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John Hollenhorst ReportingImagine spending five months facing rugged mountains, roaring rapids, and blistering deserts. Sounds like Utah doesn't it?
But then you throw in man-eating crocodiles and vicious bandits, and you've got the adventure of a lifetime. That's the story of a man visiting Salt Lake today.
You know, the world is so fully explored these days, it's pretty hard to get credit for a "first." But an IMAX film playing here called "Mystery of the Nile" documents a spectacular first. We met the expedition leader, who's turned exploring into a career many people would envy.
It's the world's longest river, known far and wide, for thousands of years. And yet no one ever traveled the entire length of the Nile until this expedition for an IMAX film.
Expedition leader Pasquale Scaturro is visiting the Outdoor Retailers Winter Expo in Salt Lake. Companies represented here sponsor his expeditions to exotic places.
Pasquale Scaturro/Expedition Leader: "Most people think of the Nile as this big flat river in Egypt, with Cleopatra and Marc Anthony, and Baby Moses floating around on a reed raft. It's much more beautiful than people can imagine."
The trip took Scaturro through a variety of cultures and into places where ancient history is carved into the landscape.
Pasquale Scaturro/Expedition Leader: "Some people say that hidden in these stone churches is the Arc of the Covenant, the box that Indian Jones was after."
The splendid scenery presented major obstacles. Previous expeditions have been discouraged or cut short by heavy whitewater, which has claimed explorer's lives. Unlike rapids in Utah, if you go overboard on the Nile, you run the risk of being eaten. Also along the banks are bandits, with guns.
Expedition Member: "I ducked behind some rocks, trying to get any cover I could."
Pasquale Scaturro/ Expedition Leader: "I just like going to new places. I just don't like going back to the same place. And that drive, if anything, is getting stronger as I get older. It's almost a frantic look at a map every day to say, 'Where haven't I been? Where can I go?'"
People sometimes tell Scaturro they envy his adventurous career.
Pasquale Scaturro/ Expedition Leader: "I get really embarrassed when they say that. Anybody can live a great life if they put their mind to it."
The film started playing here earlier this month and will run at least through May. Scaturro already has another film due out soon featuring some very hairy precipices in the alps.
