Expedition Africa treks Tanzania
Tanzania is the glorious landscape for a new US reality TV show on the History Channel, retracing New York newspaperman Henry Morton Stanley’s 19th century search for Scottish explorer David Livingstone.
The initial segment of the eight-part series drew a larger-than-average audience last week. An estimated 1.3 million viewers turned to the History Channel last week to watch Expedition Africa, which presents a fabulous view of Tanzania, although was slated for its lack of historical perspective.
In Expedition Africa, Burnett recruits four adventurers to follow the general route taken by Stanley, who set off from Zanzibar in 1869. It took the journalist nearly nine months to locate Livingstone, a famous anti-slavery campaigner who had gone missing after starting a trek in 1865 in search of the source of the Nile.
Stanley found Livingstone in Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, greeting him with the famous words, “Dr Livingstone, I presume.”
The History Channel crew also gathers in Zanzibar for a 1,550km journey, mainly on foot, that they aim to complete in just 30 days. The quartet consists of a female anthropologist and former cheerleader for an American football team; a British thrill-seeker who specialises in televised tests of endurance; a guide who led a blind climber to the summit of Everest; and a former CNN war correspondent.
History Channel publicists suggest that the team will undertake the quest with only compass and maps to guide them. Much is made of the dangers they will supposedly face along the way, beginning with a dhow voyage from Zanzibar to Bagamoyo during which the adventurers are actually splashed by waves.
Burnett also strives to contrive challenges, sending the foursome over the Uluguru Mountains even though Stanley had walked around them. The the intrepid band, is accompanied by a full camera crew, a large contingent of Tanzanian porters and a pair of suitably colourful Maasai warriors - brought along to repel attacks by various predators.
“It’s imperialist nostalgia,” the US newspaper Variety said, “watching four white people hack through the bush with a support staff of natives.” It is reported that “the History Channel sometimes airs respected documentaries, but Expedition Africa has little of interest to say about Stanley, Livingstone or East Africa, neither then nor now.”
The Washington Post warned, “There is little history and even less reality in Expedition Africa. It is neither entertaining nor informing.”
But find some redeeming qualities in Burnett’s version of an African chronicle, including “gorgeous photography, head-spinning production techniques, and deep and abiding love of nature, adventure and the great world at large.” We at will be watching it for that alone! Alternatively, just check out Tanzania Odyssey website and book your own trip!
The initial segment of the eight-part series drew a larger-than-average audience last week. An estimated 1.3 million viewers turned to the History Channel last week to watch Expedition Africa, which presents a fabulous view of Tanzania, although was slated for its lack of historical perspective.
In Expedition Africa, Burnett recruits four adventurers to follow the general route taken by Stanley, who set off from Zanzibar in 1869. It took the journalist nearly nine months to locate Livingstone, a famous anti-slavery campaigner who had gone missing after starting a trek in 1865 in search of the source of the Nile.
Stanley found Livingstone in Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, greeting him with the famous words, “Dr Livingstone, I presume.”
The History Channel crew also gathers in Zanzibar for a 1,550km journey, mainly on foot, that they aim to complete in just 30 days. The quartet consists of a female anthropologist and former cheerleader for an American football team; a British thrill-seeker who specialises in televised tests of endurance; a guide who led a blind climber to the summit of Everest; and a former CNN war correspondent.
History Channel publicists suggest that the team will undertake the quest with only compass and maps to guide them. Much is made of the dangers they will supposedly face along the way, beginning with a dhow voyage from Zanzibar to Bagamoyo during which the adventurers are actually splashed by waves.
Burnett also strives to contrive challenges, sending the foursome over the Uluguru Mountains even though Stanley had walked around them. The the intrepid band, is accompanied by a full camera crew, a large contingent of Tanzanian porters and a pair of suitably colourful Maasai warriors - brought along to repel attacks by various predators.
“It’s imperialist nostalgia,” the US newspaper Variety said, “watching four white people hack through the bush with a support staff of natives.” It is reported that “the History Channel sometimes airs respected documentaries, but Expedition Africa has little of interest to say about Stanley, Livingstone or East Africa, neither then nor now.”
The Washington Post warned, “There is little history and even less reality in Expedition Africa. It is neither entertaining nor informing.”
But find some redeeming qualities in Burnett’s version of an African chronicle, including “gorgeous photography, head-spinning production techniques, and deep and abiding love of nature, adventure and the great world at large.” We at will be watching it for that alone! Alternatively, just check out Tanzania Odyssey website and book your own trip!
Labels: safari tanzania, Tanzania television
posted by Tanzania Odyssey at
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