As at the start of every episode, the guest has no advance knowledge of the place they will discover. For this new installment of Rendez-vous en terre inconnue, Tony Parker leaves the basketball courts to immerse himself with a people at the heart of southwestern Angola. Accompanied by Laury Thilleman, the champion encounters the Ovakuvale, a little-known semi-nomadic herding community that thrives on the edge of the world’s oldest desert.
Here, families live to the rhythm of the herds, the seasons, and the rains. They seek shelter in large circular enclosures protected by thorny barriers. In the center, a handful of low, round houses built with wood and earth compose a world that is at once simple and perfectly suited to this arid environment where the basketball player will spend several days.
A rainy season that remains elusive
When Tony Parker and Laury Thilleman arrive among the Ovakuvale, it is a particularly important moment of the year for the Ovakuvale. Indeed, the rainy season should mark the return of abundance after several months of transhumance.
But this year, the cycle is disrupted. The rains, sometimes torrential, are slow to arrive and the harvests are likewise delayed. Maize struggles to sprout, testing a community whose daily life depends on the climate, the land, and the herds.
As they spend time with them, the duo discovers the harshness of this way of life, but also the solidarity that binds the community. Ancestral traditions occupy a central place and accompany every facet of daily life. In this Angola in the midst of reconstruction, deeply marked by decades of civil war, Tony Parker and Laury Thilleman also observe the growing proximity of modernity, which offers some residents new possibilities for shaping their futures.
The episode ofRendez-vous en terre inconnue with Tony Parker is set to be broadcast on Tuesday, September 29 at 9:10 PM on France 2.
