Desertification is one of the major ecological catastrophes the world in facing right now. It is estimated that every year the amount of land that changes from a state that supports vegetation to desert is equal to the size of the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku combined.

On Monday, at 4 p.m., Nippon TV presents a special holiday travel program about the desertification phenomenon called "Kando Chikyu Daihoro (Wandering the Impressive Earth)." Ex-boxer Hidekazu Akai and actress Noriko Kato go to western Africa, along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.

In Mali, they visit the town of Djenne, which is called the Golden City because the women of a local tribe wear gold jewelry. The area used to be covered by trees, but many years ago the inhabitants mined the region for salt, which they traded for gold. Akai and Kato also travel with a nomadic tribe that still transports salt over increasingly long distances to sell to other tribes. They also visit an agricultural community that lives at the base of a cliff. This tribe needs a lot of water for its crops and members must climb up high to retrieve water from wells dug into the cliff side. They then bring it down in vessels that they balance on their heads. It is a very arduous procedure. Akai and Kato attempt it, but . . .