No comments about African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Natrualist.

No comments about Michelin Map No.745 Africa/NE Including Egypt & Arabia.

4 comments about Congo kitabu (A Fawcett Crest book).

1. If I had to pick the man who had the most interesting life on this planet, Jean-Pierre Hallet would be at the top of my list. As a field agent for the government of the Belgian Congo, he comes to help them grow crops and gets deeply involved in African society. The things he does are amazing-and it's all true.
   At different times he:
   lives amongst the field pygmies, (he wrote another book just about that)
   loses his hand in an explosion, then swims from crocodiles,
   kills a leopard with a knife,
   starts an animal hospital,
   witnesses a revolution,
   goes through the Masai manhood ritual, killing a charging lion with a spear.
   Those are just the highlights. A big man with a bushy beard and a mechanical hand , he was making the rounds of talk shows when I was a teen ager.



2. I had just seen Matrix Revolution, which seemed to me a mythical heroic saga, and, unable to sleep, searched my bookshelves for something to read. Little did I know as I began to read Congo Kitabu that I was entering a real-life heroic saga.

   Congo Kitabu is the story of Jean-Pierre Hallet's life in Africa between 1948 and 1960. To tell the details of those years would be to spoil a breath-taking story, so I will simply talk about Jean-Pierre.

   This is a man who takes his life as it comes, with humor and a kind of courage few of us know. He becomes part of all he experiences, he cares, he's a practical visionary who sees the possibilities in people and situations and creates ways to bring those possibilities about. He's also a pragmatic realist who never seems to sucuumb to sadness or despair, despite circumstances whcih would make that a great temptation, but deals directly with whatever he faces.

   His adventures, seeing the Africa of his day through his eyes, makes the book a great read. His heroics, both the everyday kind and the extraordinary kind, expand my understanding of what it is to be human.

   In an interview Mr. Hallet says he never courted danger for its own sake, but... "it's simply that I refuse to have anything to do with that negative feeling called fear." Conga Kitabu is a great read simply as a story, as the reader scrambles along with Hallet during his numerous and fascinating adventures. It's also the heroic tale of a man who rose above fear again and again as he followed his heart, his passion, his vision. As such it expands its reader into new territory, calling him or her to do likewise.




3. I first read Congo Kitabu in the 60's while in high school and was in awe of this true-life adventure. I nearly got to meet the author but couldn't get a ride to where he was speaking. This is one of those books everyone ought to read, because it is a page-turner, but also because it talks about a troubled area of the planet. This should be read with Out of America by Keith Richberg, a more current view of Africa. This is one of those books you'll never forget--it'll make a lasting impression and you'll want to read it again.



4. I had the pleasure of knowing Jean Pierre in his shop in Santa Monica in the 90s. I heard his stories about being captured by Zairean rebels, being rescued by Zairean troops, and some of the stories "behind" Congo Kitabu. This is one of the most amazing men that has ever lived. I read Congo Kitabu for the first time in the 80s, and Jean-Pierre's efforts to save the Efe Pygmies of the Ituri forest in his later life equals that of Congo Kitabu. This book is only part 1 of one of the most amazing lives of our century. There is more to his story, and that of the Efe Pygmies, that has yet to be told.
   
   This is one of the hidden gems of our time. It is a wonder that it has not been reprinted.

No comments about Insight Guides Egypt.

No comments about Egypt: Caught in Time (Caught in Time: Great Photographic Archives) (Caught in Time: Great Photographic Archives).

1 comments about On the Edge of the Primeval Forest - Experiences and Observations of a Doctor in Equatorial Africa.

1. Although a great admirer of Dr. Albert Schweitzer for some years, it is only now that the opportunity has presented itself to finally read and relish the doctor's own account of his beginnings and reasons for working in equatorial Africa.
   
   Schweitzer's reason(s) for giving up his position as professor in the University of Strasbourg, his prolific literary work, his ground-breaking work on Bach, (he was the world authority at the time) and his music... the doctor writes,
   
   "I had read about the physical miseries of the natives in the virgin forests; I had heard about them from missionaries, and the more I thought about it the stranger it seemed to me that we Europeans trouble ourselves so little about the great humanitarian task which offers itself to us in far-off lands." (P. 9)
   
   Dr. Schweitzer has a lot to say concerning the extensive damages wrought on the native African as a result of colonialism. We take their natural resources as if they were our own; we have given them our diseases; we have given them alcoholism and we push the Word of the Lord down their throats and some how justify this pillage & plunder as "civilizing the savages". Schweitzer, first and foremost, realized that the colonized natives are experiencing great suffering in terms of the many diseases that plague the continent, and felt that he, a white man, needed to take responsibility; therefore he chose to become a medical doctor at the age of thirty. Once attaining his qualifications, he set out with his wife to West Africa amongst the many protests from his contemporaries.
   
   This book was first published in 1922, but Schweitzer set sail for Africa in July 1913, to go on and establish his famous hospital in Lambarene, West Africa. The hardships in establishing a hospital in such primitive conditions to then begin treating the natives straight away with little or adequate medical supplies is almost unthinkable, but he forged on, building the hospital, treating horrific disease and dealing with the culture of the West African. He writes about the belief system of the native's (fetishist) and the affect of their conversion to Christianity.
   
   There is a chapter the doctor devotes entirely to the most prevalent tropical diseases he comes across most weeks and months. These descriptions are graphic, truly conveying the horror and utter suffering the patient experiences if left untreated.
   
   In Dr. Schweitzer's conclusion, he writes about something he calls "The Fellowship of those who bear the Mark of Pain." In distilled terms, anyone who has experienced great pain and has been treated to a successful outcome should realize the extent of pain and suffering of the native African. This empathy should awake the white man, and force them to help with the aid of modern medicine, the pain and suffering of the native African.
   
   Any medical student or doctor thinking about working in primitive conditions in any developing country, should certainly read this book. I believe it is inspiring in every sense of the word.

No comments about Travellers Seychelles (Travellers - Thomas Cook).

5 comments about No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Excape, A Perilous Climb.

1. I'm a big fan of WWII prisoner of war tales, both real (The Long Walk, Ghost Soldiers, et al) and fictional (King Rat, Bridge on the River Kwai, et al), so I was intrigued by this account by an Italian of how he and two companions escaped their POW camp, climbed Mt. Kenya, and then snuck back into camp several weeks later. Unfortunately, while their adventure was undoubtedly remarkable, it never really comes alive in Benuzzi's book. I suspect much of the problem for me is that I know nothing about mountaineering and don't particularly find it interesting. The other difficulty I had was with the flatness of the prose, whether this is due to a weak translation or to Benuzzi's writing in a foreign language I don't know, but in any event, I found it rather tepid. So while I think the whole idea of his adventure is wonderful and in rather brilliant dark humor, I didn't find the telling equally so.



2. This book is a welcome change from all the peak bagging, egoistical, mountain-conquering books out there. The author talks so poetically about the beauty of the mountain , that its hard to remain unaffected. Their mission is extremely pure and simple - to climb Mt. Kenya, although some people might say that it was an irresponsible thing to do in the middle of war .... The truth is that its a fantastic description of their whole adventure, with graphic descriptions of the jungle and how they made it with POW rations and home-made climbing gear. A true mountaineering classic !



3. I really enjoyed this book. It sounds almost whimsical that POWs would go to all this trouble and face considerable personal danger to escape, climb a mountain, and then go right back to the prison camp, but the way Benuzzi describes it, it makes a certain sense. The painstaking process of preparing for the trip - which included all the risks and difficulties of a "typical" prison break plus the demands of an Alpine climb - is told in a matter-of-fact, rather dry fashion. (On nominating the third man for the party: "He had never climbed a mountain in his life. The only reason why we decided to try him was because he was universally thought to be mad as a hatter, and mad people were what we needed.") Benuzzi's descriptions of the scenes on the way up the mountain are glorious, and of the return to camp are funny and quite touching. A very enjoyable pocket-adventure story that deserves to be better known.



4. I enjoy escape stories & the first half of this book was a typical WW2 escape story. The story has humour throughout & their task - to climb Mount Kenya - was quite an undertaking. What I liked best was the author's personality / humour & seeing things from an Italian and African perspective. His descriptions of the types of people in the prison camp are awesome. Day to day camp life is well described also.
   
   I think it took great guts to attempt what they did but to me the scariest parts were sleeping in the jungle with little or no shelter & no weapons. Who know's what type of beasts they may come across? I felt the second half of the book which describes more of the climb itself was more boring. When I got into this part I was mostly looking forward to finishing the book & getting onto something else. It is unique & I don't think in all the escape books I have read anyone has ever had their main intention be to escape back into their camp. That took a little bit of the interest away for me.
   
   It is a good story & I think the author would be a very interesting person to meet but the book was just middle of the road as far as true adventure stories I have read.



5. Felice Benuzzi wound up in a Second World War POW camp close to the foot of Mount Kenya, a mountain that is higher than the highest alp in Europe. Prison camps are boring; soon Benuzzi, who went on to become an ambassador in post-war Italy's diplomatic service, was dreaming of scaling the mountain he saw beyond the barbed wire of his confines.
   
   Eventually he did break out, and with the help of two fellow prisoners and rudimentary mountain climbing equipment they had made in the prison camp, he and a fellow prisoner ascended one of Mount Kenya's peaks, where they planted an Italian flag. A great story of adventure and humanity that loses a little of its lyricism in its translation into English. Great reading for all ages.

No comments about African Safari (Discovery Travel Adventures).

5 comments about Vagabonding in Europe and North Africa.

1. I was a kid living at home, read the book at Los Alamitos library in 1973, and got the vision to do Europe in this way. Went alone in June 74 for 3 1/2 months. The book is a philosophy and attitude that the people of Europe are the key--if you can open yourself up to them. I was adopted, in a way, by different people throughout Europe as I traveled (part of it was probably that they sorry for me--dumb kid who really didn't know what he was doing). But what I remember well 27 years later is those people. I would not have been inspired to do the trip if it wasn't for the book. I passed the book on to someone at work after my trip--and remember the gratitude of the guy I gave it to. The philosophy that is this book IS a gift!



2. Outdated and long out of print, this is still one of the best budget travel books ever written. Keruoac got me off my butt and out onto the great American highways and byways. Ed Buryn got me off my butt and into the wonders of Europe and North Africa. I sometimes forget how much I owe this book. Written at the height of hippie adventurism of the late sixties and early seventies, I read it as a young and rudderless kid of those times and, smitten with wanderlust, found myself just a few years later hiking through the back alleys of Lisbon, Paris, Marrakesh, and Athens. Buryn fired my spirit and imagination and today, as my adventure on the road continues, his book is a continuous inspiration. And by "outdated" I only mean that most of the references mentioned in the book are no longer valid. In spirit, the book is a timeless evocation of the human spirit to discover and rejoice in exotic new worlds. Where are you Ed Buryn? Time to get off your butt and revise your budget travel masterpiece!



3. This wonderful book reveals the secret of how to be a good traveler. "Vagabonding" is the right word. And you don't have to be a low-budget traveler to vagabond. It's a way of thinking, a way of looking and hearing, and a way of being.

   I read the book in 1972. Ed Buryn put my head in the right place to make my 9 month trip in Europe and North Africa, (of all places), an extremely enjoyable experience. I went alone but constantly met up with others who I traveled with for a day or months.

   Today I do a lot of business travel. But even though its nice restaurants and first class hotels there are still the hassles - long days on the road, not sleeping well, changes in schedule. It's times like those that I use the wisdom brought out in this book. It should be required reading for "Life 101".




4. I read this (at least some of it) in 1973 before traveling with a friend to Europe, Middle East, Far East. It gave me great comfort then that I (we) could do so cheaply and quickly.

   Now Ed's book is more of a history of 60s vagabonding than a practical guide for today's traveller, but fun reading and don't let that stop you from buying it and getting the Vagabonding Bug... Travel On!

   A wonderful read if you're going to Europe or New Jersey!




5. The title of this review is the eponymous opening quotation by Ed, who clearly found that combining roots and rootlessness were the central reason for joie de vivre. The sections on Ed meeting his relatives in Poland are priceless. Ed Buryn inspired, cajoled, wheedled and pushed, I would imagine, hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of couch-bound and comfortable middle class youth into the wilds of Western and Eastern Europe. I was one of them -- and did it as an active duty Naval officer. Buryn had been a hero of one of my itinerant college roommates at University of Florida -- you know, the guy who sleeps on the couch and who has no visible means of support...except for the couch -- and, as my roommate (livingroommate, that is) extolled his virtues, I grew more and more enchanted with Buryn, and more and more disenchanted with my roommate, who never actually went anywhere. I bought a copy of Buryn's book, read it, and vicariously lived it for SIX YEARS...until I finally went twice to Europe (once on Uncle Sam's dime to fight the cold war, once on my own), living Buryn-tilt-boogie and still retaining my civility (a Buryn hallmark, by the way, for those parents who find their children reading Ed: they'll be much better kids, later on). Go to Europe. Go with Ed.