Brazil is one of the four new global super powers with its vast natural resources & burgeoning industries. Half a continent in size & a potent mix of races religions & cultures of unexplored wildernesses & bustling modern cities it is also one of the few countries Michael Palin has never fully travelled. In a new series for BBC1
- his first for five years
- he explores in his inimitable way this vast & disparate nation. From the Venezuelan border & the forests of the Lost World where he encounters the Yanomami & their ongoing territorial war with the gold miners he follows Teddy Roosevelt's disastrous expedition of 1914. Journeys by river to the headwaters of the Xingu by plane over huge tracts of forest by steam train & by road along the Trans-Amazonica allow him to reach a kaleidoscopic mix of peoples: the indigenous hunter-gatherers of the interior the descendents of African slaves with their vibrant culture of rituals & festivals & music the large community of German descent who celebrate their patrimony at the biggest beer festival outside Munich & the wealthy guachas of the Pantanal amongst them. His journey ends at the border with Uruguay & the spectacular Iguacu Falls.