Around The World In 80 Treasures (BBC2): WHEN he reached the word "soul", the lights went out. Dan Cruickshank was left in the dark in the king's burial chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid.

Spooky or what? He could've been excused for losing his head and starting to scream. As anyone who's been inside will know, this is not recommended for anyone with claustrophobia.

Cruickshank had an advantage over the ordinary tourist - he was alone (apart from the cameraman, of course). My trip inside the sole survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was made in the company of a party of large Americans. This made the climb, bent almost double due to the low ceiling of the staircase, uncomfortable to say the least. I hate to think what would have happened if the lights had gone out on us in this construction of two-and-a-half million blocks of stone, rising to 481ft.

There isn't much to see in the king's chamber, just an empty sarcophagus. Cruickshank was pointing out the two air shafts to the outside to allow the Pharaoh's soul to pass out when it went dark.

This leg of his journey, from Mali to Egypt, continued his fascinating journey. The joy isn't the guide himself, because he can be a bit irritating, but the stunning photography, combined with the mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar treasures he's unearthed. You get to see things you wouldn't see otherwise. In the Valley of the Queens, he went inside Queen Nefitari's tomb, which is closed to the public but not the BBC, to view "the most beautiful and best preserved wall paintings ever discovered in Egypt".

The fourth month of his treasure quest also found him in Mali in a city made of mud. Like the pyramids, under threat from Cairo's expanding suburbs and air pollution, this building tradition which is passed from father to son is in danger of disappearing.

The Djenne mosque is the largest mud building in the world. The Dogon rock paintings provide the backdrop for circumcision ceremonies. While the Government now discourages female circumcision, it's still performed on boys. Dogon masks, used in dances to communicate with their ancestors, were another treasure.

Also off the tourist track was Leptis Magna, one of the greatest Roman cities which "has haunted my imagination for decades". As it's in Libya, it's been impossible to see until recently. He visited the Berber village of Gasr Al-Hajj, where desert temperatures can reach 136 degrees Fahrenheit, before facing something much more fearsome - riding a camel. "They're brutish beasts in my experience," said Cruickshank, boarding one of these ships of the desert. Fortunately, the already-grumpy beast didn't hear him or it might have put his lights out by throwing him to the ground.

Published: 12/05/2005