Where did YOU go on your summer vacation? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, travel stories that make staying home look pretty good. From writer Tim Cahill's camping trip with cannibals, to Redmond O'Hanlon's journey to the swamp-forests of the Congo - a trip that literally turned his hair white. And the perennial lure of the exotic -- the spiritual hunger behind the Western fascination with primitive cultures.

SEGMENT 1

Tim Cahill is contributing editor to Outside Magazine, Rolling Stone and Sports Afield, and the author of five travel books including "Pass the Butterworms: Remote Journeys Oddly Rendered." He tells Jim Fleming about his visit with cannibals, and remembers the trip he made to investigate the death of a friend's son in the Amazon.

SEGMENT 2:

Redmond O'Hanlon tells Steve Paulson about his latest epic adventure -- to the swamp forests of the Congo in search of a dinosaur rumored to have survived in an ancient lake. O'Hanlon is the natural history editor of the Times Literary Supplement and the author of several travel books, including "No Mercy: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo."

SEGMENT 3:

Marianna Torgovnick tells Judith Strasser that Westerners' fascination with "primitive" cultures and their artifacts has deep historical roots and profound significance. Torgovnick teaches at Duke and is the author of "Primitive Passions: Men, Women, and the Quest for Ecstasy." Also, anthropologist Monique Borgerhoff Mulder tells Steve Paulson some stories from the field. Her new book is called "I've Been Gone Far Too Long: Field Trip Fiascoes and Expedition Disasters." It's a sequel to her earlier "I Should Have Stayed Home."

Distribution dates:

• week of 08/10/97 - hour 3
• week of 11/15/98 - hour 3