Excess Baggage - 30/05/2009

Homo sapiens originated in Africa but about 70,000 years ago, a small group left the continent and became the rest of the globe's ancestors. With Alice Roberts, John McCarthy discusses how early man migrated round the globe, overcoming climatic and geographic obstacles, and how those early travels resulted in the different races. Surinam used to be known as Dutch Guyana and, despite being the smallest country in South America, is home to some of the most unspoiled rainforest in the world. Andrew Westoll used to study monkeys there and returned more recently to look at the country as a whole. He discovered a fascinating mix of peoples, cultures and environments and explains how the Surinamese hope ecotourism is the answer to protecting their forest.