1 comments about Two Against the Sahara: On Camelback from Nouakchott to the Nile.

1. From Morocco in the West to Sudan in the East, Michael Asher and his diminutive and very forgiving new bride, set off to traverse the Sahara Desert the long way.

   For Asher, with experience of a campaigning life, this was hard enough, but you have to feel sorry for Marionetta Peru, who gave up her cushy UN job to embark on this madness.

   What we end up with is a unique view of Saharan culture. We see the differences between the peoples along the way, as the couple use one local guide after another to direct them from one water source to the next. We experience the differences between Berber, Arabic, Bedouin and Tuareg peoples.

   We experience people who are open and generous, and ones who are closed and mean. I particularly like the story of the guide who always grabbed for the largest piece of meat in the dish at dinner time. So Marionetta spent time scraping the largest bone clean of meat, and placed it strategically in the dish to tempt him. True to form he leaped on the large bone and emerged with nothing but gave the couple a good laugh!

   An excellen read for lovers of travel and adventure!

1 comments about Photographing on Safari: A Field Guide to Wildlife Photography in East Africa.

1. I am about to leave for Africa, so I needed some preparation. McDonald's book exactly served my needs. It is helpful, with both technical advice and inspiring photographs. He makes you believe that you will be successful. I later found referrals to this book in the nature photography usenet group; so it seems that others find the book helpful as well. Small enough to take along. Packing lists too.

4 comments about My Malawi Journal.

1. Bea Buckley's approaches her Peace Corps experience with trepidation and a kind of self-imposed ageism. Though no doubt well-intentioned, she worries and whines during her few months in Malawi concerned with toothpaste and clean underwear. Only once--this when she is waiting for a ride to the airport to go home after qutting--does she allow herself to see the beauty and possibilities of the country. Whether the Peace Corps failed her by not screening its candidates properly or whether Buckley failed herself hardly matters. Overwhelmed by depression and worries about physical illness, she cannot continue. Her family, for whom she claims this book is written, should never have allowed her to pubish it. The writing is atrocious, needs editing, and the product is not what it claims to be--about the poverty and hunger in a Third World country. It is about a woman who is so self-involved that she cannot see beyond her own minor discomfort (on a bus, with the food, outhouse, darkness, even Athlete's foot!) to allow herself the compassion necessary to identify with those more needy than she. As a reader older than Buckley, I resented her ageism. As a person who has frequently traveled to impoverished countries, I found her desperation (She brushed her teeth with perfumed soap, for heaven's sake!) pathetic.



2. This book badly needed editing once the inexplicable decision was made to publish it. Buckley does not give us a sense of the history of the country, the political situation, environmental problems or anything else connected to Malawi. Most of the text (laden with exclamation points tagging the most trivial observations) is concerned with the author's intestinal problems; thus the claim that the book is about Malawi is misleading and the title should have been "My Truncated Experiences with the Peace Corps in a Generic African Country." Truly a squandered opportunity.



3. If you are interested in the Peace Corps and/or Malawi, avoid this work. Filled with misspellings and completely lacking in content and depth, this book is a waste of time.



4. In a way, this book is a superb treatise on how to take a miserably short-sighted, self-centric stance in unfamiliar or potentially frightening circumstances. It is a book about how to cling to your native customs and standards of cleanliness; how to forget that you are but a temporary visitor, while the neighbors have no recourse but to endure their conditions for their foreseeable futures. The book describes in frequently minute and often awkwardly-worded detail how to, through a variety of doubtlessly well-intentioned but poorly considered methods, set one's self up for failure. This is a text on how to sweat the small stuff.
   
   I think all travelers have moments when they are appalled, uncertain, sick -- when they simply want to go home. Recalling a few pages from this book goes a long way, in my own moments, towards reminding me how juvenile, small, and unworthy those thought-patterns typically are. Page through this book in the library, if you ever get a chance, and take a moment to internalize a couple of the life lessons the author chose to ignore.

5 comments about Land of a Thousand Hills : My Life in Rwanda.

1. I always read everything I can get my hands on about Africa, having had the luxury of visiting Kenya & Tanzania a few years ago. Once you visit, you'll always want to return, even if it is only through the eyes of others. This book is at the top of my list, along with Mark Ross' "Dangerous Beauty." I commend Ann Howard Halsey for helping her aunt write this story about life in Rwanda. What a treasure! With all the material things Ms. Carr lost during the tragic events of the genocide (and all the people she loved who were killed by senseless murders), happily, Rosamond Halsey Carr's heroic story will last forever! This book reads "like butter!"--beautifully written, yet deep and provocative; never boring. I only wish I could have known Ms. Carr and seen the beauty of her adopted country that she saw for over 50 years!! (I would have a thousand questions to ask her, too.) What a horrific, under publicized period of history she lived through (and miraculously lived to tell the story). Most of the book is of the 40-50 years she spent in Rwanda which lead up to the events of the genocide--there are plenty of happy times, but it wasn't an easy life. I enjoyed Carr's stories about her friend Dian Fosse, too--she didn't romanticize the truth! The authors do a great job explaining the politics and culture of the country as well. Bravo! This book is worth the read!



2. Land of A Thousand Hills is an autobiography by Rosamond Halsey Carr. She lived in Rwanda from 1949 until her death in 2006. Originally the owner of a flower plantation, she went on at 82 to open an orphanage for children left parentless during the Hutu-Tutsi genocide.
   
   I had higher hopes for this book. Which isn't to say that Land of a Thousand Hills is a bad book. It isn't. It is certainly interesting biographically. Carr was a fascinating woman. The sheer strength of her decision to stay in Africa after the collapse of her marriage in order to run a flower plantation on her own is really impressive-- more so considering the time. At 82, I hope that I'm the kind of woman who will return to a war zone to start an orphanage. It was also fascinating to read her stories about Dian Fossey. Carr certainly knew some very interesting people.
   
   I suppose that I was mostly disappointed because I expected it to say more about Rwanda as a country. Given her obvious personal strength, I expected her to be a more unbiased observer. She clearly was not that, and to her credit I guess that she never pretended to be. I didn't feel as though I learned much about the politics of the time that she lived through. Worse, I didn't really feel that I trusted much of what I did learn.
   
   One exception to this is that so few people are willing to write about the Tutsi at all critically, following the genocide. Carr actually builds a hesitant case for the defense without excusing Huti excesses, something that probably took a fair amount of personal courage. That was interesting.
   
   The book is not terribly well written, although the prose is generally clean. They may have done better to have it co-written by someone with better credentials than being a relative of the primary author.
   
   If you have some time to spare, and are interested in the fading days of European empire in Africa, you may well find this a good use of time. But walk, don't run, to the book store.



3. I chose this book to learn more about Rwanda and it's history. I learned alot in addition to the account of the author's life there. Even though we hear negatives about many places- it was nice to see both sides for a change. I think the more we learn about other countries and their history a better understanding we will have of the people.
   
   I plan to do more reading in this area.



4. A fascinating read and historical insight into Rwanda and it's neighbours. Ros Carr's fortitude and life described in the book was truly inspiring. To start up an orphanage in one's 80's is amazing. If visiting Rwanda a visit to her loved home and orphanage 'Mugongo' makes this book come alive. Great to see her good work continuing since her passing.



5. I spent four years in Rwanda, at Mudende, less than 1/2 a mile down the road from where Roz Carr lived. My wife and I got to know her quite well. This book brought back a lot of memories. She was as good a hostess as she is a story teller. Her love of the country and its people truly come through in this book. She also paints a vivid picture of life there. I would recommend it to anyone who loves to read about winners and survivors.

No comments about The Rough Guide to Tunisia Map (Rough Guide Country/Region Map).

No comments about Brazzaville Charms: Magic and Rebellion in the Republic of Congo.

1 comments about Cairo Luxor Aswan, 2nd (Country & Regional Guides - Cadogan).

1. I could not have asked for a better companion when I traveled in Egypt this spring. Michael Haag is a real expert; his guide is packed with informed comments and fascinating insights. And the practical information is extremely helpful and accurate. I recommend this book very highly.

No comments about Healthy Travel: Africa (Healthy Travel).

No comments about How I Found Livingstone: Travels, Adventures and Discoveries in Central Africa.

No comments about Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope; forming the completion of her memoirs: Narrated by her physician. Volume 1.