Cruellest Journey, The

Directors: Geir Kreken & Fridtjov Konglevoll
Producers: Arild Mehn-Andersen & Fridtjov Konglevoll
Produced by: Amehn Production & Norsk Dokumentarfilm for TV2 Norway, YLE FST & DR
Duration: 50 min.
Year of Production: 2007
Original Title: Den Grusomste Reise

This documentary follows the Norwegian adventurer Helge Hjelland when he, as the first man ever, travels the entire 4,178 km of the Niger River. While the physical hardships are extraordinary, it is the psychological and humane challenges that cost the most.

This is a story of a remarkable and different type of adventurer – a guy who becomes motivated by nature's difficult and rough obstacles as well as by the heartwarming meetings with the local people. Through his camera we come along on a historic yet modern journey. In confrontation with the rough climate he soon realizes why no one has completed this journey before him. Exactly 200 years before Hjelland arrives in Guinea, the Scottish explorer Mungo Park died while trying to accomplish the same trip.