62 Years Later, Janson Media Remembers 'Kon Tiki'

This week Janson Media remembers the daring voyage embarked on by Norwegian biologist Thor Heyerdahl some 62 years ago across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to the Marquesas Islands. Inspired by the mythical hero, Kon Tiki, Heyerdahl defiantly set out to duplicate a 4,300 nautical mile journey that the scientific establishment concluded impossible, and accomplished one of the most fantastic feats of his time. The suspenseful 101 day adventure was chronicled and released in the Academy Award-winning documentary, Kon Tiki. On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and his 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. After 101 suspenseful days on the open sea, alone amid raging storms, whales, and countless sharks, they landed on the Polynesian island of Raroia. Kon Tiki was produced by NRK Productions and is exclusively distributed by Janson Media to international Television, VOD, New Media, Non-Theatric, and DVD/Video markets. Heyerdahl"s book Kon-Tiki was translated into 67 languages, and sold more than 20 million copies. The raft is now exhibited at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway, where it is seen by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Thor Heyerdahl died on April 18, 2002.