Thor Heyerdahl built this 45 foot long copy of an ancient Egyptian papyrus vessel in 1969, with the aid of members of the Burundi tribe from Chad in Central Africa. Constructed at the foot of the Pyramids and named after the sun god Ra, it was later transported to Safi in Morocco, from where it set sail for Barbados. After c. 3000 miles there were problems with the construction of the stern, which could not take the strain. Just a short distance from Barbados the ship had to be abandoned. Ten months later four Aymara Indians from Bolivia, who still mastered the traditional art of building reed boats, built Ra II. This boat went on to complete a successful transatlantic crossing, covering the 4000 miles to Barbados in just 57 days. The voyages with Ra I and II proved that it had been possible with transatlantic contacts between the old civilisations and the Americas.Photo Ra II