- 2 days ago
Episode 3:
Ed Stafford travels to one of the hottest and most hostile places on Earth—the Danakil Desert of Ethiopia—to investigate mysterious circular patterns visible from orbit.
Enduring extreme heat above 50 °C, toxic salt plains, and volcanic landscapes, Ed uncovers the human and geological stories behind the strange markings. Along the way he encounters Afar tribes, camel caravans, and salt miners who survive in one of the most extreme environments imaginable.
A thrilling mix of science, endurance, and exploration, this episode captures the fiery beauty and danger of Africa’s living furnace.
Thank you for supporting our channel
Ed Stafford travels to one of the hottest and most hostile places on Earth—the Danakil Desert of Ethiopia—to investigate mysterious circular patterns visible from orbit.
Enduring extreme heat above 50 °C, toxic salt plains, and volcanic landscapes, Ed uncovers the human and geological stories behind the strange markings. Along the way he encounters Afar tribes, camel caravans, and salt miners who survive in one of the most extreme environments imaginable.
A thrilling mix of science, endurance, and exploration, this episode captures the fiery beauty and danger of Africa’s living furnace.
Thank you for supporting our channel
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TVTranscript
00:00I'm here to find a strange pattern of dots in the middle of what they call the land of death.
00:06But getting there is going to be one hell of an adventure.
00:10Stop! Oh!
00:11For f***ing sake.
00:15Right now, 1,200 operational satellites are in orbit around our planet,
00:21taking thousands of new pictures every day.
00:24These photographs are revealing some mysterious markings,
00:27and I want to find out what they are.
00:31I live for adventure.
00:33I've walked the Amazon, but there is so much of the world left to explore.
00:37This satellite imagery is bringing up crazy images from all over the planet,
00:41which I just cannot explain.
00:43And the only way to find out what is going on is to literally pick one, pack my bags and go there.
00:51The military call this ground truth.
00:54It could be jungle. It could be desert.
00:57It could be arctic.
00:58I've no idea how to get there, or what I'll find.
01:02So I'm sure of a genuine adventure where anything can happen.
01:07The Danakil Desert, in north-eastern Ethiopia.
01:19This is where I found my target.
01:21I found these crazy black dots in a symmetrical pattern in the desert in northern Ethiopia.
01:26It's the hottest place on the planet, and as far as I know, nobody lives out there.
01:32How this geometric shape came to be here, in the hottest place in the world, is a mystery.
01:37I want to go in and find out exactly what is going on.
01:43And I leave tomorrow.
01:45The nearest city that appears to have an airport is Michele, which is quite close to the Danakil area.
01:50It's desert. It's very remote.
01:51It's the hottest place in the world.
01:53It's also one of the most significant.
01:57Recently unearthed human remains suggest that this is the very birthplace of mankind.
02:03I've got a sleeping bag, lighter, desert boots, crampons, no, a couple of pairs of lightweight trousers, water bottles, machete.
02:16Slightly perturbed by the size of my rucksack.
02:19It'll be fine, Ed. It will be fine.
02:24Let's go.
02:28After picking up cameraman Tom, next stop, the airport.
02:33I'm bringing Tom to help me film my expedition.
02:37Nothing has been prearranged or set up, and we have no idea what we'll find.
02:42We've done a little study of the map.
02:43Michele is the area where we're going to launch into the Danakil area from.
02:47It's unlikely to be plain sailing.
02:50Ethiopia is a country that's been ravaged by war and drought.
02:54And my target is near the disputed border with Eritrea, in the area with the bloodiest fighting.
03:01Okay, arrived in Michele.
03:03This is really the start of the expedition.
03:05This is where I start to get excited, because from here I'm talking to local people.
03:08And first of all, I've got to find a taxi.
03:16Is this a dangerous part of the world?
03:17Yeah.
03:18You say it's still dangerous to go up to the border, is it?
03:20Oh, yeah, that's very dangerous.
03:24Bye-bye.
03:25Well, Kelly's behind me, and you can see the glorious day.
03:31I've given myself ten days to get to the target in the remote Danakil desert.
03:36With no transport and no contact here, I need to get my bearings fast.
03:40Excuse me, do you speak English?
03:42No.
03:42Do you speak English?
03:43No?
03:43No.
03:44Do you speak English?
03:44No.
03:45No English?
03:46Do you know who's drunk?
03:47Definitely drunk.
03:49Ethiopia has 90 native languages, but English is taught in school here, so hopefully my luck will change.
03:55Hello, mate, do you speak English?
03:56Yeah.
03:56I want to go to the Danakil desert in Danakil.
03:59Ah, you want to go to the desert?
04:00Yeah, yeah.
04:00The desert's name is Barahali.
04:02Barahali?
04:02Barahali, yeah.
04:03Yes, we want to go there.
04:04Have you come?
04:05No.
04:06We've got boots.
04:07In your foot?
04:08Yeah, is it too far?
04:09Very far.
04:10Is it too far?
04:10Very far, very far.
04:11Okay, how far?
04:12About seven days walking.
04:14Okay, that's too much, that's too much.
04:15From Barahali, I'll be on foot, so my instinct is to get there as quickly as I can and save my time and energy for the desert track.
04:23Can you show me the best way to get in?
04:25Yes, I can show you.
04:26Mate, thank you.
04:28What's your name now?
04:29My name is Michael.
04:30Michael?
04:30Yeah.
04:31Okay, okay.
04:33Okay, we're being told to move on now.
04:37A slightly aggressive chap with a yellow cap who asked us to move on.
04:41I'm not really sure why.
04:42He's now pushing those people.
04:44He's got a stick.
04:45He's just whacked one of them on a bat.
04:46Let's just move on to the side of the street, okay?
04:50The route from here to the desert is well trodden by camel caravans, ferrying what
04:55they call white gold, out of the sun-baked Danikil.
04:58This is a salt cellar.
05:00Oh, wow, look at that.
05:01Uh-huh.
05:02That's incredible.
05:03It's heavy.
05:04In the past, these precious salt blocks were used throughout Ethiopia as currency.
05:08This literally is raw salt directly out of the earth.
05:11It's just been chipped into a square block.
05:14This is the first glimpse of the desert, essentially, isn't it?
05:16And this is the first glimpse of where we're actually going to go.
05:19I need to get a move on, but I still don't know how I'll get there.
05:23I could try and hire a vehicle, but Michael seems to have a plan.
05:26Okay, we're just going to get a taxi.
05:28Hello.
05:30Are we going to put three people in it?
05:33Okay, mate, a bit of a tight squeeze in three.
05:36What are you doing, mate?
05:46You know chad?
05:47No.
05:48Chad is a plant, like eating, like, cigar and like drinking.
05:54Sounds like cocaine.
05:56Yes, like cocaine.
05:57It's like cocaine.
05:57Yes.
06:00What Michael was saying is that there's another option for getting to a better house,
06:04which is a lady who transports chad.
06:11It turns out that chad is a semi-narcotic leaf that people here chew as a relief from the heat.
06:16It's a controlled substance in most countries in the world.
06:20Hello.
06:21And although here it's legal,
06:23things feel a bit tense.
06:27No, no.
06:27No, no.
06:27I'm going to sit back.
06:28I'm going to sit back.
06:29Oh, it's back.
06:30I'm going to sit back.
06:31It's back.
06:32You have to go.
06:34You have to leave.
06:37Is that the lady that we would be going with?
06:40Yes, she's the car owner to go to that car owner.
06:42She's not happy.
06:43You use the camera in her house.
06:46I have a camera.
06:47Yes.
06:48Right, tell me here's the camera.
06:49Okay, let's go in and say sorry, yeah?
06:51Yes, sir.
06:51I need to get myself on the bus and I can't afford for my camera to get in the way.
06:57The sketch there is that the woman softened, her whole face softened when we said sorry,
07:03which was so the right thing to do.
07:06But she's happy to take us.
07:09As soon as the huge bales of chat are loaded, we're ready for the off.
07:21We're on the chat bus and, as far as we know, we're heading to Better Halley.
07:27It feels good to be out on the road, even in a bus filled with dubious narcotics.
07:34I was told it should be a five-hour trip, but it soon dawns on me that we'll be making stops.
07:41A lot of stops.
07:42It's kind of like an ice cream van.
07:47We've got a bus full of semi-narcotic drugs and we're stopping at each village and everyone knows we're coming.
08:01That's the very first time I've seen a camel.
08:03People have talked about camels since we got here and the fact that they do this journey in and out of the desert.
08:08On the bus, I tune in to the local knowledge.
08:11You were born in Better Halley, yeah?
08:12Oh, this is my family, all Afar, no problem.
08:14All over Afar?
08:15All Afar, yeah.
08:17After 85km, starting by Afar region.
08:21What's your name, Jay?
08:22My name's Ali.
08:23Ali.
08:23Ali.
08:24Hello, this is me.
08:25My name's Ed.
08:25Ed.
08:26Ali is from the local Afar tribe.
08:29In the past, they were famous for castrating their enemies and wearing their testicles as necklaces.
08:35Their warlike reputation still earns them respect today.
08:39Ali seems to be quite a man about town, really.
08:42Bosses people around, he shouts at the camel herders.
08:47He's a bit of a dude.
08:48I'm liking him.
08:54I can distinctly tell we've dropped down in altitude because the temperature is getting much, much hotter.
08:59But it looks like we're just coming in to Better Halley now.
09:07Finally, 48 hours after leaving London, I reached the gateway to the desert.
09:11We're in, they're stepping on close into the desert, and you can see down there on the salt flats in front of me, there's a load of camels.
09:21From here, on that way, is desert.
09:23Out of London two days, and it just seems a million miles away, I don't know how I'm going to go in, I don't know who I'm going to go in with, I don't know who I'm going to go in with, I don't know the route to access the desert.
09:33This is a journey to enjoy the adventure.
09:36I would not want to be anywhere else than where I am now, on the western edge of the Danakil Desert in northern Ethiopia.
09:45Sleeping outdoors is one way to guarantee an early start.
09:49Today, I need to find a route into the desert, and it's becoming obvious that camels are the only way to go.
09:55But each step closer to my target will also be a step deeper into outlaw country.
10:00Westerners have come here before, and unfortunately, a couple of years ago, a group got shot dead, therefore we have to go in with two guys with AK-47s from the police unit here.
10:10Armed guards are one thing, but what I really need is an Afar guide.
10:14After all, they are the masters of the desert, and I already know who my first choice would be.
10:21Ali, who we thought had disappeared yesterday because he was working, doing another chat run.
10:24He stayed here. He's Afar, and he speaks really good English, so we're going to ask him if he wants to come as well.
10:29There's not any problem. No problem. If you need me, I can go with you. No problem. No problem.
10:35But to have him on my team, it looks like I need to bring his team along too.
10:39We've got a bit of a gingang goole seven-man party now, which is far more than I expected.
10:45Now, I just need to find some camels.
10:47All day long, camels stream into Bére Hallé, loaded down with slabs of precious salt from the desert.
10:55This is just utterly extraordinary. The fact that all of these camels are just part of the industry here, this is how they get salt out of the desert.
11:02It is like something out of the Bible.
11:03There's just enough of the day left to choose our camels, settle on a price, and take on enough provisions for our ever-expanding party.
11:16The numbers have now gone up to eight people, including the camel driver, five camels because we wanted four camels and one camel needed to carry the food for the other camels.
11:28It must be, what, nine o'clock at night now. We're up at four o'clock, leaving at four, so we can get the majority of the walking done before the heat of the day arrives.
11:36I'm knackered. I'm going to sleep.
11:39Next, on my adventure, I reach the salt flats.
11:42The closest I've been described this to is walking through slushy snow, absolutely bizarre experience.
11:47But my lack of experience in the desert, 24 blocks, yeah, starts to cost me dearly.
11:54Disaster.
11:58It's the fourth day of my adventure into the Ethiopian desert, trying to find these mysterious black markings seen from space.
12:13You can't see any of the village behind me, but for once, it's utterly silent.
12:22Okay, and we are finally off. It's five o'clock in the morning, that's not too bad.
12:28The guys were laughing because we've got five camels, and I'm opting to carry my own equipment on my back.
12:34I can't quite allow myself to put my kit on their back. I'd like to have it with them.
12:42We're quite a big, inflexible party, really.
12:45There's a bit of me that is jumping in a bit to ditch the excessive amount of people that we've got and just go fast and light.
12:51Ancient stone carvings show that Afar salt traders have been making this same journey for at least 2,000 years.
12:59Our first staging post is a small settlement called Hamadella, which we should reach by tomorrow.
13:05Leaving me three days to blast deeper into the desert.
13:09To seek out my target.
13:11Okay, this is breakfast stop. Just stopped at this very thrown up little shack.
13:18The guys are keen to stop for their early morning brew.
13:21The coffee bean originally comes from Ethiopia, so this is some of the best coffee in the world.
13:27Oh, that's amazing.
13:28But after an hour, I get the sense that nobody except me is in a hurry to leave.
13:33How long do you want to wait here?
13:34Up to 12 or 11 and a half.
13:36I would like to walk when it's cooler, and then when it's hot, like at midday, then we can rest.
13:43We can.
13:44Okay.
13:46Is she?
13:46Got the game.
13:47Got the game.
13:48Okay.
13:49I think it's fair to say that if we weren't actually pushing here, these guys were on a bit of a jolly.
13:55We wanted to rest for another three hours, which I didn't want to do.
13:58If I hadn't stepped in at that point, we would have probably ended up taking three days to get to Hamadella.
14:03Okay, keep walking. Let's go.
14:04We're starting to very noticeably drop down in altitude now.
14:09Obviously, it's getting hotter because the day is getting hotter, but also, obviously, we're getting lower.
14:15The Danakil Desert is actually a depression, 100 metres below sea level.
14:21As well as being the hottest place on Earth, it is also one of the lowest.
14:25This is the first caravan we've put in since it's been daylight.
14:28The salt they're carrying is all that's left of an ancient sea, which dried up 50,000 years ago.
14:34I think we should take a bit of a break here. We've been walking now for about three hours without stopping.
14:43I'm finding walking in the midday sun hard work.
14:48So when the chat is brought out this time, I decide to give it a go.
14:57It tastes like you're eating leaves. Beach, maybe.
15:01But in the heat of the day, it is quite refreshing.
15:03There's definitely moisture in it, and it makes your mouth salivate.
15:06You have to chew quite a lot in order to get any sort of reaction, and I certainly don't feel anything, no buzz, no hide.
15:12And I've got a feeling it affects these guys more than it affects me.
15:15Chewing chat really knocks out my team members for hours, time I can't afford to lose.
15:20If I can master looking after a camel and getting it to follow my instructions,
15:24there is a possibility that I'd be able to actually take one on my own and move faster
15:28and actually access the target without having to go with the whole group.
15:30If I go it alone, I'll need to be desert savvy.
15:33So I want to pick up any afar tricks of the trade while I still can.
15:38Absolutely incredible. I've never seen this before.
15:39It's literally like filling a goat up with water.
15:42All they've done is skinned it and put it back together,
15:46and then they've sealed up the limbs and the anus,
15:49and then you've got yourself a water bottle, and the neck is a spout.
15:52It might look ugly, but it's a clever, low-tech way to combat the heat.
15:56Because the hair on the outside is wet, when the wind goes over it, it has a cooling effect.
16:01It'll actually refrigerate the water.
16:03Wow.
16:05And it's heavy.
16:08We're off again.
16:16It's starting to get quite late in the day now.
16:18It's ten past five.
16:19It gets dark in 50 minutes.
16:21It's been a long day's walking.
16:22And I can see little houses just on the horizon there, and there's a person we have indeed arrived.
16:29This is a very, very different landscape.
16:36Certainly the mountains are all behind me.
16:39It feels very different immediately.
16:41Travelling with such a large group calls for delicate leadership.
16:44I think I've put too much sway in the way these guys think that things should be done.
16:50And I've gone along with it for sort of not causing any upset,
16:53but I need to make sure that I'm cross-checking everything
16:56and making sure that things are done in a way that I know that it's going to work.
17:01Let that slip a little bit today.
17:02After we meet.
17:03The next day, we strike out early in order to reach the salt flats before the heat gets too fierce.
17:15We're not alone.
17:16It's too hot for anyone to live out there permanently,
17:19so all the miners put in a full day's work before midday.
17:23It almost feels like you're walking out to sea.
17:27The salt flats are a former area, which was obviously underwater,
17:29and the salt is the deposit left, and it's about a metre thick.
17:33I found myself in some weird places in my life,
17:36but I've never seen anything quite like this.
17:39The closest I can describe this to is walking through slushy snow after it's melted.
17:43Absolutely bizarre experience.
17:47I owe the camel herders a week's rent for their camels,
17:50and I've agreed with Ali to pay for some of it in salt.
17:53It's sometimes six feet.
17:55For one block?
17:56Oh, for one block.
17:57OK, 20 feet.
17:59And how many blocks are on a camel?
18:02I'll tell you, I'll tell you.
18:04One camel, 24.
18:0624 blocks, yeah.
18:10That one's only got 20 on, but I think...
18:21Disaster.
18:22Quite a few of the blocks got smashed up,
18:25which means that they won't have any value at all.
18:27It's not a case of sold by weight.
18:29It's salt flats lock, and they've got to be neat blocks as well.
18:32These ones that are smashed are absolutely worthless.
18:34I think he's quite upset.
18:37The least I can do is pay for that.
18:42The guys are very keen to get moving now.
18:44Then, obviously, not wanting to hang around in the heat of the day,
18:47it has got very hot now.
18:48The salt flats were on an established route,
18:52but I now need to head off the beaten track.
18:59Love the way that these guys are messing around with loaded AK-47s.
19:04Just walking into Hamadala now.
19:18It's like a refugee camp, really.
19:19Travelling as part of a camel caravan has been a great experience,
19:27but the pace is too slow.
19:30I've made up my mind.
19:31Tomorrow, I'm going to strike out on my own
19:33to try and find my target.
19:35I'm going to need to go faster than this very large
19:40and very inflexible group that I've got with me.
19:42I do need to be able to slim the team down
19:45to the absolute bare minimum, which is me and the camels.
19:48This is definitely a shift now from insertion into the desert
19:51to actually locking on and finding out what these targets are.
19:55First, I need to learn how to talk camel,
19:58and Ali is the man to teach me.
19:59What's the word for them to stand up?
20:01Solis.
20:02Solis.
20:03Solis.
20:03Solis.
20:04Solis.
20:05Solis.
20:06Solis.
20:06Solis.
20:07Solis.
20:08Well, they're all standing up, which is quite remarkable.
20:10What is the word to make them walk?
20:12Que se.
20:13Ha.
20:14Ha.
20:15I think I'm quite surprised
20:17how easy these camels are to control, actually.
20:20Extraordinarily obedient.
20:24The camels will carry all my water,
20:26which I'll store the Afar way.
20:29I've got to give this such a good clean.
20:35It's just coming out, this disgusting brown colour.
20:37It's actually foaming.
20:39It smells like a dead goat, surprisingly.
20:43It's still by far the best container that I've got.
20:46It's just a bit minging, really.
20:47Apart from water, I'm going to try and travel as light as possible.
20:52I've got two water bottles, medical kit, rehydration sachets,
20:56my cat, I've got peanuts, sardines, coffee, sugar and tea.
21:01I feel ready and confident.
21:05But my solo trip out into the middle of nowhere has got Ali worried.
21:10Only you, you want to go?
21:12And I?
21:13Stay here.
21:14Here?
21:15Yeah.
21:15I got my own.
21:17You still put the gun?
21:19No?
21:20No.
21:20Without a put the gun?
21:21Yeah.
21:21Three years ago, five Europeans were brutally murdered,
21:27only a few miles from here.
21:30We're sorry they are not going.
21:32This way they are not going.
21:34Okay.
21:34What Ali was saying there was that the military are scared of going in this direction
21:38because the killings that happened a couple of years ago...
21:40Then, Ali warns me of another, more ancient and mysterious threat,
21:46which haunts the desert.
21:49We didn't see them.
21:50They see us.
21:50When you sleep, they come.
21:52They kill you.
21:53Are you talking about spirits or ghosts?
21:55My offering is a djinn.
21:56Djinn, I say.
21:57Djinn.
21:58Ali's trying to tell me about something I don't know,
22:00but from how he's describing it,
22:02the best I can describe it is sort of spirit people of the desert.
22:05And sometimes they're good people,
22:06and sometimes they're really not very good people,
22:08and they take you away and they kill you.
22:10Next,
22:14my solo desert adventure
22:16Where are the camels over there?
22:18Oh, my God.
22:18turns into my worst nightmare.
22:21D!
22:21D!
22:22D!
22:30I'm in the middle of an African desert,
22:32preparing to trek alone into the hottest place on the planet
22:35in search of my mysterious target.
22:39Morning.
22:39It's 4 a.m.
22:42and just loading up the camels.
22:44For the next three days,
22:46I'm going to be entirely on my own,
22:48so I'll rely heavily on my new four-legged friends.
22:51Gone with the one-eyed camel, Cho,
22:54which is the next most placid of the camels,
22:57most obedient.
22:58I mean, a couple of them are a bit fiesty.
22:59It seems absolutely no point taking him.
23:02I've called him Cho after my old friend
23:04who walked the length of the Amazon with me.
23:06He needs to be reliable,
23:07because for the first time on this trip,
23:09I'm trusting my camels to carry my water and my equipment.
23:13I'm going to put that pack on the camel
23:15and carry a little day set just with the spare water,
23:18and it's just in case I lose the camels,
23:20which I don't intend on doing.
23:22From this point on, I'm entirely on my own.
23:25Go to the gate.
23:28If things go wrong, there's nobody else to blame.
23:32Tom, cheers, mate.
23:34Good luck, Ed.
23:36Probably need it.
23:37OK, I'll see you in three days.
23:38Yeah, see you in three days.
23:39Have a good day, sir.
23:40Bye-bye.
23:40Bye.
23:48OK, I'm off.
23:49Me and my camels.
23:54From here, I'm just going to cut down through the village
23:57and head on a compass bearing
23:59straight towards the place that I've got marked in the GPS
24:03as the black dots.
24:05I'm also setting off in the dark.
24:08I'm also doing a route that I've never done before.
24:12And I'm also...
24:15I'm pretty apprehensive, I have to say.
24:19I'm carrying supplies for three days.
24:23That gives me a day and a half to try and find a target
24:26before I'll need to turn back.
24:29Reassuringly, for someone who's just about to walk
24:31into the middle of the desert,
24:32I've got my first bout of very runny diarrhoea.
24:35I literally could poo through the eye of a needle.
24:37I'm not letting my guard down.
24:42I don't want to convey that I'm not fully alert
24:45because I most definitely am.
24:47However, I'm out on the flats.
24:49I'm walking through the desert.
24:51I've got my camels.
24:52It's working.
24:54It's better.
24:56After a couple of hours, I've left all signs of life behind
24:59and I'm making good progress into this alien landscape.
25:03I have to admit, it's a massive feeling of freedom out here.
25:08You know, absolutely nothing surrounding me whatsoever
25:11except desert.
25:12I need to be really careful about dehydration now.
25:18You do need to be cautious now.
25:22Come on, mate.
25:26It's 7am and the temperature's already hit 42 degrees
25:30with no chance of any respite from the blazing sun.
25:38It's only about two months ago
25:40that a geologist from Addis Ababa came in here
25:42to this specific area in the desert,
25:45overheated, organs failed and died.
25:48This is a landscape,
25:51an environment not to be messed with, really.
25:54Hence, not underestimating the conditions
25:58and hence, carrying all the kit and equipment
26:00that I've got with me.
26:02In many ways, it's very, very...
26:10I think the heat is already affecting my mind.
26:16It takes me vital seconds to register what I've seen.
26:20Me, look.
26:22And it's not good.
26:25Where are the camels over there?
26:26Oh, my God.
26:31I hadn't even noticed it had come undone.
26:34Right.
26:36You could have told me, Joe.
26:38Just swore you turned round, Ed,
26:40because you probably need that other camel.
26:44That's the understatement of the trip.
26:46That camel is carrying my essential water.
26:49It just shows, doesn't it, Ed?
26:51You've got to turn around
26:52and keep a check on these camels the whole time.
26:58Whoa.
26:59Okay.
26:59Got about 200 metres between me and the camel.
27:02Ooh!
27:03Ah!
27:04Ah!
27:05It's walking away at the same speed
27:07as I can drag this camel with me.
27:09Ooh!
27:11It's heading away from me quite fast.
27:14Don't know if the camel would come here.
27:16Or if it's a stop, actually.
27:19Ooh!
27:19It's going exactly in the wrong direction.
27:22D!
27:23D!
27:24D!
27:26Stop.
27:29Okay, I've just stopped the blind camel
27:31so that I can go and chase after this one.
27:47Stop!
27:48Whoa!
27:50Stop!
27:51Up, up, up, up, up!
27:52For **** sake!
28:03Okay, that tactic didn't work.
28:05As I was running towards it, it scared it.
28:07And now, the blind camel is walking away.
28:15Whoa!
28:16No, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
28:22Choke, choke, choke, choke!
28:23The temperature is hitting over 50 degrees,
28:25and it's still only morning.
28:28Whoa!
28:28I'm now in real danger of losing both camels
28:30and everything they're carrying.
28:32Easy.
28:33And in this heat, that could be fatal.
28:36Calm.
28:36Calm.
28:37Calm.
28:38It's okay.
28:38It's okay.
28:39It's okay.
28:40And I've got you.
28:41Okay, I've won't come up.
28:45Now, I go at a fast but steady pace to the next camel,
28:50and don't scare it.
28:52I think they sense panic, so I just need to calm myself down.
28:57As the sun rises higher, I can feel it getting hotter and hotter.
29:15Running around without water raises a real chance of heat stroke.
29:19This can lead quickly on to dehydration, disorientation,
29:24organ failure, unconsciousness, and eventually death.
29:28Right, real deliberations here.
29:30I've now run a good kilometer.
29:34Every time I get near that camel, it runs off,
29:37and that's a pattern that's repeating and repeating and repeating,
29:39so I need to stop, catch my breath, go,
29:41okay, hang on, don't panic.
29:45Suddenly, I'm no longer thinking about my mission or this film.
29:48I'm in a potentially life-threatening situation,
29:51and I really need to get my camel, with all my water, back under control.
29:54For another hour or more, I chase after the runaway camel.
30:19I'm sweating buckets.
30:20I'm seriously dehydrated, and getting somewhat delirious.
30:33But then, just in time, the camel stops walking away,
30:38and I'm back in control.
30:40Whoever said walking with camels in the desert is easy was lying.
30:48I just checked the GPS, and I went back a distance of two kilometers to get that camel.
30:53Two kilometers in reverse.
30:55I came into this baking desert looking for adventure,
31:06and I've already got way more than I bargained for.
31:09But I still have to find my target.
31:14Turning back just isn't an option.
31:17I'm going to find some bushes, then I'm going to stop.
31:20I'm going to feed the camels, put up my tarpauling, and get out of the sunlight.
31:29So good to be out of the direct sunlight.
31:32I can't tell you, I'm more thirsty than I can remember it ever being.
31:35The saliva in my mouth is almost like chewing gum.
31:38Worse still, the water I'm carrying in the old goat skin is turning rancid.
31:46I am absolutely whacked.
31:48Eight hours of walking, and I've done 13k.
31:53The thermometer outside, and it's 52.6 degrees Celsius.
31:59When I came and sat down, I felt slightly nauseous after I met.
32:04My urine is distinctly yellow now.
32:10Cramp in my hand, diarrhea, and feeling nauseous.
32:16I need to be careful.
32:18I do need to be careful.
32:19I'm in bad shape, but my supplies will last me two nights in the desert, and no more.
32:24I have to keep moving.
32:26It's 4.15, and we're on the road again.
32:31I think everyone is in a better mood now.
32:37Don't know what it is.
32:39Whether it's the water, the heat.
32:42Not only is my mouth completely and utterly parched, but I feel so nauseous.
32:48I really do.
32:48Next, on my solo trek, the desert hasn't finished with me yet.
33:05I'm venturing further into the searing heat of the Ethiopian desert.
33:10Filming myself, I'm alone, and totally done in.
33:13Not only is my mouth completely and utterly parched, but I feel so nauseous.
33:17Yes, I really do.
33:21I can't go on.
33:23It could be the blazing heat, lack of food, or severe dehydration.
33:27Every bit of fluid I've managed to take on...
33:45My body forcibly rejects.
33:51That was, um...
34:01That was quite a lot of sick.
34:05It's pretty much all my food as well.
34:07I was going to camp here, but I might not now.
34:14I was beginning to feel a little bit pathetic, and there's something in vomiting with that
34:21much...
34:21I'm sorry, my teeth came out with the vomit.
34:25Um, there's something about projecting vomit with that much force.
34:29I couldn't breathe.
34:29I'm glad that it's out of me.
34:31Jesus.
34:32I'm dehydrated and need to rest.
34:35Today, it was desert one, Stafford nil.
34:38Tomorrow, I need to get even.
34:44I've never felt so spent.
34:47Every little bit of energy seemed to come out of me into the floor then.
34:50I decided to opt for the camel's water, I think.
34:53It was the, um, the goat skin that was the cause of my problems.
34:57In some ways, a horrendous day, but one that I actually wouldn't trade.
35:00I've learned some key lessons, and that's, um, that's what life's all about, really, isn't
35:04it.
35:05Tomorrow, I've got just over nine kilometers to do to get the black, to get to the black
35:08dots.
35:08I should find it tomorrow, um, which is exciting.
35:12I'm really looking forward to actually discovering what these things are.
35:22To have any chance of making the miles today, I need to move off early.
35:31I've got a look at four.
35:32Amazing how long it takes.
35:36From sunrise, the heat starts to build.
35:39Soon, it's 40 degrees.
35:42The heat bounces back at me from the desert floor, and the unchanging scenery starts to
35:46play with my mind.
35:52This is an unforgiving place, in which death seems to be all around me.
35:57And in the harsh sunlight, the shadows are playing their tricks.
36:06Slowly, it starts dawning on me what I'm seeing.
36:24Just walking up onto the black rock.
36:28Look at what we have here.
36:31Huge, huge amounts of these cairns.
36:34These cairns.
36:35This is what I came to find.
36:38I'm here.
36:38I found the black dots.
36:39These stone cairns must be the mark seen from space.
36:45All I need is to find the distinctive circle of five.
36:48Although these are black dots, and they look to be of the same.
36:50Making our five black dots in a circle just over the brow of this hill.
36:53Then, I see it.
37:01This is phenomenal.
37:02I never expected to find man-made cairns.
37:06And they must be Afar, or a civilization prior to Afar, maybe, that have built these
37:11out of the volcanic rock.
37:15Why these structures were built in this inhospitable place is mystifying.
37:20They're clearly not for navigation.
37:22They remind me more of a graveyard.
37:28Maybe Ali was right.
37:30There are ghosts out here.
37:32I've come here to ground truth.
37:34What the satellite imagery it really is.
37:37All I need to do now is evidence this.
37:42It's not hard to imagine this area as the birthplace of prehistoric man.
37:47Having now been here, I would be very interested to chat to some local Afar people just to see
37:51what they think that these stone piles are, because I've wrapped my brain, and there's
37:55not one that stands out as a very, very obvious reason for these to be built.
38:00Yes, we have found the black dots.
38:02I'm exhausted and need to sleep.
38:07But when I open my eyes again, I'm no longer alone.
38:12It's one of the weirdest wake-ups I've ever had.
38:19This chap called Abdillah Haidara has just turned up.
38:27I'd never seen this before, but I was told that Afar people sharpen their teeth.
38:31Abdillah has clearly got very sharpened teeth.
38:34I wouldn't want to do it myself, but it's very cool.
38:36When the sun goes down a bit, we go.
38:39It's a long walk back to Hamadela, but this time, the journey is far less lonely.
38:49What is the point in doing it on your own when you can do it with a friend?
38:54What's the point?
38:55Come on, come on, come on!
39:19You okay?
39:21I'm good.
39:22Part of me is pleased that the desert knocked me sideways.
39:25It gave me a little taster of how harsh these conditions are.
39:28And crikey, 52 degrees for me is extraordinarily hot.
39:31I've never experienced such heat.
39:33It gave me a very, very hands-on experience of life in these conditions.
39:38And I have the uttermost respect for the people who live here
39:40and carve a life out of this very, very bleak desert landscape.
39:45Later, some Afar elders tell me that I am the first non-Afar
39:53to have ever visited the site.
39:56And that they're all graves.
39:58A small pile of stones signifies a natural death.
40:02A pile of stones with a cone on top commemorates a warrior who died in battle.
40:07But most chilling of all...
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