2015

S1.E1 ∙ North Africa

Tue, May 05, 2015

Gryff starts his North African voyage by train in Morocco, visiting former royal capitals Marrakech and Fez, fascinating for their ancient artisnala 'souks' (closed markets), traditional Arab-Berber homes, medicine and cooking. After a bizarrely inevitable air hop via Spain, he enters former french colonies Algeria -visiting Constantine- and Tunisia, ending the railroad logic in the phosphate-mined desert.

7.9 /10

S1.E2 ∙ Kenya & Tanzania

Mon, May 11, 2015

Griff travels trough East Africa by colonial railways, or at least what's left of them. They were established i-during the German-British race to the sources of the Nile at lake Victoria. In Kenya, they started a rich agricultural colony, but are being replaced by car transport, even though roads are generally poor. In Tanzania, the Germans lost the race and the tracks are largely in pitiful state, so Griff has to do some distances by other transport.

7 /10

S1.E3 ∙ Zambia & Zimbabwe

Mon, May 18, 2015

Griff crosses the colonial legacy of empire building visionary Cecil Rhodes, whose dream of a British railroad from Cairo to the Cape required colonizing Rhodesia, split in the countries shown in this episode. In North Rhodesia, now Zambia, he visits a train drivers school and gem cutting center. Over the spectacular Victoria Falls he crosses into Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where the Mugabe dictatorship wrecked a healthy economy, including the railroads.

7.5 /10

S1.E4 ∙ Namibia

Mon, May 25, 2015

Griff takes the train in Namibia, a nearly-deserted desert country with a colonial past under Germans and British, which left many traces and works on in tourism. Passengers are rare, but enormous quantities of ore produced in huge mines are transported to be shipped at sea.

6.5 /10

S1.E5 ∙ South Africa

Mon, Jun 01, 2015

Griff crosses a thousand miles of South Africa, reaching the most southerly passenger railway station on the continent. Griff begins in Pretoria, catching Africa's most modern train on a short journey south, to Johannesburg. On board he almost finds himself in trouble with the security guards for attempting to eat his breakfast, which is against the strict train rules, which also include no singing. Johannesburg is home to over four million people across a vast, sprawling city that grew because of the amounts of gold found underground. The goldmines needed workers and railways were built to transport them.

7.3 /10