Journeys that Changed the World

In partnership with fellow filmmaker Garnet Mae, Peter is developing the pilot season for a travel documentary series called Journeys that Changed the World. Reminiscent of the Long Way series starring Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and the work of Anthony Bourdain, the pair follow explorers who ventured into the unknown, shining a light on distant countries and cultures, politics and the past.

So far three one hour episodes have been completed for the pilot season, each covering a separate journey. Peter and Garnet retraced Che Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries adventure through Latin America, Henry Morton Stanley across central Africa, and Marco Polo from Venice to Beijing. Scroll down for further details on each episode.

In addition to entertaining, the goal of the series is to share knowledge of the world and its inhabitants, built on the belief that replacing ignorance with connection is at the heart of ensuring protection for the environment and peace between its people.

Two more seasons of adventures have already been planned out, and once the covid pandemic lifts, Peter and Garnet will be retracing the likes of Christopher Columbus, William Herndon and Ibn Battuta, taking them to new continents and exposing them to new people and places.

Peter and Garnet started their series with Road to Revolution, retracing Che Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries journey across Latin America in the 1950s. The iconic revolutionary, Che achieved fame by capturing Cuba for Fidel Castro, and immortality with his assassination by CIA-assisted Bolivian soldiers in 1967, but it was this journey he completed as a final year medical student that opener his eyes to the plight of the Latin America people and sent him on his history-changing path.

Highlights of the journey include hitchhiking and stowing away in the lakes district to Chile, being escorted into the country by the army, crossing the world’s driest desert, dealing with prisoners and guards at the notorious San Pedro goal in La Paz, completing the four-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in one night, trying ayahausca in the Amazon, and visiting the final resting place of Che in Santa Clara, Cuba.

In Dance of Death, our hosts follow in the footsteps of Henry Morton Stanley’s journey from the late 1800s. Not just famous for uttering the words, ‘Dr Livingstone I presume’, Stanley was the first person to cross Central Africa down the Congo River, opening up the Dark
Continent to European exploitation. The ramifications of this journey are still felt in Africa today, resulting in this region being one of the most dangerous in the world despite also being one of the richest in terms of resources.

Highlights of the journey include the ancient trading hub of Zanzibar, the wildlife of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, war-torn Goma where the largest United Nations operation in history continues, the Gorillas of Virunga National Park, the inner-station from the Heart of Darkness Kisangani, and travelling on a barge down the Congo River.

The account of Marco Polo’s travels changed the way Europe viewed the world, and was even crucial in inspiring Christopher Columbus to attempt to travel to the Far East. The Venetian left his home in 1271 and travelled across the Middle East and into China to the court of Kublai Khan in modern-day Beijing.

Highlights of the journey include the iconic city of Venice, talking religion in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, entering Iraq and hearing of recent atrocities, experiencing the warmth of the Iranian people, meeting the resilient people of Central Asia, and crossing into western China to see first hand the oppression of the Uighur people.