REMARKABLE JOURNEYS

• Genre: Adventure, Travel, History and Human Interest
   
• Location:  North India, Tibet (and wherever the other programmes
  take us)
   
• Delivery:  2010 for series, but Programme one can be delivered in 2008
   
• Length: a six-part series with a pilot programme of 40 minutes
   
• Title: Remarkable Journeys
   
• Other partners: Five Stripes Limited
   

Pilot - Looking For Tashi

Thirty years ago, Mila Swart together with her 12 year old daughter and her (then) husband Hans set off an amazing trek in the Ladakh and Zanskar regions of Northern India. The trip, led by Tashi, a young Tibetan (his first time as a guide) and his 10 horses, began and ended in Manali where the family was living. The route was via Keylong (3000 metres), a town that had just been opened up to Westerners, up to Sarchu (4,200 metres) and on to Leh via the Gya Gorge. The family then traveled on to the Lamayuru Temple where the Dalai Llama just happened to be visiting, and then trekked home following the Tsarap and Kurgiakh rivers. All in all, the trip took nearly three months.

At that time Hans Swart was a well-known photographer who captured the whole journey on his new 8mm film camera. Unfortunately when Hans watched the rushes, he believed he had over-exposed the film and therefore never finished watching or editing the footage. The tapes lay hidden in a suitcase until last year, when Hans was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The tapes were digitized, washed and copied to DVD and Hans was able to watch, for the very first time, the rushes of the film he had taken 30 years Previously - this event occurred a few weeks before Hans died.

In July of this year, Mila (now 63 years old) and her daughter Miloes (now 42 years old), together with her 13 year old son Milo traveled back to Manali. The goal: to find the house where they stayed, and the original horseman Tashi and make a short trip up to the Lachalung La Pass (5,400 metres) to tie and dedicate a prayer flag to Hans. This trip was recorded on HDV, together with interviews, re-visiting the old house and its inhabitants and the amazing discovery of Tashi.

Programme (One)

Next year, Mila, Tashi and horses, together with a small film crew will return to Ladakh to film the original trek all over again. By cutting from the old (historical) footage to the new, the audience will experience all the changes - positive and negative - that have occurred over the last 30 years in this beautiful, mystical, faraway location.

However the  documentary film will be more than a travelogue; it will be homage to the romance, power and inexplicable consequences of love; love of a man, love of a culture, love of an environment, love of a people and a love of adventure, spirituality and exploration.

Series - Programmes Two to Six

The story of 5 more extraordinary women, aged between 60 and 75 years old, who all undertook original, memorable (adventure) journeys during the 1970's.

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