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Private Notes
Humanitarian rocker Bob Geldof begins a personal journey across Africa, travelling through the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Masailand.
Bob travels along the West African coast in a battered old Peugeot 504 with his driver Ossie. On his way through Ghana he visits the old British slave fort of Cape Coast, a real life 'Willy Wonka' cocoa plantation in Bisiasi where he's inaugurated a king and the Vatican City of Voodoo, Ouidha in Benin. He reflects on the horrors of past and present slavery to the crippling modern day trade restrictions placed upon African countries.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country badly in need of government, any government. Bob journeys north up the river Congo on a UN patrol boat reflecting on the political chaos that rips Africa apart perpetuates corruption and stifles hope. He visits the City of Kisangani, not to long ago a Hollywood haven for stars like Humphrey Bogart and Catherine Hepburn and investigates a rumour that here, AIDS began as a result of trials of Western medicine, today this rumour prevents people trusting modern cures for disease. He also talks to real life Harry and Harriette Potters in a Congaleese Hogwarts where he meets children who still believe that the supernatural is more powerful than medicine and science.
Bob leaves the silence and emptiness of the Sahara desert from an isolated settlement of sand covered buildings that are the town of Arouane. He travels 250 kilometres south to the legendry City of Timbuktu, the gate way to the desert, where he reflects on traditional and modern ways of education, largely believed to be a key to Africa's success. He then journeys by river to the cosmopolitan port of Mopti and on to the largest mud building in the world, a mosque, in Djenne. He finishes his journey on the spectacular Bandiagara escarpment in Dogon country, Mali, where he stumbles upon a modern day tribe of slaves trying to break free from their chains through learning.
Details of war crimes against children in Uganda, plus efforts to counter Aids.
Bob Geldof pays a return visit to the country that first triggered his indignation about widespread famine 20 years ago. Here he finds a different side to Ethiopia with its rich and diverse culture, including the ancient cathedrals of Lalibella and the medieval castles of Gondar.
