Holidays in the Danger Zone: Rivers

Reporter Ben Anderson explores life along some of the world's great rivers.

Read an interview with Ben Anderson

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Starting his journey in the Andes, Ben falls ill with altitude sickness at the source of the river, trains with elite police units, and joins a group of landless peasants who mount a midnight land takeover from rich farmers.

Tuesday, 21 February, 2006
2320 GMT on BBC Two

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The Ganges

In India, Ben visits the fast-melting glacier at the river's source and the holy city of Varanasi where the sheer volume of burials has turned the Ganges into a health hazard.

Further downriver he finds that tiger conservation is having some alarming effects on the local village populations.

Tuesday, 21 February, 2006
2350 GMT on BBC Two

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Euphrates

An official visit to the Attaturk Dam brings the arrival of secret service agents intent on stopping the team from filming.

Ben also joins British soldiers on exercise with the Iraqi navy and travels through the famous marshlands destroyed by Saddam Hussein.

Tuesday, 28 February, 2006
2320 GMT on BBC Two

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The Jordan

Ben meets devout Christians at the site of Jesus' baptism on the Jordan river.

He is also caught in a riot as Palestinians and Israelis fight over the new security wall that may separate Palestinian farmers from their land and water.

Tuesday, 28 February, 2006
2350 GMT on BBC Two

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Congo

Here he talks to passengers waiting on a ferry that has never left Kinshasa's port and soldiers extorting taxes from river traders under the nose of the UN.

Tuesday, 7 March, 2006
2320 GMT on BBC Two

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Producers: Marc Perkins, Ivan O'Mahoney, Francis Smith
Executive producer: Karen O'Connor