The Recommended Reading?
A Route and Planning Guide
Chris Scott
"A good chunky guide that gets right to the heart of desert travel."
Michael Palin
and earn us pennies :)
Haynes Manuals
The bible.
and earn us pennies :)
Land Rover's Manual for Africa (Bradt Travel Guide)
Land Rover's Manual for Africa is designed to equip Land Rover users with the practical know-how it takes to make the most of the vehicle's capacity for hard work in hostile conditions.
and earn us pennies :)
4x4/Motorbike/Bicycle/Truck (Bradt Travel Guide)
Sian Pritchard-Jones & Bob Gibbons
'Be vigilant when driving through Africa: camels are careless when crossing the road and women carrying waterpots are little more watchful' warn the authors of this fifth edition of Africa Overland. They also give updated information on each country's political and security situation (Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia are on the up; since this guide's last edition, security in Western Sudan and Eastern Chad has turned sour); provide an expanded Route Outlines section including information on border crossings; and offer revised recommendations on vehicles including practical coverage on buying a vehicle, maintenance and driving.
and earn us pennies :)
Africa
I’m usually quite against travelling with a Lonely Planet, I prefer being able to discover things locally by meeting people who put me in the right direction. But it is great reference for all towns and countries we’re crossing. Will be handy in the front of the LR.
and earn us pennies :)
East & southern Africa for walkers and overland travellers.
Although our edition is very out of date, it describes some of the most fascinating places to do some great hiking expeditions up the East Coast of Africa.
and earn us pennies :)
Your complete guide to cooking
Viv Moon
A present from Mom during her visit to us while we were touring Australia in our VW Kombi. Will be put to good use with our camp oven.
Not available through Amazon
Maps #741 / #745 / #746
Michelin Maps although categorically out of date do show the best detail of possible routes and handily show various tracks that according to other sources don’t exist or never existed. Not to be taken for granted, but great detail for planning a trip at home.
and earn us pennies :)
The authorised biography
Anthony Sampson
Sampson set himself the task of penetrating the myth, of writing of the man and not the icon. He succeeds and produces a lucid, often moving and always readable book.
and earn us pennies :)
One woman’s story
Wangari Maathai
`As this inspiring memoir shows Maathai's work is about a lot more than getting women to plant trees ... The more difficulties Maathai faced, the more determined she became ... Her book wonderfully demonstrates that you don't need to be in a position of power to start doing something about your environment
and earn us pennies :)
A story of greed, terror, and heroism in colonial Africa
Adam Hochschild
Brilliant research reveals how King Leopold II of Belgium colonised,and run the Congo from the late 1800s and the legacy he’s left throughout the region.
and earn us pennies :)
A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart.
Tim Butcher
Another gift, Story of a journalist who stuffs $2000 in boots and goes to unravel the mysteries of the heart of the Congo.
and earn us pennies :)
A History of Fifty Years of Independence
Martin Meredith
A series of often vivid country snapshots . . . Meredith is a sure guide to this colossal, sad story.
and earn us pennies :)
Altered States, Ordinary Miracle
Richard Dowden
'A remarkable, ground-breaking achievement, capturing the complex texture of a rapidly changing continent. It is also terribly moving'
and earn us pennies :)
How the World Used and Abused a Small African Nation
Michela Wrong
'If you thought Eritrea was some exotic flower you heard mentioned on a gardening programme this book will tell you something different. It tells the tale of a small group of Africans so despised and trampled by successive foreign occupations that they fought back and after 30 years of war, they became a nation. It is an astounding story packed with tales of the worst - and the best - of human behaviour. Wrong has given us another essential contribution to the post-colonial scramble for Africa. She has written the biography of a nation and more - she has excavated the very heart and soul of the Eritrean people and their country'
and earn us pennies :)
Dave Eggers
What is the What is the result of a collaboration between Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee, and the writer Dave Eggers. Part autobiography and part fiction it tells the story of Achak Deng's escape from war torn Sudan, via Ethiopia and Kenya to the USA. .
and earn us pennies :)
Memoirs of a boy soldier
Ishmael Beah
"A breathtaking and unselfpitying account of how a gentle spirit survives a childhood from which all innocence has suddenly been sucked out. It's a truly riveting memoir.” Time Magazine.
and earn us pennies :)
The story of the people’s gun
Michael Hodges
Provides a compelling account of how General Kalashnikov’s AK47 became an icon that ranks alongside Coca-Cola as one of the most recognisable brands in the world. It’s at the centre of many conflicts in Africa.
and earn us pennies :)
Snapshots from a Hidden War
Greg Marinovich & Joao Silva
Four white South African photographers (Marinovich, Silva, Kevin Carter and Greg Oosterbroek) decide to chronicle the years of violence ostensibly "black on black" violence but actually apartheid-sanctioned violence aimed at destabilising the ANC that marked the time from Nelson Mandela's release from prison to the first non-racial elections in their land.
and earn us pennies :)
Coffee, the Driving Force in History
Stewart Lee Allen
This comprehensive work provides an account of caffeine's impact on humankind. Beginning in Ethiopia, the author sails along the same route that carried the first beans to Yemen 1500 years ago, and literally travels the world in his mission to prove that coffee is the driving force in history.
and earn us pennies :)
The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika
Giles Foden
At the height of WWI, as armies of thousands fought with each other on European soil, a much more unusual battle was waged in eastern Africa, where Belgian and German colonial territories were separated by the second largest body of water on the continent, Lake Tanganyika. An English big-game hunter living in the region came up with a plan to take out the German warships that patrolled the lake, and command of the mission was given to Geoffrey Spicer-Samson, a career officer whose boorish incompetence had earned him the dubious distinction of being the oldest lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy.
and earn us pennies :)
14,000 Kilometres in the Footsteps of Mankind: From the Cape of Good Hope to Jerusalem
Alexandre & Sonia Poussin
In French: The story of a couple who walk from Cape Town to Jerusalem over three years.
Present from Dad!
and earn us pennies :)
Cape Town to Cairo by any means possible
Peter Moore
Moore takes us on his strange and exhausting trip through Africa. As he travels he comments humorously, if somewhat dryly, on the places he encounters and people he meets.
and earn us pennies :)
Gonçalo Cadilhe
In Portuguese: A journal of one man’s adventure from Cape Town to Europe via the Western route without his own transport.
(Another gift from Dad)
Not available through Amazon
An African Childhood
Alexandra Fuller
Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight is a wonderfully evocative memoir of Alexandra Fuller’s African childhood. Fuller regards herself "as a daughter of Africa", who spent her early life on farms in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia throughout the turbulent 1970s and 80s, as her parents "fought to keep one country in Africa white-run", but "lost twice" in Kenya and Zimbabwe. This is a profoundly personal story about growing up with a pair of funny, tough, white African settlers, and living with their "sometimes breathlessly illogical decisions", as they move from war-torn Zimbabwe to disease and malnutrition in Malawi, and finally the "beautiful and fertile" land of Zambia.
and earn us pennies :)
