Danger. That's good.

Duel Magazine too. Duel Magazine?
It's a very good French magazine

for travellers. Yes, I have picture.

Abdul Danger - I'm not sure
that gives me confidence.

That's right. I am Michael Cowardly.
Michael Cowardly. Highly cowardly.

Michael Cowardly. That's very nice.

Oh, well. I'll think about it.

Just amazing.

So I'll have two African masks, and
a course of skiing lessons, please!

MEN SING

As evening approaches,

the crowds gather one of the day's
highlights - a mass Gerewol.

Back at base, Raine and the other
Wodaabe prepare to join the dance.

They'll be facing some
strong competition.

Raine and the boys make final checks
in the plastic hand mirrors

that every self-respecting Wodaabe
lad carries with him.

With ostrich headdresses
rounding off the outfit,

they're ready for the big time.

MEN SING AND CLAP RHYTHMICALLY

Raine's already looking around,
maybe wondering where Goode is,

maybe on the lookout
for some action himself.

For this, it seems,
is what Cure Salee is all about -

the one time in a hard year
when tribes who live on the move

can stop in the same place
at the same time,

to exchange contacts, advice,
and of course, widen the gene pool.

I've benefited from Cure Salee
as well,

finding a group of Tuareg who will
let us join them on a salt caravan
leaving from a nearby village.

The journey will take us
across an arid furnace of desert,

but on our way to the village,
the almost unbelievable happens.

Well, there IS water in the Sahara.

When the rainy season hits,
it's dramatic.

This morning, I could have walked up
here. It has happened within a day.

Rains have fallen somewhere -
I don't know where.

This will probably
come up to my waist height,

and in a week it'll be dry again.

At the oasis of Tabelot, this water
stays close enough to the surface
to create a minor miracle.

This is like the Garden of Eden.

'And this is Omar, the man who'll
soon be leading me and the camel
train across the burning sands.'

Orange. Orange, ah! Merci.

C'est bon - rafraichissant.

Tu vois bien. Ah, c'est le...puits?

'All the water has to be brought up
from below the surface.

'This well is some 50 feet deep.

'A camel works the winch and a bag
moves water to irrigation channels.

'It's a method as old as the Bible -
probably older.

'And it works.

'The fields of Tabelot are rich in
onions, carrots, maize and millet,

'whilst trees provide orange, fig,
pomegranate and, of course, dates,

'which, when ripe, are wrapped in
bags to keep the birds off them.'

Quel est le plus grand?

Le plus grand c'est 20 metres.
20 metres? 60 feet. 60 feet up?

Il monte? Oui.

Crikey. So, he gets up 60 feet
to get the dates. Oui.

HE YELLS

And drops his load.

I just... I only wanted three!

Mmm.

Wowee.

Merci. Merci beaucoup.

'Omar's home is in the centre of the
village, a mile or so from the well.

'He's taking me to meet his family.
They speak only Arabic or Tamahaq,

'the language of the Tuareg,
but Omar has better French than me.'

Quatre femmes et... 'He tells me
he has four wives and 15 children.'

15 children? Oui.

You are riche. No.

C'est un probleme d'avoir...
quatre femmes, pour gagner? Oui...

'Though he smiles easily enough,
things are not as rosy as they look.

'It's hard finding money to buy food
and medicine for all the children,

'particularly the little ones, who
can't work.' C'est un peu dur. Yeah.

Comme il y a des petits enfants.
Yeah.

So, it's... C'est pas facile.
C'est difficile.

'His wives seem to be
of different ages

'and I ask if there are problems
with all four under the same roof.'

..quatre femmes dans le...meme
maison. Beaucoup de problemes.

'Yes, he says, there are
many problems. They all seem

'to boil down to the same thing -
jealousy.'

Jalousie. Jealousy? Oui.

Mais peut-etre, si vous...

Si tu as...

'Wouldn't it be easier,
I ask in my impertinent Western way,
to have one wife?'

With one woman, it's easy.
One wife, pas difficile.

Mais avec quatre femmes, c'est
tres difficile. Yeah. Pourquoi...?

'Omar agrees that
it would probably be much easier,

'but then, as he puts it,
he wants lots of children,
so he needs lots of wives.'

You've got a lot of children. Oui.

'I think, in his own way, Omar likes
the idea of starting a dynasty.'

LIVELY DRUMMING AND SINGING

The night before the camel train
leaves for Bilma, there's a party.

The dancing gets wilder and wilder,
as the men strut every step
they know to impress the women,

and there's no sitting it out.

The local boys are tireless, happy
to raise the sand all night long,

but for us oldies it's time for bed.
There's a long, hard journey ahead.

Early morning in Tabelot and the
great day of departure has arrived.

With these men and beasts

I'll share the Sahara's
most desolate corners.

Est-ce qu'il y a cette...?
C'est le chameau? Oui. OK.

Merci.

Got more important things
to put on first.

This is straw in here.

I asked him if it's for the camel
to eat. He said no, for us.

You don't get much to eat. Sorry.

There are nine chameliers,
or cameliers,

in our party, and 30 camels, most of
which are of the white, docile type

beloved by the Tuareg
of the Air mountains.

CAMEL BELLOWS

'My camel, I note, is neither white
nor docile, but brown and stroppy.'

Whoa!

So excited to have my bag on board
that he wanted to make off with it.

Il a un nom? Oui. Ekowik.

Kowik? Ekowik.

Kowik.

Kowik, I think, means
"he who takes foreigners".

Ekowik. Ekowik.

'We're ready to go. Everything we
need must be carried by the camels,

'except fresh food, which walks.'

Well, here we go.
Not quite sure about me yet.

CAMEL GRUNTS
Come on.

Well, this is it. It's not quite
what I expected when I'd...

Camel rides on the beach or once
round the pyramid. This is for real.

I've failed already.
I got him a few yards.

So we leave Tabelot,

a modest caravan compared to the one
which left here in 1922,

observed by one Captain Buchanan,
who estimated it at six miles long.

Come on, Ekowik.

It's 350 miles across the desert
to Bilma

and I shall be leaving before that

and branching north,
towards the Algerian border.

'As we pass out of the mountains,
Omar takes me aside

'to show me
some of the extraordinary rock art

'that covers
this part of the Sahara.'

C'est quel age? Vers six mille.
Ah, six mille. 6,000 years. Oui.

6,000 years old! 'Some say
they're men from outer space.

'Others say they're ancestors of the
Wodaabe, but the animals they depict

'are taken as proof that,
not long ago,

'the Sahara
was a green and fertile place.'

Since the last ice age ended,
the Sahara and its wildlife have
borne the brunt of global warming.

Now the camel,
introduced from Arabia, has
this wilderness almost to itself.

It looks rather pleasant and gentle
this pace, ambling through the sand,

but it's very deceptive
cos this is really stark desert.

This is killer landscape, because
there is no water and no shelter,

so you go slowly to survive

and if you didn't have water
or friends around,
that would be it within 24 hours.

The camel - or dromedary, as these
single-humped animals are known -

is a marvellous desert machine.

Their weight is so finely balanced,
they leave barely a mark.

Provided they can graze, they can
last two weeks without water

and they can carry loads of up to
500 pounds over enormous distances.

Camels changed the history
of the Sahara.

Without them, 2,000 years of trade,
war, expansion and exploration
would never have happened.

It's getting now to midday,

the peak of heat.
We're seeking a tree.

You just have to keep drinking
lots of water.

The other thing which is nice about
it is the camels dictate the pace

but also the mood.

It's the sort of continuous,
unchanging rhythm,

which is the way, I think,
you survive this.

Stopping and starting
is more difficult.

You've got to have shelter and all
that, but camels just move on and
become very reassuring presences.

You don't want to be patted.

But...

I mean,
there are good things about it.

There are no flies. You don't get
bitten by anything. There's no...

undergrowth to catch your clothing
on or get jabbed by,

but...there's very little scope
for action.

More scope for imagination, so you
think a lot...like why did I suggest
doing this in the first place?

Just a joke.

Oh, a tree! Un arbre.

Omar... Oui. ..un arbre.

Un arbre pour nous? Chez nous? Oui.

Hurrah!

This is where
we're going to stop next.

It's two-star,

so, basically, no swimming pool.

No room service.

No roof, no stairs...

no rooms, actually,
but it sounds jolly good.

How much is in the water?

Merci.

Merci, Omar.

HE LAUGHS

Lovely the way they go down,
sort of fold up, like...

collapsible tables.

This is what they eat
off the acacia tree,

but to get at the greenery

there are
these amazingly long, sharp thorns.

A couple of inches long.
Incredibly sharp.

They just sort of chomp that off. I
wonder what goes on in their mouths

between the tongue and the gullet.

I wouldn't eat this...
even in a sandwich.

Well, possibly in a sandwich.

I'd eat anything at the moment.

MICHAEL HUMS

OK.

C'est bon.

The midday temperatures
peak at around 56 Celsius

and only in late afternoon, when the
day cools off, is it safe to leave.

The heat dictates everything.

Because of it, Omar and his men
sometimes leave at 4am,

but they still aim to walk
14 or 15 hours a day.

Woohoooo!

I don't know about the camels,

but I find walking on this soft sand
the most tiring.

Izambar Mohammed, the camel singer,
watches out for flagging spirits.

SHARP CRY

SINGING
The tree you see over there...

Your expectations become so low that
one tree becomes a luxury object.

You can understand
what an oasis means to these people.

Everything's just pared down.

Very minimal expectations.

SINGING CONTINUES

The main social event of the day
is the evening meal - usually bread,
dates and cheese, buttonight,

in my honour, there'll be a stew.

Everyone has a job to do.

Omar and Izambar kill the sheep,

Osman bakes bread in a sand oven

and Moussa plaits twine
to secure the camel loads.

I'm still recovering.

There's nowhere to sit.
That's what I really miss most.

I'm sitting here, but this is
their bedding and the animals' food,

so I can't really sit here for long.

They don't believe in chairs.

After a long walk, it'd be nice to
just flop down on a chaise longue.

That's what I'd bring
if I had a camel train.

Camels stacked with chairs!

Reading lamps and a television.

Possibly a small bar and a fridge.

Front door bell, stairs
and maybe a couple of friends.

THEY SPEAK IN DIALECT

It's something thick and coarse
and heavy and rather unappetising.

Taguella. Togella.

Taguella. Togella. Taguella.

Taguella. Ca, c'est le taguella.

Tagilla. Taguella. Taguella.

Nice.

It's more like cake, really.

Like a big chunk of cake
we used to have at school.

Mmm.

Nice hard, crispy outside.
Very good.

Taguella. Taguella!

You have to get the emphasis right.

Ta-GUE-lla probably means buttock.

Taguell-A means this lovely cake.

You're a great audience. Thank you.

I think I'm wrong here,
another breach of etiquette,

because they seem to be
breaking up the...taguella?

..into the bowl here, so I suppose
they're going to put sauce on it,

but you're popping a bit
in your mouth too, so I'll do that.

Un peu tageulla. Un peu taduella.

Un peu taduella.

Taguella. Taguella. Taguella.

They're probably teaching me
all the wrong words.

Probably saying...

THEY SPEAK AMONGST THEMSELVES

Taguella. Taguella.

Taguella.

It's a minimalist joke,
but it's going very well.

Ah, this looks like the...

..the meat.

It's an odd feeling to be eating
one of the three creatures I've got
to know quite well as wewalk along.

The camels are up there and the
sheep and the goat are rather sweet

and they get kicked about
and no-one seems to care about them.
I rather identified with them...

and one has now been dispatched,
and the others...

It's swinging on the bush and
the other two are looking around...

"I wonder what happened to Bert."

They don't seem too concerned.

He laid down his life
for a good cause.

This is a banquet for Tuaregs,
because they rarely have meat on
a long journey. They have couscous.

There'll be a lot of sand in it,
especially with the wind blowing.

Tagine. Izzot. Oh.

For me? Oui. Thank you.

THEY LAUGH

Izzot. Izzot.

Is very hot, but it's good.

This is lovely.

Mmm.

Izzot. Izzot. Izzot.

Very good.

CAMEL BELLOWS

It's much more sensible
than any hat you could buy,

because...it's really cool.

You have to tie it quite securely,
because all the walking loosens it,

but it's cool and it keeps dust off,

so you can put it right over, can't
you? Up way. Sorry. My dresser.

And general looker-after.

I'd like to be able to see out of it
and not walk into a camel.

Brilliant. And this can go up...

Voila.

Et tu fais ca. Thank you.

Merci.

HE LAUGHS
There - ready for the route.

Dust...and it's very, very cool.

It's excellent, isn't it? Merci.

CAMEL MOANS

One thing I've got rather used to
about the camels

is the strange rumblings
that go around the camp whenever
they're being loaded up or put down.

You can hear one now,
and it's almost like a language

and I'm not quite sure what it is -
is it anger, is it protest

or just, "Here we go again"?

But they make their presence felt.

"We're not meant to do this. We're
not meant to be beasts of burden."

I shall develop a noise of my own
to go with it.

Nyyyiip! Nyyoooiii!

LAUGHTER
Good. It works.

We're now into
what my French guidebook calls
"desert absolut" - absolute desert.

The earth stripped clean, as bare as
a glacier, featureless as the sea.

The outside world is SO far away
as to be almost irrelevant.

I can understand why so many
religions were born in the desert.

The outside is SO hostile,
you have to look inside.

Just as I begin to achieve spiritual
harmony with this great emptiness,

I'm reminded that in this century
the outside world is always closer
than you think. We're not alone.

MOTOR HUMS

A French paraglider
swoops down over us,

a video camera at the ready.

I feel he's intruding on our space,
but deep down I'm probably jealous.

You've been to many deserts in the
world. Do you have a favourite, one
place that you find mostrewarding?

I've been, yes, to different place.
I like this one,

because the Sahara, there is an
authentic life here, still alive.

Well, it's a great machine.

Can you do some work with us?
Get up in the air
and we'll have our boys here.

Is it OK to have another camera?

Oh, sorry.

A few sweeties
and he'd be all right.

This might be just
a streak of Yorkshire puritanism,

but I don't want the Sahara
to become an adventure playground

and after the excitement I'm glad to
be back with people who live here.

Phew! It seems a bit bizarre
having a fire in the Sahara

after it's been 132 degrees
Fahrenheit this afternoon,

56 centigrade,

but it gets quite cold at night.

It goes down to about, well...
It can get as low as the high 80s.

You know, sort of 40 degrees,
38 degrees at night

and oddly enough it seems cold.

Anyway, it's just nice to have a
fire. Very friendly, companionable.

I can make my joke about...izzot!
Izzot. You see, it goes down a bomb.

Izzot. Izzot...

Oh, pour moi? Merci, merci.

Si tu veux...
This is a bit of the cheese, yeah.

Mmm.

Takuma. Guma. Takuma.

You're going to teach me
another word, aren't you? Takuma.

Takuma. Al fatur.

Hm? Al fatur. Al fatur.

THEY LAUGH
Shay. Shay.

You're teaching me rude words...

THEY LAUGH

Ah, these little Tuareg soirees!

The cheese is nice. Very nice.

Cheers.

En anglais, nous disons "Cheers!"

Cheers! Down the hatch.

Bottoms up.

THEY SPEAK IN DIALECT
Bottoms up. Bottom...

Bottom. Bottom. Bottoms. Bottoms.

Up. Up. Yeah, great!

Bottoms up. Bottoms up. Bottoms up.
Bottoms up.

THEY LAUGH
Izzot!

Ah, very good.

Bottoms up. Bottoms up.

Shay. Shay. Izzot. Izzot.

Al fatur. Al fatur.

THEY LAUGH
Takuma. Takuma.

Takuma.

Takuma. Oh, not again. Takuma.

Al fatur. Al fatur.

Shay. Shay.

Izzot. Izzot!

Bottoms up. Bottoms up.

God bless Her Majesty.

THEY CHUCKLE

Bottoms up. Bottoms up.

Omar helps me load up
for the last time.

Today our ways will part and already
they've someone new to look after.

This gazelle was found abandoned
by its mother at the campsite

and they're going to keep it
as a pet.

This is not one for the pot.

There are gazelles
in the Sahara desert. It's amazing.

I know there are camels
and lots of smaller animals,

but there are gazelles
roaming in the depths of the desert

and this one, I think,
will hopefully survive.

It's got amazing ears.

Yes...

We'll look after you, won't we?

It's always the way, isn't it?

Just as I'm learning how to cope,
it's time to move on.

I shall miss all this -
the regular rhythm,

the reassuring pattern
of life on the move.

I shall miss Omar and Izambar and
all the team who've looked after me.

Even Ekowik and the camels,
though they won't miss me.

I've learnt a lot - maybe not enough
to start a religion,

but a clearer view of basic truths.

If you don't respect your
environment, you die. It's simple.

'Omar will doubtless be delighted
to see the back of us.

'He can get back to the business of
bringing the salt back from Bilma.'

Au revoir.

Merci. Merci, Omar, pour tout.

Bon voyage.

Bye. Merci, merci.

Merci. Merci. Merci pour tout.
Merci pour tout.

Heeey!
You like that shirt, don't you?

Oh! OK.

Bon voyage. Au revoir. Merci.

Ah! Bottoms up.

HE PRETENDS TO CRY

He's going to win the Oscar
for this, isn't he?

Stop it! It's my show!

OK...

Il vient avec moi.

Oui, il vient avec moi.

Merci, Omar. Merci. Tres, tres bon.
Bon voyage.

OK! Now, then, which way?

Takuma.

Photograph.

Bottom up. Bottom up.

Bottom up. Bottom up. Takuma.
Izzot! Izzot!

THEY SHOUT OUT WORDS

Au revoir.

Right, let me see - Algeria.

Over the mountain, past the oasis,
down the gorge, left at the volcano.

Should be there by Tuesday week.