Shooting in South Africa

Shooting this documentary was one of the most exciting parts of the adventure. It included the discovery of South Africa, a road trip with the unavoidable "slight problems" and some unforgettable encounters.

In total, we spent three weeks in South Africa - driving from Johannesburg, to Pretoria then down to the Eastern Cape, one of the most underdeveloped regions in the country with a 29% unemployment rate in 2009.

Source: www.places.co.za

Our first stop there was East London. We finally met up with Vukile Pokwana, a local journalist who had been helping us setting up the shoot whilst we were still in Europe. A busy man - he is very involved in the cultural life of the Eastern Cape - Vukile also has a lot of experience fixing for international broadcasters, including Sky and the BBC.

We drove with our new guide further north, first to King William's Town to arrange an interview with local government officials and then to Alice (near Fort Beaufort on the map), a small town near where our story was unfolding. This is where we met local harvesters, community spokespeople, middlemen and the German company's supplier.

After 3 days in the pampa, we headed south to Grahamstown, another town famous for its university. We visited its herbarium and met the academic who alerted the African Centre for Biosafety that pelargonium was being heavily harvested.

On our arrival in Johannesburg at the end of our trip, we were greeted by football supporters from all over the world. A perfect ending.