Product Details

• Actors: Benedict Allen, Mireya Mayor, Pasquale Scaturro, Kevin Sites, Julius
• Directors: History
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Closed-captioned
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E HOME VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009
• Run Time: 376 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001V9K87Y
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,644 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Expedition: Africa" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mark Burnett, I presume? The executive producer of Survivor puts his inimitable stamp on this compelling History Channel series that follows four explorers as they endeavor to re-create one of history's greatest adventures, journalist Henry Morton Stanley's 1871 trek into Africa to find missing explorer David Livingstone. Using only a compass and basic maps, navigator Pasquale, survivalist Benedict, journalist Kevin, and wildlife expert Mireya embark on their 970-mile odyssey through jungles and swamps, over mountains (that Stanley had the good sense to go around), across deserts, and along wild rivers. They face killer snakes and ferocious crocs and harsh, brutal conditions. As Mireya states at one point, "You plan and plan and plan and Africa happens." Expedition: Africa is not a contest, but the quartet has a self-imposed a deadline of completing in 30 days what took Stanley nine months. This would be reality enough for anyone, but as with Burnett's Survivor and The Apprentice, the real drama is in the personality clashes that are heightened in interview segments. Pasquale, who has led expeditions up Everest, takes charge of the group and sets a punishing pace. Where Mireya is apt to stop to impart fascinating facts about the flora and fauna, Pasquale is more "Pick the frickin' flower … and let's talk about it down in the bottom." The resourceful Benedict, an "I don't take orders well" type, also clashes with Pasquale. The challenge at the heart of the series is for the individuals to come together as a team. Armchair Indiana Joneses and vicarious travelers will find themselves enthralled by Africa's magnificent landscapes. This series could also inspire a drinking game: raise your glass each time someone says "twende" (which means "let's go") or "expedition," as in "we have to take control of the expedition as expeditionists." Bonus feature segments about the making of the series, Stanley's original expedition, the native Masai, Africa's dangers, and survival strategies further immerse viewers in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Mireya opens the door for a sequel when she says at journey's end that she hopes there will be other expeditions. "Twende." --Donald Liebenson

Stills from Expedition: Africa (Click for larger image)

Product Description

EXPEDITION:AFRICA - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Survivor meets the Blair Witch Project, January 24, 2011

By 

Mark W Thomas (Jeffersontown, KY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Expedition: Africa (DVD)

The Expedition stops every few minutes so that the team can share there feelings/complaints/ fears. After awhile it gets very tiring (perhaps like a real expedition) - but like the Blair Witch Project you find yourself cheering for something to (please) come out of the darkness. The hiking had to be arduous and dangerous - but all of the second guessing and bickering makes for miserable viewing. You wonder if the director scripted some of the drama - or simply encouraged the team to talk about it every five minutes. However, for the excellent footage of the African scenery the dvd set is worth three stars.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Grotesquely hilarious, April 13, 2011

By 

Richard Vidaurri - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Expedition: Africa (DVD)

Retracing the steps of H.M. Stanley in his historic 1871 expedition to find Doctor David Livingstone is a notion so rich in possibilities that it's only fair to be amazed at how badly the execution was botched. But botched it was and it starts with the cast of explorers:

The Good: This is Benedict Allen, writer, filmmaker, and "survivalist." Dependable, affable, steady, Allen is the sort of man that once kept the sun from setting on the British Empire.

The Bad: Well, not bad, really, just inexperienced. Kevin Sites is a journalist and the type of hopelessly middle-class American who wants to hug everyone in sight. He sees his task on the expedition as (paraphrasing) "...bringing together different people and cultures..." Sites takes upon himself the duties of union steward to the expedition's African porters. They seem amused by this.

The Ugly: The expedition's incompetent navigator, Pascuale Scatturo is physically repulsive, intellectually retarded, and personally reprehensible. And he will not, not for one moment, shut his mouth. The producers, one can only guess in an attempt at cleverness, failed to name a leader for the expedition, instead throwing together four people who met only the day before they set out from Zanzibar. Not surprisingly, the loud-mouthed Pascuale, much to the others' horror, takes on the lead role for himself. "I've lead hundreds of expeditions..." he boasts to the camera, oblivious to the fact that such a feat would have required him to lead 2 1/2 expeditions every year since he was two. I found myself waiting for the punch line, the denouement, the moment when the lion leaps out of the bush and devours Pascuale; but no such luck is to be had.

The Wild Life Expert: Mireya Mayor. If you're going to go to the bother of having a woman on a strenuous journey in the wilds it at least helps to have one that looks like a Miami Dolphins cheerleader (her previous occupation). Ms. Mayor comes off as cute, sweet, and inept, but this is due only to poor editing. The viewer should see much more of Mayor describing the animal kingdom and its habitat - it is, after all, Africa. But no, we are instead subjected to endless footage of the explorers trudging, trudging some more, then squabbling, then squabbling endlessly.

As for historical accuracy: One or another of the intrepid voyagers is continually, and plaintively, repeating that they have 900+ miles to cover in only 30 days, before the rainy season sets in. Wait a minute, that's 30 miles per day... with a baggage train... in that terrain? What did I miss? What I missed, probably while getting popcorn, was a single shot, about half way through the film, of the tail end of a Subaru Outback and the briefest of voice-overs admitting that the expedition had opted to take motor transport around the nowadays more populated portions of Stanley's route. The same Outback makes a final appearance at journey's end, Ujiji, on the east shore of Lake Tanganyika, where our heroes hug each other and any bemused African within reach, climb in, and drive into the sunset.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a let down!, June 16, 2011

By 

P. Wilson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Expedition: Africa (DVD)

I really thought this would be a great true life adventure program/show, instead it was a long, 30 day hiking trip with the participants doing not much but arguing the whole darn time. It was like a bad reality T.V. show in my opinion and I was ready to see somebody get voted out! There was little about the guides mentioned too and it seemed they were just after thoughts when all said and done during the whole expedition. There was not much in the way of history mentoned along the trip either as I would expect and would have liked. I found it odd too that boats and donkeys were always just available when they were needed in the middle of knowhere. It was a real bad idea adding the part each time the four explorers jumped into a Subaru (sponsor I guess?) that had well panned camera shots of the vehicle before they drove off and around populated areas. May as well had Subaru stickers on their foreheads the whole trip and by the way, what happened to the others in the expedition? Did they get into a cattle truck for their ride or did they get a Subaru too! They just seemed to arrived somehow at the other destination. It also seemed like it was an after thought as well to include the guides and poreters in the celibration at the end of the trip at Ujiji. I would think that Bombay, Sir Richard Burton and Speke's explorer African guide, must have received more kind attenton. Expedition Africa could have been a great program but fell terribly short in my opinion. Bummer!!!