For all of the previous trips ("Around the World in 80 Days", "Pole to Pole", "Full Circle", and "Hemingway Adventure") I found the tone of the TV programs and the books to be consistent. This is not the case with "Sahara".

For "Sahara" the TV program is fairly upbeat, with the same mood as the other TV programs in the series. The book, on the other hand, is more honest and discusses or mentions many problems not featured in the TV program.

The trip involved traveling all around and through the Sahara Desert. It started in Gibraltar and went through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria again, Ceuta, and back to Gibraltar. Some of these countries are huge; for example, Algeria is four times the size of France or three times the size of Texas. The Sahara Desert is roughly the same size as the United States, and the trip covered 10,000 miles and took three months.

It's a very impressive trip, and "Sahara" (the book) does an excellent job of describing it all. Despite the negative aspects of the trip the book still shows Michael Palin's wit and charm, and one does get a very good impression of what it was like for him to make this trip.

But now for a list of the negative aspects related to the countries and areas traveled through:
- inhospitable environment, extreme heat, drought, no water, freezing nights
- poverty, unemployment, begging, disease, starvation
- discrimination against women
- political unrest, refugees, fear of rebels, armed guards needed in Algeria
- primitive customs, cultures in decline, refusal to accept the modern world
- barbaric traditions (female circumcision, sacrificial slaughter of sheep)
- cities in slow deterioration, lack of modern facilities
- economies based almost entirely on exploitation of natural resources
- incredible bureaucracy, filming under restrictive supervision, especially in Libya
- people desperate to escape Africa and enter Europe

To top it all off, the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy occurred in the middle of this trip. That certainly put a damper on the mood.

A few quotes from the book may help to explain my negative feelings about the whole trip:

"They knew that almost anywhere else is better than here and yet it is their home." (pg 195)

"... a sharp and poignant contrast to the apathy and resignation I've seen in so much of the Sahara." (pg 241)

OK, I am focusing too much on the negative aspects of the trip, but they are there, although they were glossed over in the TV program. Still, it's a very good book about a not-so-good trip, and I do recommend the book.

But not the audio version, even though it is read by Michael Palin himself. I dislike abridged audio books, and the audio version of this book (at least the version on four cassettes that lasts 6 hours) is definitely abridged, despite it being sold as unabridged by some resellers.

Rennie Petersen