1 comments about In Ethiopia With a Mule.

1. Dervla Murphy has to be one of the gutsiest travel writers around. Her exploits in this book include slipping down precipitous slopes and dangerously narrow paths dragging an unwilling loaded mule behind her, sleeping in flea and rat infested hovels, being robbed by armed brigands etc etc. Armchair travellers will just love it!

No comments about African Wildlife.

1 comments about Living in Morocco (Living In . . .).

1. The wonderful pictures brought back great memories of Morocco. Great price, great transaction, quick shipping

1 comments about Born for Adventure.

1. If you are searching for adventure, whether you are a teenager or an adult, this is surely a tale to keep you glued to your seat. Based on the true story of Henry Morton Stanley (of Stanley & Livingstone) and of one of his expeditions to Africa, you will find one action packed scene after another. The heat of the jungle will have you sweating, the tropical flora and fauna will mesmerize you, the mysteries of the tribal Pygmies will intrique you, and the snakes, the insects, the beating drums and ceremonial dances and blood brother rites will have you totally transported as if you too were treking through the Congo in search of adventure. Some of this is rather gruesome, not for the squeamish or very young teen. The author depicts this adventure true to life and did not allow for telling it other than as it actually was. It was harsh, it was hard, it was hot, and death defying. Our young hero of the story, a bright and anxious English lad searching for a way to avoid a boring dismal life like that of his father, connives his way on board ship with Stanley and sails off to Africa born for what he thinks is going to be a piece-of-cake walk through the jungle to rescue a British Royal. Little does he know of the dangers that lie ahead, and that his brief jaunt to Africa will see years off of his life and of harsh realities of a land filled with both wonders and peril. None of which he can scarely imagine. The book is filled with great characters; shipmates, explorers, soldiers, doctors, and a variety of colorful African tribesmen both good and bad. All of which our hero encounters with both love and disdain as he becomes jack-of-all-trades under the servitude of Stanley. One finds a little bit of everything you need in a good novel all wrapped up in this one great story of adventure and as usual, the author delivers a top-notch yarn. Also a great story by this author is Exiled, a fabulous story told through the eyes of a camel.

No comments about Ibn Battuta (Makers of Islamic Civilization).

No comments about AA Essential Spiral Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (AA Essential Spiral Guides).

No comments about In Africa - Hunting Adventures In Big Game Country (1910).

2 comments about Hunting the Elephant in Africa (Peter Capstick Library Series).

1. Like all of Stigand's books, this is good value. He obviously knew and understood the African well. From a hunters point of view, he also knew his stuff. Not big on bravado, Stigand will keep you involved from cover to cover. The only think I found lacking was that he doesn't go into any detail about his hunting rifles.



2. Stigand's book is one of the best and certainly one of the most intelligent and insightful books ever written about Africa and Africans. He was a careful and interested observer of game, human beings and nature in general. His chapters on the African, although politically incorrect by present day standards, are nevertheless accurate descriptions of people with no experience with the white man's ways and technologies.
   
   His observations on insects are nothing less than brilliant. He is quite familiar with Darwin's theory of natural selection but, from his own observations, has problems with it. He recognizes that many insects--some of which birds eat--are by no means cryptically colored. How, he asks, can this be true if natural selective factors are paramount? If I could speak to him, I would tell him that natural selection is important but it is certainly not the only force pushing evolution.
   
   Stigand, in fact, writes and thinks like a completely modern man. His insights and descriptions of hunting are wonderful but recognize, as a big game hunter myself, that Stigand's most important contribution is his general intelligence. He died like he lived and, quite amazingly, he predicts his own manner of death in the book. I'll paraphrase, "In punitive expeditions against rebellious Africans, they flee 99 out of 100 times. The one hundredth time is entirely otherwise. There's a rush in the bush, the flash of spears, and a small column is wiped out." Thus it was that Stigand died in a punitive expedition against the Dinka in the Sudan. Stigand was separated some yards from the column when it was struck by 1,000 armed Dinka tribesmen. Stigand died with a lance through his chest but not before he left 12 empty cartidge cases on the ground and...Stigand was one of the best shots in Africa."
   
   Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico

No comments about The Lost Wilderness: Tales of East Africa.

No comments about South Africa in Contemporary Times.