The Viracocha expedition first reed boats built? Were ancient mariners able to cover large distances in reed rafts? Did ancient cultures utilize the ocean currents and winds as highways rather than barriers in search of new lands? Were the ancient navigators able to find their way across endless miles of ocean? These are questions the scientific world has debated for centuries. The expeditions of explorer/anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl captured the imagination of the world with the Kon-Tiki balsa log raft voyage on the Pacific in 1947, his Ra Expedition, a reed raft journey across the Atlantic in 1970 and his Tigris reed boat voyage
Kon-Tiki (2012 film) the ropes." Thor Heyerdahl, Jr., who worked with Watzinger, concurred in the criticism of the film's portrayal of Watzinger. Other minor alterations from Heyerdahl's book include the ship's parrot being eaten by a shark in the film (its real-life counterpart was simply washed overboard by a large wave). The film also shows the crew only getting access to valuable US military equipment once they have arrived in Peru and are building the raft, whereas Heyerdahl in fact arranged for the equipment at a visit to the Pentagon before traveling to Peru. The film premiered on 18 August 2012 at the