Equator
Season 1
For most people the equator is just an imaginary line running 25,000-miles around the globe. But the countries along the equator are among the most troubled on the planet. In this new series Simon takes a journey around the region with the greatest natural biodiversity and perhaps the greatest concentration of human suffering: the equator. In Equator Simon meets illegal loggers, father and son circumcisers, drunk villagers, and a young woman stuck in the baking desert. Simon and the Equator film-crew are protected by soldiers in a coca field, and UN 'peace-enforcers' in a gold mine. They are blackmailed and abandoned by drivers in one country, and travel through another that has just 300 miles of paved roads - despite being the size of Western Europe. Simon is drenched while white-water rafting, surrounded by a million flamingos and swallowed by a tidal wave. After being warned about the deadly virus Ebola, Simon vomits blood and develops a temperature of nearly 40C. Diagnosed with malaria, he's saved by medicine derived from the Vietnamese sweet wormwood. One remote tribe takes Simon to their sacred monument, while a father from another tribe of former head-hunters decides to make Simon part of the family. After presenting his 'father' with a fine pair of trousers, Simon is blessed with blood, presented with a short sword, and adopted. Simon discovers a matrilineal society where daughters are called 'iron butterflies', mass graves in the jungle, and islands where protesting fisherman have killed giant tortoises. He helps an orphaned orangutan into a tree, swims with sea-lions, fishes for piranha, climbs the equivalent of half-way up Everest, and discovers the city thought to be most at risk from volcanic eruptions. Simon's trip takes him through the nation suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western hemisphere, and the African country that's endured the most violent conflict on the planet since the Second World War
Where to Watch Season 1
3 Episodes
- Africa
E1AfricaSimon Reeve's journey along the equator begins in Gabon, where he meets villagers who have been banned from hunting. They now perform traditional dances for tourists to earn a living. When it is time to continue, the team's drivers suddenly demand £1,000 per day to continue working. When the BBC crew refuse to pay, the whole team is abandoned in the rainforest. But Simon develops a temperature of 40C and starts vomiting blood. He is diagnosed with malaria and forced to rest before continuing along the path east. - Indonesia
E2IndonesiaSimon Reeve's journey along the equator across Asia begins off the coast of Sumatra, in the far west of Indonesia. A collection of perhaps 18,000 islands here are home to more than 220 million people. At night the islanders sing of lost loves and the lure of working on the mainland. - Latin America
E3Latin AmericaThe third and final programme in the series starts in the Galapagos Islands, where Simon goes swimming with sea-lions. The islands might look gorgeous, but Simon discovers there are concerns that the 100,000 tourists who visit each year are threatening the fragile ecosystem.
