Sixty years ago, on April 28, 1947, Norwegian biologist Thor Heyerdahl and five crew members embarked from Peru on their daring voyage to the Marquesas Islands, on a balsa wood raft which was built according to the traditions of South America’s pre-Columbian Indians. The Kon Tiki expedition, as it became known, was hailed as one of the most fantastic feats of daring and courage of its time. After 101 suspenseful days on the open sea, alone amid raging storms, whales, and countless sharks, Heyerdahl and his crew landed on the Polynesian island of Raroia.
Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, Heyerdahl had suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by the mythical hero Kon-Tiki. Heyerdahl knew that the trade winds and ocean currents off the South-American coastline bear in the direction of Polynesia. Ridiculed by the scientific establishment, who had concluded that a voyage by aboriginal balsa raft from Peru to Polynesia was impossible, he decided to prove the possibility of his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage. The expedition attracted worldwide interest. Heyerdahl’s book Kon Tiki was translated into 67 languages, and sold more than 20 million copies. Heyerdahl had been presented with a film camera before the journey began, and both the building of the raft and the voyage across the Pacific were filmed in detail. This fascinating black and white film was awarded an Oscar for the most outstanding documentary of 1951. The raft itself is now exhibited at the Kon Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway, where it is seen by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
Janson Media’s DVD Kon Tiki: The Collector’s Edition, is available from all major distributors for a suggested retail price of $24.95. “No one can deny that Kon Tiki is a fascinating film record of a marvelous adventure,” said Library Journal about the Janson DVD. “Filmed in black and white with a handheld camera on a pitching raft, it remains a classic and should be in any video collection.” In addition to the Academy Award winning documentary film, the DVD includes such extra features as “Thor Heyerdahl: Explorer & Scientist, a biography of the famous adventurer, a Photo Gallery, Expedition Map, as well as a reel of rare color footage of the expedition.