Going Nowhere Slowly is a South African travel television series created by David Moore and produced by Big Blue Productions which follows two a variety of characters who travel to locales throughout Southern Africa in an old car (usually a 70's Chevrolet Impala), documenting their adventures and the country at the same time.
The series premiered on SABC3 on Sunday 6 July 2003, originally airing on Sundays at 17h30. There are 140 half-hour episodes in seven seasons.
Synopsis
Reality hits the road in this offbeat and often amusing celebration of Africa's people, towns and scenic beauty as discovered and experienced by travelers roaming the roads less traveled.
What better way is there of seeing the land that we live in than just hopping into a car and driving out into the big, vast countryside?
That is exactly what a group of eclectic travelers do – jump into an old red car and tour the country, often finding little pieces of paradise along the way.
The journeys are fascinating and take the travelers through South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.
The first car used was a 1971 Chrysler 383 called "Big Red", which had to be sold to finance the fourth season. Since then the car has been "Chilli Pepper", a 1965 Chevrolet Impala.
The car radio is on, of course, with some of the region's hottest rock tunes providing the soundtrack.
Going Nowhere Slowly not only exposes the lesser known regions and towns - it takes leaps of faith on unknown roads, just to see what or who is on the other end.
Cape Town band Seven Day Story perform the title track to Going Nowhere Slowly.
A book for the second season, Red Car Diaries, was published in 2006. It was written by Ashley Dowds.
Hosts
A feature of Going Nowhere Slowly is the constantly revolving litany of hosts who come and go. Some of the featured hosts included:
Season 1
Anton Visser, Kurt Schoonraad, Vivienne Vermaak, Stuart Taylor
Season 2
Vivienne Vermaak, Stuart Taylor, Ashley Dowds
Season 3
Kurt Schoonraad, Stuart Taylor
Season 4
Vivienne Vermaak, Stuart Taylor, Fiona Coyne, Marc Lottering, Barry Hilton
Season 5
Ian Roberts, Vivienne Vermaak, Kaseran Pillay
Season 6
Ian Roberts, Vivienne Vermaak, Kaseran Pillay
Season 7
Ian Roberts, Vivienne Vermaak