October 05, 2012 IT'S RICHARD ENGEL’S HIDDEN PLANET WEEK ON ROCKCENTERNBC.COM Raja Ampat: The Underwater Eden to Premiere on “Rock Center with Brian Williams” iPad App, then RockCenterNBC.com
		| Share

NEW YORK - October 5, 2012 – Next week, while "Rock Center with BrianWilliams" is pre-empted for the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday,October 11th, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent's Richard Engel's Hidden Planet returns for an entire week of riveting adventures. In an unexpecteddeparture from his usual beat of war-torn territories and areas of conflict,

Engel sets off on journeys of discovery to find the most awe-inspiring, rarely seen locations around the globe.

The Maasai tribe lives at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. They live off the land and are one of 120 tribes in the region. The Hadza tribe lives just 25 miles from where man's first footsteps were discovered. Researchers believe the Hadza have lived in the region for 15,000 years, maintaining a hunter gatherer existence.

Cheops' burial place turned out to be the biggest one in history. Engel
climbs through the hidden chambers and passageways of the ancient pyramid,
revealing secrets about the largest pyramid of the Giza Necropolis and the Pharaoh
it was constructed for.

###

On
Wednesday, Engel travels to Mali, on the edge of the Sahara desert, to discover
the city of Timbuktu.

###

ALL NEW --
On Thursday, Engel, goes to Jerusalem to visit the most consecrated and
contested religious landmark, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Built by
the mother of Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D., the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
commemorates both the Hill of Crucifixion and the Tomb of Christ’s Burial. The
church has historically been controlled by different denominations within the
Christian faith including: Catholics, Armenians, Greek Orthodox, Syrian
Orthodox, Coptic and Ethiopian, each claiming ownership to part. Muslim
families have held on tightly to the key that opens the main door since 1187
and have traditionally sat in the entrance itself. While the doors are now
open, the families still manage the church and mediate between the different
denominations that lay claim to this holiest of sites.

###

ALL NEW
-- On Friday, Engel, heads to a land that time forgot. Raja Ampat, the 4
main islands off the West Papuan mainland in Indonesia surrounded by 1,500
smaller islands spans 10 million acres of land and sea that explode with brilliant
green forests and vibrant blue waters. Known to many as an underwater Eden, Engel takes a dive into these waters that
have the most biodiversity on the planet.

###

David Corvo is the senior executive producer, Rome Hartman is the executive producer and Brian Williams is the anchor and managing editor of “Rock Center with Brian Williams” (Wednesdays at 9p/8c). Follow us at RockCenterNBC.com, facebook.com/rockcenterNBC and @rockcenterNBC.