Intrepid host Kate Humble follows the ancient incense trade routes of Arabia through the stunning modern world of the Middle East.
Kate’s 2,000-mile journey connecting the Arab world to the West for the first time takes her on a story-driven voyage of discovery, steeped in desert heat and full of character and adventure.
Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Kate begins her epic journey in the mountains of southern Oman. With her own supply of precious resin, she joins the Al Mahri tribe (descendants of the ancient traders) and their 300 camels on pristine trails through the scorching desert of the Empty Zone. Kate travels across Yemen to the world’s first skyscraper city, where her incense is used in blessing ceremonies for newborns.
Saudi Arabia. With unprecedented access, Kate enters the world of the nation’s richest man, encounters a remote hill tribe whose ancestors once guarded trade routes now live on the fringes of Saudi society, and explores a ship that once brought incense to Treasures of Saudi Arabia’s original shipwrecks. The clear waters of the Red Sea. Riding camels, gliders, and boats, she follows a 1,000-mile trail across the kingdom, exploring the modern state and its people.
Egypt. In this episode, Kate Humble follows the pharaoh’s incense path from Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea to Egypt. Kate traveled down the Nile and entered the Karnak Temple, the largest religious site in the world. She gazed at the once-beautiful mummy of the pharaoh’s queen, unveiled the pharaoh’s death ritual in the gigantic tomb of the Giza pyramids, huddled with thousands of ecstatic Christians, and performed a remarkable ceremony in the desert of Sinai Purified from evil spirits.
Jordan and Israel. In the latest installment, Kate Humble completes her extraordinary incense journey, from Oman to Jordan and on to Israel through seven countries. She uncovers the secrets behind Jordan’s ancient stone city of Petra, flies with an intrepid pilot across the Sinai desert to the holy city of Jerusalem, and discovers why a small piece of land is the most contested place on Earth. Kate completes her remarkable journey to Bethlehem following in the footsteps of three kings.
