Tales From The Back Of Beyond

A Car Crash Sets In Train A Catalogue Of Disasters For A Group Heading Into The Sahara Desert.

When things cannot get any worse, they usually do.

A Car Crash Sets In Train A Catalogue Of Disasters For A Group Heading Into The Sahara Desert.

When things cannot get any worse, they usually do.

mels - but nothing seems to go quite right for the two men and two women.

Asix-part series of travellers' tales. 1: Taklimakan DesertRepeated from Tuesday

The second of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. The British Army has relied on tough Gurkha soldiers throughout many wars. But what impact has recruitment had in Nepal? An expedition into the Nepalese hills discovers that traditional village life is being affected. Producer Neil Walker Repeated Sunday at 5pm

Producer: Neil Walker

The second of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. What impact has the British recruitment of Gurkha soldiers had on traditional village life in Nepal? Repeated from Tuesday

The third of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Anthropologist Dr Jean Brown has been documenting the lives of the nomadic Pokot tribe of northern Kenya for 24 years. On her last trip, she records a way of life which is about to die out. Producer Neil Walker Repeated Sunday 5pm

Unknown: Dr Jean Brown

Producer: Neil Walker

The third of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Anthropologist Dr Jean Brown has been recording the lives of the nomadic Pokot tribe of northern Kenya for 24 years. Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Dr Jean Brown

The fourth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales.

Dr Sarah O'Hara describes the rapid decline of Turkmenistan's vital irrigation system. "For a country which is nearly all desert, Turkmenistan wastes an awful lot of water." Meanwhile, the country's president busies himself creating his own version of Versailles. Producer Neil Walker

Repeated Sunday 5pm

Unknown: Dr Sarah O'Hara

Producer: Neil Walker

The fourth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Dr Sarah O'Hara describes the rapid decline of Turkmenistan's vital irrigation system. Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Dr Sarah O'Hara

The fifth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Three Durham undergraduates set out on a mission to record the herbal cures practised by the Dayaks of Kalimantan before these remedies - and the rainforest - are lost for ever.

Producer Neil Walker. Repeated Sunday 5pm

Producer: Neil Walker.

Six travellers' tales.

5: Three Durham undergraduates set out on a mission to record the herbal cures practised by the Dayaks of Kalimantan.

Repeated from Tuesday

The last of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. On a tour of Vietnam, Jon Hassid and John Walsh find the country's embrace of capitalism breathtaking. The Vietnamese may not like talking about the war, but it seems that they do not mind earning a dollar out of it. Meanwhile, they are increasingly abandoning their own culture. Producer Neil Walker Repeated Sunday 5pm

Unknown: Jon Hassid

Unknown: John Walsh

Producer: Neil Walker

The last of six travellers' tales. On a tour of Vietnam, Jon Hassid finds the country's embrace of capitalism breathtaking. Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Jon Hassid

Four programmes tracing the blood, sweat and mosquitoes of expeditions to far-flung places.

1: Juliet Vickery crosses thousands of miles of ocean to study bird life on the tiny, remote and uninhabited Pacific island of Henderson. A Revolution Recordings production

Unknown: Juliet Vickery

Series tracing the blood, sweat and mosquitoes of far-flung expeditions. 2: Teacher Tim Gunn and a team of pupils run up against local difficulties when they try planting a dry forest in Madagascar. A Revolution Recordings production

Unknown: Teacher Tim Gunn

Expeditions to far-flung corners of the earth.

3: A team of undergraduates travel to Bolivia to tryto save the endangered bluethroated macaw from bounty hunters. A Revolution Recordings production

Last in the series tracing expeditions to far-flung corners of the earth. A team of young scientists brave scorpions, tarantulas and a Venezuelan swamp in search of the manatee - the shy creature which spawned the legend of the mermaid. A Revolution Recordings production

Four programmes tracing the blood, sweat and mosquitoes of expeditions to far-flung corners of the earth.

1: Juliet Vickery crosses thousands of miles of ocean to study birdlife on the tiny, remote and uninhabited Pacific island of Henderson. A Revolution Recordings production

Unknown: Juliet Vickery

Teacher Tim Gunn 2: and a team of pupils run up against local difficulties when they try planting a dry forest in Madagascar. A Revolution Recordings production

Unknown: Teacher Tim Gunn

3: Nottingham University students travel to Bolivia to save the rare bluethroated macaw from bounty hunters. A Revolution Recordings production

Last in the series. 4: A team of young scientists brave tarantulas, scorpions and a Venezuelan swamp in search of the manatee -the shy and elusive creature which spawned the legend of the mermaid; A Revolution Recordings production

1: Sumatra. Forget myths about Bigfoot or the Yeti, the creature which inhabits the dense forests of Sumatra has been seen by so many locals that journalist Debbie Martyr is determined to track it down. The Orang Pendek is hairy, walks on two legs and is powerful enough to rip your head off. This is Debbie's diary of her one-woman expedition to find proof of its existence. A Revolution Recordings production Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

Unknown: Debbie Martyr

1: Sumatra. Journalist Debbie Martyr scours the mountainous jungles of Sumatra on the trail of an ape-man. Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Debbie Martyr

2: The Himalayas. Unclimbed mountain peaks and westerners tramping the hippie trail lure a team of students from Imperial College, London, to northern India. One of the world's most beautiful valleys is under threat by religious pilgrims and by visitors attracted by the abundance of cheap marijuana. A Revolution Recordings production Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

2: The Himalayas. Students from Imperial College London mount an expedition to northern India. Repeated from Tuesday

3: Paraguay. The sluggish River Paraguay is about to be transformed into an aquatic motorway, if a multi-million dollar improvement scheme goes ahead. Predictably, wildlife and the indigenous Chamacoco Indians don't get much of a look in as big business moves in to change their way of living for ever. An expedition from University College, London, finds it can't help being caught up in the controversy. A Revolution Recordings production Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

3: Paraguay. An expedition from

University College, London, encounters a scheme to transform the River Paraguay into an aquatic motorway.

Repeated from Tuesday

4: Little Tibet. The Dali Lama is a leader with a government and an electorate but no land to govern. For

35 years since the occupation of Tibet by the Chinese, the Tibetans have lived in isolated groups around the world. A team of Oxbridge students travels to one of these cut-off communities in northern India to find out how the young Tibetans see their future today. A Revolution Recordings production Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

4: Little Tibet. A team of students visits an isolated group of Tibetans. Repeated from Tuesday

5: China. Caving is still mostly the preserve of men, so there's not a woman in sight as a team of cooperative cavers descend one of the world's biggest holes. They are the latest team to come to China at the invitation of the locals to explore the vast limestone labyrinths, but they soon discover that the unexpected is always just around the comer. A Revolution Recordings production Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

5: China. One of the world's biggest holes is explored by a team who have been invited to China by the locals. Repeated from Tuesday

6: Kohistan. Though it is part of Pakistan, Kohistan is a different world. Its people live by an ancient code which combines democracy with a kind of hillbilly feuding. Dangerous territory for the unwary, but all in a day's work for Birdlife International's field worker Guy Duke as he tries to bring warring tribes together for the good of themselves and the fragile environment in which they live. A Revolution Recordings production Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

Unknown: Guy Duke

In the last of the series, Guy Duke tries to bring the warring tribes of Kohistan in Pakistan together for the good of themselves and their environment.

Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Guy Duke

A six-part series of travellers' tales. 1: Sahara. A team of young and inexperienced expeditioners head for one of the most inhospitable places on the planet - the Sahara desert. Led by the ever-optimistic Mick, the team narrowly escapes death more than once, but continues to limp further and further from civilisation as feelings of mutiny grow. Producer Neil Walker. Rptd Sun 5.00pm

Producer: Neil Walker.

A six-part series of travellers' tales. 1: Sahara Repeated from Tuesday

A six-part series of travellers' tales. 2: Solomon Islands. A rare and enormous bat with a wingspan of five feet is the quarry of a group of Bristol University graduates as they arrive in Choiseul, one of the Solomon Islands. Finding this animal, which has not been seen for 50 years, could stop this tropical paradise from being destroyed - as the Koreans are poised to move in with their chainsaws. Producer Neil Walker. Rptd Sun 5.00pm

Unknown: Solomon Islands.

Producer: Neil Walker.

A six-part series of travellers' tales. 2: Solomon Islands

Repeated from Tuesday

A six-part series of travellers' tales.

3: Iran. Eighteen-year-old Christopher Mahon encounters loneliness, Kurdish kidnappers and Islamic soldiers when he goes on a one-man pilgrimage into Iran and Turkey. Producer Neil Walker

Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

Unknown: Christopher Mahon

Producer: Neil Walker

Repeated from Tuesday

A six-part series of travellers' tales. 4: Ecuador. Since the 1950s, more than 95 per cent of Ecuador's forests have been cut down, although a few gems, such as the Podocarpus National Park, still survive. But as three students from Cambridge University head into this inaccessible region, they find that mining and oil drilling are still causing damage on a scale that is hard to calculate. Producer Neil Walker Repeated Sunday at 5.00pm

Producer: Neil Walker

A six-part series of travellers' tales. 4: Ecuador

Repeated from Tuesday

Six travellers' tales.

5: Kenya. The game parks of Kenya are renowned for their teeming herds of animals, but there are other parks which receive scant attention. These are the marine parks, whose diversity of life depends on preserving the coral reefs. Marine biologist Maggie Watson reports on how the Kenyan Wildlife Service is trying to maintain a balance which serves local fishermen as well as the eco-tourist industry. Producer Neil Walker. Rptd Sun 5.00pm

Unknown: Maggie Watson

Producer: Neil Walker.

Six travellers' tales.

5: Kenya

Repeated from Tuesday

The last of six travellers' tales. Spitzbergen. Two teams set out to walk across the island of Spitzbergen end to end, a journey of nearly 600 kilometres. Producer Neil Walker. Rptd Sunday 5.00pm

Producer: Neil Walker.

The last of six travellers' tales.

Spitzbergen

Repeated from Tuesday

Asix-part series of travellers' tales. 1: Taklimakan DesertRepeated from Tuesday

The second of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. The British Army has relied on tough Gurkha soldiers throughout many wars. But what impact has recruitment had in Nepal? An expedition into the Nepalese hills discovers that traditional village life is being affected. Producer Neil Walker Repeated Sunday at 5pm

Producer: Neil Walker

The second of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. What impact has the British recruitment of Gurkha soldiers had on traditional village life in Nepal? Repeated from Tuesday

The third of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Anthropologist Dr Jean Brown has been documenting the lives of the nomadic Pokot tribe of northern Kenya for 24 years. On her last trip, she records a way of life which is about to die out. Producer Neil Walker Repeated Sunday 5pm

Unknown: Dr Jean Brown

Producer: Neil Walker

The third of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Anthropologist Dr Jean Brown has been recording the lives of the nomadic Pokot tribe of northern Kenya for 24 years. Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Dr Jean Brown

The fourth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales.

Dr Sarah O'Hara describes the rapid decline of Turkmenistan's vital irrigation system. "For a country which is nearly all desert, Turkmenistan wastes an awful lot of water." Meanwhile, the country's president busies himself creating his own version of Versailles. Producer Neil Walker

Repeated Sunday 5pm

Unknown: Dr Sarah O'Hara

Producer: Neil Walker

The fourth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Dr Sarah O'Hara describes the rapid decline of Turkmenistan's vital irrigation system. Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Dr Sarah O'Hara

The fifth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. Three Durham undergraduates set out on a mission to record the herbal cures practised by the Dayaks of Kalimantan before these remedies - and the rainforest - are lost for ever.

Producer Neil Walker. Repeated Sunday 5pm

Producer: Neil Walker.

Six travellers' tales.

5: Three Durham undergraduates set out on a mission to record the herbal cures practised by the Dayaks of Kalimantan.

Repeated from Tuesday

The last of six programmes featuring travellers' tales. On a tour of Vietnam, Jon Hassid and John Walsh find the country's embrace of capitalism breathtaking. The Vietnamese may not like talking about the war, but it seems that they do not mind earning a dollar out of it. Meanwhile, they are increasingly abandoning their own culture. Producer Neil Walker Repeated Sunday 5pm

Unknown: Jon Hassid

Unknown: John Walsh

Producer: Neil Walker

The last of six travellers' tales. On a tour of Vietnam, Jon Hassid finds the country's embrace of capitalism breathtaking. Repeated from Tuesday

Unknown: Jon Hassid

soldier.

But British Army recruitment policy is changing - a research team from RoyAl Holloway University finds that the Army, and the money it provides, has a profound effect on almost every aspect of village life.

Christopher Mahon is treated to hospitality and malice in equal measure as he searches for the relics of a lost fire-worshipping religion.

The fourth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales.

Dr Sarah O'Hara describes the rapid decline of Turkmenistan's vital irrigation system.

`For a country which is nearly all desert, Turkmenistan wastes an awful lot of water'.

Meanwhile, the country's president busies himself creating his own version of Versailles.

A search for wild camels becomes a hot-tempered affair for four Oxford graduates.

There are also nuclear tests, pickpockets and a stifling Chinese bureaucracy to contend with.

a soldiers throughout many wars.

But what impact has recruitment had in Nepal? An expedition into the Nepalese hills discovers that traditional village life is being affected.

The third of six programmes featuring travellers' tales.

Anthropologist Dr Jean Brown has been documenting the lives of the nomadic Pokot tribe of northern Kenya for 24 years.

On her last trip, she records a way of life which is about to die out.

The Pokot tribe has been shielded from modernisation and, during the last 24 years, anthropologist Dr Jean Brown has catalogued every aspect of their gory and sometimes brutal lives.

On her final trip, she talks with regret of how the Pokot are preparing to throw off their traditions and become just like other Kenyans.

The fourth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales.

Dr Sarah O'Hara describes the rapid decline of Turkmenistan's vital irrigation system.

`For a country which is nearly all desert, Turkmenistan wastes an awful lot of water'.

Meanwhile, the country's president busies himself creating his own version of Versailles.

A search for wild camels becomes a hot-tempered affair for four Oxford graduates.

There are also nuclear tests, pickpockets and a stifling Chinese bureaucracy to contend with.

is going all out to embrace western capitalism, in spite of its Communist government.

Jon Walsh and Jonathan Hassid find that in its race to adopt the new, Vietnam's own cultural heritage is being obliterated.

The Dong people are a minority in China, famous for their singing.

Marc Francis discovers that even lovers are selected according to their vocal abilities.

Ecologist Alayne Cotterill teams up with the Army to catch leopards in Zimbabwe as part of a wildlife management exercise.

A large part of the population of the Caribbean island of Montserrat fled when the volcano erupted.

For those that stayed, life has become increasingly difficult, especially for the homeless elderly.

A team from Plymouth University discovers how cutting down the Borneo rainforest can increase insect numbers.

is almost bankrupt because of the collapse of Communism and the rouble.

Can a team of ecologists and anthropologists from Cambridge offer any working solutions?

will soon suffer water shortages if the islanders continue to squander their resources.

Hydrologists from Imperial College, London, ponder how to solve the problem.

Husband and wife Alan and Yunna Robinson put their marriage under strain as they uncover a Mayan city in Mexico.

Paula Hardy searches for the Cave of Swimmers, deep in Libya's Sahara Desert.

Two young men follow Che Guevera's tyre tracks on a motorcycle journey through South America.

A remote Chinese village threatens to erupt into violence over a debt of yak butter.

finds three students unprepared for the rigours of Mongolia.

The concluding episode of the series of travellers' tales focuses on Madagascar.

The fifth of six programmes featuring travellers' tales.

Three Durham undergraduates set out on a mission to record the herbal cures practised by the Dayaks of Kalimantan before these remedies - and the rainforest - are lost for ever.