There's a certain template for a travel documentary: take a famous person, have them go somewhere, and film them in a mixture of dramatic tourist spots and places that tell a story of conflict and woe. Paralympian Ade Adepitan's 'Africa' shows little variation from the formula, nor is Ade necessarily the most informed of guides. But he's always amiable, and having an African-born (but British-raised) man, journeying to places where most people live very hard lives while in a wheelchair himself, adds something to the usual mix and helps establish a connection between the presenter and the presented. The continent, of course, has plenty to show us, and while I've seen deeper travelogues, I enjoyed this one.
6 Reviews
Quality Travel Show!
technohode26 May 2020
Biased Programme
theresa_focus4 November 2019
At first I was very excited to watch this programme. I was born and grew up in Cape Town South Africa and having been living in the UK for 23 years now any connection to my home is a joy.
I am not blind to the history in South Africa or the poverty that affects so many... however I was very disappointed and even quite angry that Ade goes to Johannesburg and then says take me to where the white people live and the programme shows only mansions...
I can tell you that I did not grow up in a mansion and I know for a fact that there are many white families who are very poor, homeless and are struggling to survive just as there are black families.
I also know that there are many very successful and wealthy black people in SA as well as many wealthy white people. However those white people didn't steal anything to become wealthy .. they worked for their wealth as did the black people.
Another thing that wasn't mentioned was that since the government changed that black people do have an advantage when applying for jobs because the law states that there need to be a % of black people in employment with each company for this reason when a job is advertised it will say affirmative action which means that if a white person more qualified that a black person apply for the same job then the black person will get the job. This is 26 years on from when Mandela came into power and by now you would expect for there to be some sort of equality to remove the racial differences.
I think as a presenter Ade should have been less biased. Yes show the strengths of the black people after what they have been through but show it with factual information and not in a way that eludes to nothing having changed in SA since the government changed.
Because there have been changes - a big ongoing one is the idea that black people should steal farms back from white people and they do so by going onto people's farms and murdering the whole family and then taking over their farm that they have worked their lives to build up.
I believe that everyone's life is precious regardless of the colour of their skin.
I am not blind to the history in South Africa or the poverty that affects so many... however I was very disappointed and even quite angry that Ade goes to Johannesburg and then says take me to where the white people live and the programme shows only mansions...
I can tell you that I did not grow up in a mansion and I know for a fact that there are many white families who are very poor, homeless and are struggling to survive just as there are black families.
I also know that there are many very successful and wealthy black people in SA as well as many wealthy white people. However those white people didn't steal anything to become wealthy .. they worked for their wealth as did the black people.
Another thing that wasn't mentioned was that since the government changed that black people do have an advantage when applying for jobs because the law states that there need to be a % of black people in employment with each company for this reason when a job is advertised it will say affirmative action which means that if a white person more qualified that a black person apply for the same job then the black person will get the job. This is 26 years on from when Mandela came into power and by now you would expect for there to be some sort of equality to remove the racial differences.
I think as a presenter Ade should have been less biased. Yes show the strengths of the black people after what they have been through but show it with factual information and not in a way that eludes to nothing having changed in SA since the government changed.
Because there have been changes - a big ongoing one is the idea that black people should steal farms back from white people and they do so by going onto people's farms and murdering the whole family and then taking over their farm that they have worked their lives to build up.
I believe that everyone's life is precious regardless of the colour of their skin.
Inane
kdcrowley-2800324 January 2021
Ade, a perfectly nice chap, wanders around Africa making such inane comments as "it's really hot" and "my eyes are popping out of my head" and "it's so mad and weird and colorful." Ah well, at least he seems to be having a good time.
Nice guy, terrible bias
gr-820564 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Ade sees the scene in South Africa as Black vs white and seems to conclude that 2 and a half decades after apartheid that all white South Africans live in rich areas with massive fences (those who do have the protection due to the risk of being horribly murdered). Really he doesn't have a clue, even 25 years before his program it wasn't like this... and he doesn't seem to address the reverse victimisation, corrupt inept government, internal tribal competitions, or actual history (half of the country originally belonged to Hottentots, NOT black or white) either. Woefully few people are interviewed and it would leave anyone who hasn't been to South Africa with totally the wrong impression.
He's an amiable guy, but his simple view is dangerously inadequate.
He's an amiable guy, but his simple view is dangerously inadequate.
Too much of the presenter
nastasios30 June 2022
I will judge only the presenter and his positioning in the story-telling. Though he is sensitive, I think he is too intense for a documentary which needs to show, narrate and not show all the time the presenter. Maybe this is bad aesthetic work fo the cameramen, a bad aesthetic choice of the production. The result, as in many similar travel-documentaries is that the presenter takes much time at the expense of what his shows. We need to 'travel' and the presenter should assist, even be inside the frame, but not so much and not so intensely.
After the first episode I decided to watch the rest because I am very much interested in Africa, but I must say that I did it without any enthousiasm.
After the first episode I decided to watch the rest because I am very much interested in Africa, but I must say that I did it without any enthousiasm.
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