0:00:55 > 0:01:01In the heart of the Sahara, national frontiers are often flimsy affairs.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05I'm in a no man's land near In Guezzam
0:01:05 > 0:01:09on the border between Niger and Algeria.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11These chunks of scrap metal
0:01:11 > 0:01:17tell me I'm crossing between two of the largest countries in the Sahara.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22It's a terrible anticlimax. A scribble in the concrete.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24It reminds me of a tombstone.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Maybe that's appropriate - this whole godforsaken area,
0:01:28 > 0:01:32haunt of smugglers and bandits, feels like a graveyard.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38No point waiting around for customs.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42Goodbye, Niger. Hello, Algeria.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48It's time to unwind and look around.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53Algeria, tenth largest country in the world, is 85% desert,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55dangerous desert.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10As many have discovered to their cost, driving here is not a right,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13it's a test of survival.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17The soft sand is treacherous, the temperature scorching...
0:02:17 > 0:02:19and failure can be fatal.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23The route from the Niger border up into Algeria
0:02:23 > 0:02:27is absolutely littered with the bleached carcasses of vehicles
0:02:27 > 0:02:32that set out to cross the Sahara and never made it.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35It's so bleak and pitiless here
0:02:35 > 0:02:39that what might be a routine problem elsewhere,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43like running out of fuel, becomes a matter of life and death.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46This is where Mark Thatcher went missing.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49He was discovered after an enormous rescue operation.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53And other people just weren't so lucky.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56They paid for their mistakes with their lives.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00The desert does weird things to your sense of reality.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05As we head north, the shady rocks and cool lakes on the horizon
0:03:05 > 0:03:09turn out to be mirages, no more than a trick of the light.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18This wholly edible non-mirage of fresh tomatoes
0:03:18 > 0:03:22and not-so-fresh tuna, is real enough.
0:03:22 > 0:03:27But it's accompanied by, well, a pretty rum coincidence.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31I'm writing up my diary, miles from anywhere,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34when I bump into the only other Englishman in southern Algeria.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Or rather he, poor man, bumps into us.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42The number plate is the first clue.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48The lone Mercedes belongs to Tom Sheppard and, no, it isn't a mirage.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Tom Sheppard is something of a legend out here.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59He's a 68-year-old ex-RAF test pilot and travels the desert,
0:03:59 > 0:04:04writing books, taking photos and getting away from people.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Well, I'm on my own, yeah.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10I've come down really from the north of Algeria, from Tunisia,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14and I'm going very carefully around the old French tracks.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18When you're travelling, what do you survive on?
0:04:18 > 0:04:20I had a birthday two days ago,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24and I had a really special meal on that one.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Meat and two veg, chilled grapefruit, for goodness' sake,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30with a damp kitchen towel,
0:04:30 > 0:04:34and the dryness of the air makes evaporation,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36and you get cool grapefruit segments.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38What more could you ask for?
0:04:38 > 0:04:43- Does loneliness worry you?- It's been more lonely than I expected.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Last session was about eight days
0:04:45 > 0:04:49between seeing one human being and seeing the next.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51I didn't expect to be that long.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56- Does that worry you?- No, it's just so beautiful to be out there.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00You get such a lift from the countryside.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04You think, "I've exhausted the pictures I can take,"
0:05:04 > 0:05:08and then, next morning, you see... "My God, look at that!"
0:05:08 > 0:05:12And so it goes. And that's what the desert has always been for me.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14- 40 years of it now.- 40 years?- Yes.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18- You've been coming to the Sahara? - To the Sahara.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20It's my lucky 13th visit to Algeria.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23We're just going to have some lunch.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Would you like to join us?
0:05:26 > 0:05:30It's kind of you, but I've got to be on my way now.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Anyone who can be that busy in a place like this wins my respect!
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Maybe it was the tuna.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40As Tom hurries south, we head north
0:05:40 > 0:05:44into the weird and wonderful Hoggar Mountains -
0:05:44 > 0:05:48one of the most bizarre landscapes in the Sahara.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58It's like riding through a giant sculpture park.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The hard cores of extinct volcanoes form a panorama
0:06:02 > 0:06:05of bluffs, and spires, and pinnacles.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15These are young peaks,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19their sides scarred by the explosive force of their creation.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21The Touareg call this land Atacor,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24like something out of Lord Of The Rings.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Next morning. I climb to the top of a 9,000ft mountain
0:07:01 > 0:07:03to watch the sunrise.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Because of Algeria's ten-year civil war,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08the Hoggar Massif is rarely visited,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11which only increases the impact of its beauty.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Down in the dormitory where we spent the night, it's time to pack up.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33Our newly acquired sense of peace is about to be shattered.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38This is the other face of Algeria -
0:07:38 > 0:07:41a modern republic which freed itself from the French,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45and is now desperately trying to free itself from Islamic radicals.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50But airlines and newspapers can't disguise underlying tensions.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Or the fact that these 21st-century comforts
0:07:54 > 0:07:58are paid for by one great stroke of fortune.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03This is Algeria's Aladdin's cave -
0:08:03 > 0:08:06oil and natural gas fields
0:08:06 > 0:08:09that provide 90% of the country's foreign earnings.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15They've spawned high-security towns in the middle of nowhere,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18like this one at Hassi Massoud.
0:08:18 > 0:08:2245 years ago, there was nothing here but desert.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24And this amazing transformation
0:08:24 > 0:08:29is due to electric pumps working - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week -
0:08:29 > 0:08:34to pump water from, sometimes, thousands of feet below the Sahara.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37The result is a man-made oasis
0:08:37 > 0:08:40and this extraordinary illusion
0:08:40 > 0:08:44that, in the middle of the desert, there is no desert.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46It's not just like a French provincial town,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49but French countryside as well.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54These are different cattle from the bony ones in Mali and Niger.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57It just shows what can be done to the desert if there's a will -
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and a petrochemical industry - to back it up.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15A few miles from where they first discovered the oil
0:09:15 > 0:09:17that so changed Algeria's fortunes,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20there is another frontier.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24On the other side of it, an even richer country.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30This lonely tree represents the border between Algeria and Libya.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34And apart from being one of the most spectacular frontiers in the world,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37it's also one of the friendliest,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40because people from Algeria and people from Libya come here,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42sit under the tree and take tea.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48And I don't want to leave this beautiful spot, but we must,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53and cross the border into the sands of Libya.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01In Libya, like Algeria, the bulk of the population
0:10:01 > 0:10:03clings to the Mediterranean coast.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06It was quite a coup to get permission to film here,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08and I'm not going to miss a minute of it...
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Well, maybe just a minute!
0:10:15 > 0:10:18This looks like being one of the longest bus rides of my life.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35To all appearances, Libya is a country with plenty of money,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37but very few people.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Which is not surprising with the world's third largest oil revenues
0:10:41 > 0:10:45to divide amongst a population less than that of London.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49In Benghazi, Libya's second city, you can see the layers of history.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53An Italian colonial palazzo, next to a mosque,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55now houses one of the committees
0:10:55 > 0:10:59which run the great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03It feels sleepy, but 60 years ago this coastline
0:11:03 > 0:11:06was one of the great Second World War battlefields.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20The British garrison in Tobruk has more to contend with than just Germans and Italians.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Choking sandstorms are part of the daily round,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28but they don't interfere with the real job - to destroy the enemy.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43It's the most tremendous battle. It was a real turning point.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46We mustn't forget. If you forget your history,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48it comes back and hits you!
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Over the last few years,
0:11:51 > 0:11:56Lady Avril Randall has organised regular reunions for Desert Rats and their relatives.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Today, they're at Tobruk. Survivors, now in their 80s,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02remember what it was like to be trapped here.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07There were no girls, no bars, no...
0:12:07 > 0:12:13it was just desert and to spend from the age of 20, 21, 22
0:12:13 > 0:12:15in that sort of environment, I hate it.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17Food?
0:12:17 > 0:12:24Well, it was corned beef, bully beef in one form or another.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29We were down to about a cup of water a day or so
0:12:29 > 0:12:31and that was for everything.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37And yet...and yet the surprising thing was none of us grew beards.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39PIPER STARTS TO PLAY
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Highlight of the reunion is floating a wreath into the harbour
0:12:43 > 0:12:45these men defended so, so long.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48If they'd lost this supply line,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52the Allied army in Africa would have faced defeat.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56There was nothing inside the garrison at all.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Only ammunition and men...
0:12:59 > 0:13:05They had to bring all our food... all our supplies up
0:13:05 > 0:13:07and get it in here somehow.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Rommel said that the desert was a tactician's paradise
0:13:11 > 0:13:13and a quartermaster's nightmare.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18And that was the fact. It was like a naval battle at sea,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22with the tanks, great fleets of tanks here and there.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27If the petrol or ammunition didn't get there, you were in trouble.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30There were 25,000 of us in here -
0:13:30 > 0:13:35and that's where we won the name rats, you know.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40The Haw-Haw used to say, "Come out of your holes, you rats!"
0:13:40 > 0:13:46We did, eventually. We came out a bit too quick for him, eventually.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Eyes left.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59It's unlikely than any of these Desert Rats will see Tobruk again.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02It's a long way and they're not getting any younger.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Today is probably the last time they'll celebrate
0:14:05 > 0:14:08those who gave Hitler the first bloody nose of the war,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10one from which he never recovered.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19What's been the high point of this trip for you?
0:14:19 > 0:14:23I think the last march past of the old Rats
0:14:23 > 0:14:25with the bugler and the piper
0:14:25 > 0:14:28and the Rats of Tobruk Association standard.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Desert Rats, do your duties! Dismissed!
0:14:35 > 0:14:37The boys can now march off into the sunset.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40APPLAUSE You'll never see them again.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Modern Libya has often cut itself off from the West,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05but over 2,000 years ago, it was an integral part of Europe.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09First the Greeks, then the Romans were drawn to this fertile land
0:15:09 > 0:15:10between the sea and the Sahara
0:15:10 > 0:15:13and built some of their grandest cities here.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20Cyrene was a bustling metropolis 500 years before Christ.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22It had its own port, Apollonia.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Staggering, but totally deserted.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31But then the modern towns are deserted as well.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Is there some national emergency we've not been told about?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Is it National Stay Indoors Day?
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Where are all the Libyans?
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Apart from our driver, everyone seems to have gone...
0:15:49 > 0:15:51..and taken everything with them.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03Picnic time and despite the fact that there are big cities -
0:16:03 > 0:16:07we've seen Tobruk and Benghazi, we're off to Tripoli -
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Libya is largely desert, so it's picnic time in the desert.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Here's my packed lunch. It's enormous.
0:16:12 > 0:16:18I can't actually tell what it is because everything's in Arabic.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21All the signs are in Arabic as well,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23although a lot of people here speak English.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Could be lunch, could be a large hat.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28It is lunch! There we go.
0:16:28 > 0:16:29Now...
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Nice little well-sealed box here...
0:16:34 > 0:16:35Ah!
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Don't think it's very typically Libyan.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Got some cold chips.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48The shortage of water is clearly a problem for Libya,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50but Colonel Gaddafi has an impressive answer to it.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56These concrete sections will form part of his man-made river project,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00bringing underground water 1,000 miles from desert to coast.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04It's one of the world's most ambitious engineering schemes.
0:17:11 > 0:17:151,700 years ago, water was no problem.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19This land was known as the breadbasket of Rome.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Rich enough from exports of wheat and oil
0:17:23 > 0:17:27to boast the most magnificent city of North Africa - Leptis Magna.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32It still gives off a powerful sense of the brute strength of Rome.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36These halls were built by Septimus Severus,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39an African who became Roman Emperor
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and died in the north of England.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46It wasn't just Septimus that ended up in England.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49In 1827, the ruler of Tripoli sent 35 columns
0:17:49 > 0:17:54and other assorted features as a present to King George IV.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57A bit of Leptis Magna can still be found
0:17:57 > 0:17:59off the A329 near Virginia Water.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I'm told the amphitheatre at Leptis Magna
0:18:06 > 0:18:08has the best acoustics in North Africa.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Well, there's only one way to find out.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16# I'm leaning on the lamp-post at the corner of the street
0:18:16 > 0:18:18# Until a certain little lady comes by
0:18:18 > 0:18:22# Oh, me, oh, my I hope that little lady passes by
0:18:22 > 0:18:25# She's absolutely wonderful and absolutely marvellous
0:18:25 > 0:18:28# And lots of people ask me just why I'm standing on the corner
0:18:28 > 0:18:32# Of the corner of the street until a certain little lady passes by. #
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Get off, get off!
0:18:37 > 0:18:42As we leave Libya, I get the feeling that, despite being generous hosts,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45the Libyans are deeply mistrustful of people with cameras,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48something which was never a problem in my next destination.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Less than 100 miles from the Libyan border,
0:18:58 > 0:19:03we're in this arid, almost lunar landscape, of southern Tunisia.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07And it's so arid and uncongenial here
0:19:07 > 0:19:11that, for the last 700 years, people have lived in caves underground.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14And, believe it or not, I do know this place.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19I was crucified here 23 years ago for The Life Of Brian,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and I've always wanted to come back because it is so unforgettable,
0:19:22 > 0:19:24a place that remains in your mind.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27There aren't many people who can say they've gone back
0:19:27 > 0:19:29to the place they were crucified!
0:19:29 > 0:19:31I'm going to see what it's like.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37The crosses are gone, but El Hadej hasn't changed much.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39It remains an underground town
0:19:39 > 0:19:43and though the authorities try to move people into houses,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46there are those who, by tradition and inclination,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48prefer to live and work below the surface.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04The older generation of troglodytes
0:20:04 > 0:20:08can't see why they should have to move from their caves.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10One answer is to cash in on the curiosity value
0:20:10 > 0:20:11and become hoteliers.
0:20:11 > 0:20:19- Bonjour.- Bonjour, sir. I'm Michael. Beautiful.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21This is where you live?
0:20:21 > 0:20:24- Your house?- Yes.- Mmm.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28Nice and silent and cut off from the world.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32- You have a room?- OK. - Ah, yes, OK, I'll see the room.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Thank you. In here?
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Ah, merci. Apres vous.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45- HE SPEAKS ARABIC - My host was very keen to point out
0:20:45 > 0:20:48that living underground made very good sense
0:20:48 > 0:20:52as the caves are warm in winter and cool in summer.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55I think tea's made.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Yeah, that's what the...
0:21:05 > 0:21:08My own Arabic being limited, I rely on the one word I know
0:21:08 > 0:21:11and repeat it as often as possible.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Thank you. Shokran. Shokran. Shokran.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Shokran. Shokran.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20My little Arabic that I know.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Some nuts as well. Thank you.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26We've been right round the Sahara and the one thing
0:21:26 > 0:21:28that doesn't change is the tea.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30The method of making the tea,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32it seems to be the same in every country we've been to -
0:21:34 > 0:21:38From Morocco to Mali to Mauritania to Tunisia.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40Good! Thank you.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Shokran. Very nice.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Cheer up, Brian, you know what they say.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Other things just make you swear and curse.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05# When you're chewing on life's gristle
0:22:05 > 0:22:08# Don't grumble, give a whistle
0:22:08 > 0:22:13# And this'll help things turn out for the best
0:22:13 > 0:22:20# And always look on the bright side of life... #
0:22:20 > 0:22:23WHISTLED ACCOMPANIMENT
0:22:23 > 0:22:28# Always look on the light side of life... #
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Come on, Brian, cheer up!
0:22:31 > 0:22:36# Always look on the bright side of life
0:22:39 > 0:22:43# Always look on the bright side of life... #
0:22:47 > 0:22:50In southern Tunisia, where the desert meets the sea,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54there's an island called Djerba which hangs on to old traditions
0:22:54 > 0:22:57as tenaciously as the troglodytes of El Hadej.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00In their case, it's catching octopus in Greek vases.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08The fishermen may look as if they're dressed by Dolce & Gabbana,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10but their technique is pre-Roman.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12The pots are strung out on a line,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and, unfailingly, between November and March every year,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18the octopus obligingly climb into them.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Yes, oui. That's it.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23What do they look like? Let me have a look.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Ah, there it is! Wow!
0:23:34 > 0:23:35You want it?
0:23:39 > 0:23:42That's one, so...
0:23:44 > 0:23:49- SHOUTING IN ARABIC - Get back in there.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59They're all over the place.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04OK, well, there's two.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07One's about to crawl up your leg,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09but there's that one - get back in!
0:24:11 > 0:24:13Thank you. There.
0:24:15 > 0:24:21Not much good at octopus-wrangling, but I'm learning. Get in there.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Oh, my God! Another.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Getting them out of the sea's the easy bit,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44keeping them on board is a little bit...
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Sad... They love living in these little bowls, these urns.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56There's a synchronicity between the octopus and the urn.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59And here we are, ripping them out...
0:24:59 > 0:25:03So I'm not going to have any more to do with this.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Thank you. Start the Octopus Protection League.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Djerba claims to be the island of the lotus-eaters,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21to which Ulysses and his weary sailors came
0:25:21 > 0:25:24to be seduced by the narcotic delights of the lotus.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32There's no lotus left, but Djerba still manages to seduce
0:25:32 > 0:25:34thousands of foreigners every year.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38ARABIC POP SONG
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Tourism is now the biggest business in Djerba.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I walk round the souk with El Hajj,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30who runs one of the better shops in town.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34There were hardly any tourists when he was a boy,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38but he now relies on them for 70%-80% of his business.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42You think tourism can have a bad effect, an adverse effect?
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Of course, yeah, it didn't bring only good thing,
0:26:46 > 0:26:51- it brought a lot of money, but we have other problems.- What problems?
0:26:51 > 0:26:56Well, we have a lot of our young people who have changed,
0:26:56 > 0:27:00they are not practising their religion any more,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04they are, er...running after, I don't know how to...
0:27:04 > 0:27:07- Seduced by the money?- Yeah, exactly.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12We have these... I don't know if I want to talk about it,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16but the sex tourism, we have a lot of old ladies,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20coming here to find a young friend. This is not good.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24That's not good, of course, it's one of the bad sides.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26You find sometimes some homosexuals
0:27:26 > 0:27:29or they are... You just go to the beach
0:27:29 > 0:27:33and you see that there are people staying there,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35waiting for an...an old lady or...
0:27:35 > 0:27:38We also have a lot of young people,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41they don't want to work cos they have a German or an Italian -
0:27:41 > 0:27:45I don't know, I don't want to say... but old ladies, they are...
0:27:45 > 0:27:48they leave their husbands or don't have one,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51they come to find a friend here.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56They pay him. So that is one of the bad sides of tourism.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02But Tunisia, lacking the oil reserves of Libya and Algeria,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06has to do all it can to make tourists welcome.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10They have been greatly helped by the Romans who, at El Jem,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13left the third biggest amphitheatre they ever built.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18At Dougga, temples overlook a purpose-built brothel
0:28:18 > 0:28:24and, next door to it, a masterpiece of imperial plumbing.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28The Romans weren't bashful about bodily functions.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32This is a public lavatory in the truest sense of the word,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36in that there are 12 little toilets here and it was a communal lavvy.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39You went in - they were called furaci - and you paid one,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42believe it or not, one as to come in here,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44which was a tiny little coin.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48They would sit here, a group thing.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50You'd discuss the weather,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54what's going on, politics, acting, life, architecture, digestion...
0:28:54 > 0:28:59and there'd be water running round this runnel here.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03It's very immediate, so you can your hands there...
0:29:03 > 0:29:07bring the water up and then put your hand under there and washed the bits.
0:29:07 > 0:29:13It was cold water, so it must have been a bit of a freezing jobbie,
0:29:13 > 0:29:20but the Romans were oddly civilised in this insanitary way, I think.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Not just Romans, but Phoenicians, Turks, Greeks, even Normans,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33have all contributed to Tunisia's rich racial mix.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35The most influential were the Arabs.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39One of their great monuments is in Monastir.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43The locals never stop talking about when Monty Python came.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48The more comfortable parts of the film that weren't done on crosses,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51happened here in Monastir.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54And this is the Ribat, which is a very old building,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57probably about 1,300 years old.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01This is where most of the scenes of Life Of Brian were done.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06I'm trying to remember it because it all looks tidy and neat now.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08It's coming back to me now.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12I think the stoning scene, and we were all dressed up as...
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Women were not allowed to go to stonings.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19Women weren't allowed to go, so we all played women with beards.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24Come on, who threw that?
0:30:24 > 0:30:28HIGH VOICES: She did! DEEPER VOICES: He did! Him!
0:30:28 > 0:30:32- Was it you?- Yes.- Right... - Well, you did say Jehovah.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36Now, this does bring it back.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41The tower Graham Chapman ran up, got to the top, the stairs ran out
0:30:41 > 0:30:45and he's rescued, highly improbably, by a flying saucer and goes on.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57I think we must have just taken over this place entirely
0:30:57 > 0:31:01for about two months, which seems unlikely.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Up there, where those girls are coming down,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07above that, the columns were built
0:31:07 > 0:31:12where Pontius Pilate came out and there was the, "Welease Wodewick!"
0:31:12 > 0:31:17and, "He ... higher than any in Wome," and all that was done there.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19It's difficult to tell because we added bits on,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22we added sort of great coloured flags...
0:31:22 > 0:31:25but I seem to remember coming out above that - above that bit there.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37People of Jewusalem...
0:31:38 > 0:31:41..Wome is your fwend.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44LAUGHTER
0:31:44 > 0:31:48A very strange and rather effective moment
0:31:48 > 0:31:52where the power of Rome was challenged not by people fighting,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55but by people laughing.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57That's what moved me about it -
0:31:57 > 0:32:02once people laughed at him, there was nothing you could do.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06Laughter's a very good weapon, not used enough...
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Lying on their backs, laughing,
0:32:09 > 0:32:15then he got vewy angry and made a vewy gweat fool of himself.
0:32:15 > 0:32:16Silence!
0:32:19 > 0:32:22This man commands a cwack legion.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Along the coast from Monastir is the city of Sousse
0:32:38 > 0:32:41in which Brian also came to life.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43It seems strangely subdued today.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48I remember the streets of the old town as the liveliest in Tunisia,
0:32:48 > 0:32:51but now they're quiet as the grave.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59In the main square, they're already shutting up shop.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05The reason, I learn, is that this is the start of Ramadan,
0:33:05 > 0:33:10the month every year when Muslims are expected to fast
0:33:10 > 0:33:12during daylight hours.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Candy stalls do a roaring trade in anticipation of night-time feasts.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19I've heard some people put on weight during the month of fasting.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21Now I can understand why.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Tunisia likes to see itself as secular and outward-looking.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38It's also the only Islamic country in which it's not compulsory
0:33:38 > 0:33:41to observe Ramadan, but most do.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45With my friend Moes, I visit a cafe to see how the country
0:33:45 > 0:33:47makes the most of the hours of darkness.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55Moes orders a chicha, a cigarette the size of a vacuum cleaner.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Charcoal heats honey-flavoured tobacco
0:33:58 > 0:34:00and the air is cooled by the water.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Er, do you want to try it?
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Yeah, OK, yeah, yeah...
0:34:08 > 0:34:11So I just...?
0:34:15 > 0:34:19Yeah, it's very nice. It's very relaxing, isn't it?
0:34:19 > 0:34:24- Would you normally smoke this? - Sometimes, especially in Ramadan.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26People after eating and everything,
0:34:26 > 0:34:31they like to relax, to have a cup of tea and to smoke the chicha.
0:34:31 > 0:34:36- Can you smoke during Ramadan, during the day?- No. Nothing.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41No water, no smoking, nothing in your mouth.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44- Really? That's very hard. - Just air, you know.- Yeah.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49What is the worst thing, you know, to be deprived of?
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Is it water, is it food, is it smoke?
0:34:52 > 0:34:55For me, it's water, for some people, it's food.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00It depends, you know, each person... Some people, it's smoking too.
0:35:00 > 0:35:06It's the hardest thing for them is to stop smoking for 12 hours.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09Does it make people bad-tempered?
0:35:09 > 0:35:13Yeah, some people are bad-tempered, but some people are not.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16If they are bad-tempered, they're bad-tempered,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Ramadan or not - it's not Ramadan.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23Some people say, "I am bad-tempered because it's Ramadan." Not true.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26- My excuse!- Yeah, as an excuse.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41Apart from the Arabs, most of those who invaded North Africa
0:35:41 > 0:35:43stopped short of the Sahara.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46The Romans never crossed it and one of the most famous occupying empires
0:35:46 > 0:35:49looked only towards the sea.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52They were the Carthaginians and their power base was here.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56In fact, the station's called Carthage.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59This is the start of my journey to Algeria.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04This local train will take me to Tunis Nord,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07the main station in Tunis,
0:36:07 > 0:36:13- for the Trans-Maghreb Express... - LAUGHTER - Excuse me, please, I'm working!
0:36:13 > 0:36:15..Which will take me to Algiers.
0:36:15 > 0:36:22This line goes through some wonderful stations, Carthage Amilcar, Carthage Presidence,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Carthage Hannibal - great name - Carthage Dermech, Carthage Byrsa.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29So five Carthage stations.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Whatever the Romans think, Carthage is not destroyed.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35When the Romans left Carthage, they were so fed up
0:36:35 > 0:36:42with the Carthaginians that they sowed the fields with salt.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49From the main station in Tunis,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52it looks easy enough to continue my journey across North Africa,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55aboard the Trans-Maghreb Express.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58The Arab word Maghreb means the lands of the setting sun -
0:36:58 > 0:37:00the lands of the west.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14But there are problems ahead.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19Tunisia, which I'm leaving, is outward-looking and fairly stable.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22Algeria, where I'm going,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25has been caught in a spiral of violence since 1992.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Foreign Office advice is unequivocal.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33"Security situation remains serious.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37"We advise against all holiday and non-essential travel to Algeria."
0:37:50 > 0:37:55At first, Algiers seems little different from any other city.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59The trains seem to be running on time, there are no porters,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02and my hotel, the El Djazair, is rather grand.
0:38:04 > 0:38:10It was formerly called the St George and was built in the 1880s
0:38:10 > 0:38:14to accommodate all those fashionable Victorians who flocked to Algiers
0:38:14 > 0:38:16to benefit from the healthy climate.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18No-one flocks to Algiers now.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21I can't even leave the hotel without a bodyguard.
0:38:21 > 0:38:26Beyond the hotel, we'll be required to travel around Algiers
0:38:26 > 0:38:30with a team of the Service de Protection...
0:38:30 > 0:38:33This is Eamonn, an ex-marine commando.
0:38:33 > 0:38:39The reason that we need this security is that, since 1992,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43foreigners in Algeria have been under fatwa
0:38:43 > 0:38:46by certain extreme Islamic groups.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Fatwa - same as in the Salman Rushdie case?
0:38:49 > 0:38:52The Satanic Verses, yeah.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55The result is over 100 foreigners
0:38:55 > 0:38:58have been killed in Algeria since then.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02I've travelled a bit. As far as I know, no-one's tried to kill me.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06I ask Eamonn if this is all strictly necessary.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11You're a public figure with a high profile and, frankly,
0:39:11 > 0:39:13if I lose you, I lose my job.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16Well, I hope we won't be a problem.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22ACCORDION MUSIC
0:39:22 > 0:39:25On the streets, you could be mistaken for thinking
0:39:25 > 0:39:28you were in Lyon or Marseilles.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32For 100 years, the French treated Algeria not as a colony,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35but as part of France.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38As a result, the independence movement was resisted
0:39:38 > 0:39:41more fiercely here than anywhere in North Africa.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Said Shitour, a local journalist, is proud of the fight his people put up
0:39:50 > 0:39:54and takes me to what was the centre of the struggle -
0:39:54 > 0:39:56the heart of Algiers, the Casbah.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02As the streets of the Casbah are still a flash point
0:40:02 > 0:40:06for violent protest, the local police, the Casbah cops,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09have thrown a comprehensive but discreet cordon
0:40:09 > 0:40:10around the area for our visit.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16So successful is this precaution,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18that there's absolutely no-one about.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22When someone eventually appears, he's one of the police, regrouping.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25But they can't keep out the ghosts of old heroes.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33Ali La Pointe was one of the fighters against the French?
0:40:33 > 0:40:37- He was in the film Battle Of Algiers in these streets.- Yes.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41- He lived here?- He lived here with his friends
0:40:41 > 0:40:43and all the freedom fighters,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47and he was a hero of the Casbah and the Battle of Algiers.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51- The resistance was centred on the Casbah?- Yes.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54It was difficult for the French to come in
0:40:54 > 0:40:57and get the revolutionaries out of here?
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Very, because it's roof to roof, house to house,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05- and the people can jump from roof to roof.- Ah.
0:41:05 > 0:41:11- This is the memorial plate in memory of Ali La Pointe.- What does it say?
0:41:11 > 0:41:15In the 8th...October 8th 1957,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Ali La Pointe, with his companions...
0:41:18 > 0:41:24spent all day resisting the French paratroopers,
0:41:24 > 0:41:28and in the end the French army decide to blow up the house.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31He didn't want to give up and he died.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Yeah, the scene where they give them the chance to come out.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39- They say, "We'll give you one hour!" - Yeah, yeah.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41And then they blew the place up.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00What do you think Ali La Pointe and these people achieved?
0:42:00 > 0:42:07Freedom. Independence for us, the generation who came after 1962.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Now this place became a kind of training centre
0:42:11 > 0:42:16for girls of the Casbah to teach them how to make good couscous.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20That's a bit of a sort of the sublime to the ridiculous.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24The Casbah sounds like it's coming to life. Things are happening.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28I begin to forget security and enjoy myself.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32There's lots of character to these claustrophobic alleyways.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38- Funny girl.- Yeah, yeah.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42Said shows me some of the Casbah's hidden gems,
0:42:42 > 0:42:46like the mosque of Sidi Abderrahmane,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50a 15th-century holy man and patron saint of the city.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55A visit to his tomb is said to be particularly effective for women.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59SHE SINGS IN ARABIC
0:43:08 > 0:43:11- These are some women.- Yeah.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Some women pray in here for Allah to give us more...
0:43:15 > 0:43:19to be merciful and to give us more rain, because in Algiers
0:43:19 > 0:43:23we have a big problem, there is no water.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Ironically, the prayers worked only too well.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30Within two weeks of our visit,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33hundreds were drowned in Algeria's worst flooding for years.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39By Saharan standards,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42the people who live in Algiers look quite prosperous.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46The oilfields see to it that the street markets are well-stocked.
0:43:46 > 0:43:51Look at the size of those brassieres!
0:43:51 > 0:43:54- A couple of footballs in there. - Yeah.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57I might just pick up a couple.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Next morning, it's time to leave Algier La Blanche,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05the White City, as the French called it.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07There's a train to Oran.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12I was warned the line is dangerous, so I seek professional advice.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14Is it OK to travel on the train?
0:44:14 > 0:44:18Yes, there are security - not problem in train.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20Yes, yes. It's not problem in train.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23You can go in at Oran or Constantine.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25Security, it's not problem.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28- OK.- OK.- OK. How do you speak English so well?
0:44:28 > 0:44:33Is it something they teach you on Algerian railways?
0:44:33 > 0:44:34It's my English of school,
0:44:34 > 0:44:39- but when we like English, we practise it.- Really?
0:44:39 > 0:44:43- So what is your job here? - My job is master of the station.
0:44:43 > 0:44:49- Stationmaster?- Yeah.- Not station mistress - stationmaster.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53Yeah. I am the first lady in Algeria to run a station.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59That is very clean, I notice.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01- Yeah, it's...- Absolutely tidy.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04It's a woman who is master.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07And it's a policeman who's following us.
0:45:10 > 0:45:15The train is about to leave and it's time to say farewell to Said,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17who's shown me that despite the dire warnings,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21the people of Algiers could not have made us feel more welcome.
0:45:21 > 0:45:28- We'll see you soon. - Inshallah. Goodbye.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45As we pull out, everything looks normal enough,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49but in Algeria it's never wise to be complacent.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51The Algiers-Oran line does have a history,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54and I'm certainly not allowed to ride it unprotected.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04OK?
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Is there a security problem on this line?
0:46:11 > 0:46:16Yes, there is, and there has been over the last ten years.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20This is an area to the south of Algiers
0:46:20 > 0:46:24known as the Triangle of Death.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26We're approaching Blida,
0:46:26 > 0:46:32and this has been the most bombed railway line in the world
0:46:32 > 0:46:34over the last ten years.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37What sort of form does that take?
0:46:37 > 0:46:40Do people attack the train, ambush?
0:46:40 > 0:46:42This train here has been bombed,
0:46:42 > 0:46:47it has been stopped by people pulling the communication cord,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50which is why you won't find a communication cord now.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54What was the problem, people were...?
0:46:54 > 0:47:00Well, yeah, you'd get confederates of terrorist groups
0:47:00 > 0:47:03who'd come on to the train, masquerading as passengers.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07They'd pull the cord at a certain moment, the train would stop
0:47:07 > 0:47:11and the terrorists would come on to the train
0:47:11 > 0:47:14and commit acts of cruelty and barbarism.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18What - they'd take people's lives?
0:47:18 > 0:47:21- Yes, they would.- On the train?- Yeah.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24In awful circumstances that we really don't want to go into.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Now, over the last couple of years,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31you'll find, as you go along, there is a major security presence,
0:47:31 > 0:47:37and you will not really run the same risks. Or so we're told.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41- Yeah, yeah. But you don't see many foreigners on a...- No.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44In my consideration,
0:47:44 > 0:47:49you're probably the first foreigner on this line in the last ten years.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52I have to say, so far, it seems to be fine.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56The train left on time, everyone's friendly.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58The countryside is sort of farmland.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02I wouldn't want to put people off coming to Algeria
0:48:02 > 0:48:06because we've had no problems really.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11I know we were guarded, but I don't feel there's been any hostility.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15No, there's no hostility from the general population -
0:48:15 > 0:48:20they are very welcoming people as you would no doubt have seen.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23Even at stations like Chlef, where violence has been rife,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26there's an unthreatening air of ordinariness.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31But the fact remains that, in ten years of terror and counterterror,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33100,000 people have been killed.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46One thing you won't actually be able to see on our journey
0:48:46 > 0:48:47is the armed guards.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50We have a heavy security presence,
0:48:50 > 0:48:54both from Algiers and then a town called Chlef where we stopped.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57They changed the guard round,
0:48:57 > 0:49:02and 18 members of the Gendarmerie Nationale, with AK-47s, came aboard.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07They won't want to be filmed - it's dangerous for them -
0:49:07 > 0:49:10but the train is bristling with guards looking after us.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26Bonjour. Merci.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33- Merci.- Merci.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41The train used to be exotically known
0:49:41 > 0:49:44as the Algiers-Casablanca Express.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47But tensions between Algeria and Morocco over security
0:49:47 > 0:49:51have closed the railway border and now the train terminates at Oran.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00The army can go home now - I'm someone else's responsibility.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04- Great station.- Absolutely beautiful.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08- Mooresque. - Is this Oran an important city?
0:50:08 > 0:50:14- Yes, the second important... second city of Algeria.- Right, OK.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21Now, where do we head? Off, down here?
0:50:21 > 0:50:24Straight into the centre of the town.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Oran, like Algiers, is still steeped in French influence.
0:50:29 > 0:50:35Bare-breasted northern maidens gaze down from the opera house,
0:50:35 > 0:50:39sharing the square with a carved likeness of Arab nationalist hero,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Abdelkader. The confusion reflects my own feelings
0:50:42 > 0:50:45as I near the end of the journey.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48This is the last big city on my journey and you can't
0:50:48 > 0:50:52get much further west in Algeria than this,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55so I've got to think hard about how to get back home.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04I'm able to bypass the closed border with Morocco
0:51:04 > 0:51:08by taking a roundabout ferry route into Ceuta.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10From there, it should be easy enough
0:51:10 > 0:51:12to get back across the Straits to Europe.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22SPANISH GUITAR
0:51:22 > 0:51:24Ceuta is a curiosity,
0:51:24 > 0:51:28a slice of Spain clinging to the coast of Africa.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30It's surrounded by Morocco.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34In the same way that Spain wants Gibraltar,
0:51:34 > 0:51:39Morocco wants Ceuta. But there's no sign of Spain parting with it.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Indeed, this monument in the Plaza Africa,
0:51:42 > 0:51:46commemorates a Spanish invasion of Morocco.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51The Spanish presence makes Ceuta a magnet
0:51:51 > 0:51:53for those wanting to get out of Africa.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58High on a hill above the town
0:51:58 > 0:52:01is one of the outlying defences of Fortress Europe -
0:52:01 > 0:52:06a holding centre for immigrants built and run by the European Union.
0:52:06 > 0:52:07Gracias!
0:52:11 > 0:52:15It's bright, clean and modern, and people here can't wait to get out.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27There are nearly 400 men, women and children in the centre,
0:52:27 > 0:52:31but only 45 applications have been processed in the last six months.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35The inmates are restless, but they're not giving up,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39not after the risks they've taken to get this far.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44- And where have you come from? You've come from?- From Nigeria.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48- And how did you get here? - Through the Sahara Desert.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53- On a vehicle?- With leg.- On foot? You walked through the Sahara?
0:52:53 > 0:52:58- Yeah, yeah.- How long did that take? - Take me almost one year.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01How did you get into Ceuta?
0:53:01 > 0:53:06Into Ceuta, I passed through Sahara, got to Morocco, on to this place.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09- How did you get here from Morocco? - From Morocco...
0:53:09 > 0:53:10Because this is a fortress...
0:53:10 > 0:53:18Passed through the barbed wire with a fisher boat.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21- I came by the boat. - Came by boat?- Yeah.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25- That brings you on to shore here? - Yeah.
0:53:25 > 0:53:32- Did you have to pay a lot of money to get here?- Yeah, for the boat we paid about 1,500 to reach here.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35- 1,500...?- Dollars, yes.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38- Dollars?- Yeah.- US dollars?- Yeah.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41At the narrowest point of the Straits of Gibraltar,
0:53:41 > 0:53:45only nine miles separate these people from their goal.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48I'm lucky - I can cross the Straits in an hour,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51on a scheduled ferry, in broad daylight,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54but thousands of Africans will pay to be brought over
0:53:54 > 0:53:57in unsuitable boats at the dead of night.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Belinda Braithwaite, who has a house close to where they land,
0:54:00 > 0:54:04knows many will never reach Europe alive.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10They tend to come across when it's calm, in the middle of the night.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13But you can suddenly get a squall,
0:54:13 > 0:54:18and they're halfway across, too many people in the boat.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22None of them can swim, and they don't have any life jackets,
0:54:22 > 0:54:27so the boat capsizes and they, poor things, are thrown into the sea.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Do they have any sort of navigation?
0:54:30 > 0:54:34Presumably they've got to come along here with no lights or lamps?
0:54:34 > 0:54:37Well, it's always at night,
0:54:37 > 0:54:41and some of the worst casualties happen when it's foggy,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44because it appears the more unscrupulous skippers say,
0:54:44 > 0:54:49"Well it's 200 yards over there - jump out here,"
0:54:49 > 0:54:51and, in fact, it's more like a mile.
0:54:51 > 0:54:56So the poor people find that they're out of their depth and can't swim.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01Imagine if you're a pregnant woman thrown over the side of a boat,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03you don't stand a chance, so...
0:55:03 > 0:55:08When they do get ashore, this is what...?
0:55:08 > 0:55:10The boat has been wrecked,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13hurled against the rocks, there's great holes in it.
0:55:13 > 0:55:19- What happens when they get ashore? - They disappear in the pine forests.
0:55:19 > 0:55:21But if they've just got out of a boat
0:55:21 > 0:55:24or they've had to swim the last bit,
0:55:24 > 0:55:29their clothes are sopping wet, so they tend to bring with them...
0:55:29 > 0:55:33- There - a little plastic... - Is that something from...?
0:55:33 > 0:55:37It looks like it's been bound up to keep it waterproof.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41And they would keep some dry clothes in there.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45You see here the fellow's clothes that he's actually taken off.
0:55:45 > 0:55:51They take these off because they're sodden. They have clothes with them?
0:55:51 > 0:55:56- Shoes, things, and his water bottle. - Someone from Morocco, Mali...
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Then he'll quickly get away before he's spotted.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04So there's clothes all over these dunes, scattered about?
0:56:04 > 0:56:06I come across them miles...
0:56:16 > 0:56:18When at last I reach Gibraltar,
0:56:18 > 0:56:21the flags are flying and day-trippers fill the streets.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26But there's something different in the air - a smell of betrayal.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33May I have your leave to secure the fortress, sir?
0:56:37 > 0:56:41After nearly 300 years, the unthinkable is happening.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45Britain and Spain are discussing joint sovereignty.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Halt!
0:56:47 > 0:56:49Who goes there?
0:56:49 > 0:56:53- The keys.- Whose keys?
0:56:53 > 0:56:59- Queen Elizabeth's keys. - Advance, Queen Elizabeth's keys.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05The Ceremony of the Keys dates back to the days
0:57:05 > 0:57:08when the gates of the citadel were locked every night.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11The fortress is secure and all's well, sir.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14But how secure is the fortress?
0:57:14 > 0:57:18Suddenly, this harmless ceremony seems loaded with significance,
0:57:18 > 0:57:20more than just an entertainment.
0:57:23 > 0:57:28Will the gates of Gibraltar have to be locked again?
0:57:28 > 0:57:30BAND STRIKES UP
0:57:39 > 0:57:42When I set out, I always thought of Gibraltar
0:57:42 > 0:57:46as the bridge between Europe and Africa.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49But now I think for the future that the Sahara
0:57:49 > 0:57:52is the bridge from Africa into Europe.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57There is a danger in becoming obsessed with our own security.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00There may be enemies at the gate,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03but locking them out may only create more enemies.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06I think the best hope for the future is to look around the gate,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09to find out more of how other people live.
0:58:09 > 0:58:14After all, this time a year ago, I thought the Sahara was empty.
0:58:49 > 0:58:50Whoo!