The Ra Expeditions (1972)

This film documents the Ra Expeditions, the famous voyages led by the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl to test whether ancient peoples could have crossed the Atlantic in boats built from papyrus reed. Sailing from the coast of Morocco toward the Americas, Heyerdahl and his international crew set out to show that the great early civilizations may have been linked by the open ocean long before the age of modern ships.

The first reed vessel, Ra, ran into trouble and had to be abandoned, but a second boat, Ra II, completed the crossing and carried the team to the Caribbean. It remains one of the boldest experimental archaeology adventures ever filmed, and a natural fit for any traveller drawn to the spirit of World Safari.