Three Travel Books: Marie Javins’s Picks

Travel Blog  •  Frank Bures  •  02.01.07 | 7:09 AM ET

Marie Javins is the author of Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik: One Woman’s Solo Misadventures Across Africa. World Hum reviews the book this week, and we asked Javins for three travel book recommendations. Here’s what she told us: 

imageFacing the Congo by Jeffrey Tayler.
Javins says: “At first, I thought Tayler was a madman. Why else attempt to recreate Stanley’s canoe trip down the Congo against a backdrop of encroaching civil war? But his descent from optimism into humility won me over. In a genre where so much is about rough-and-ready bragging rights, Tayler accepted that he was in over his head. In the words of Shackleton: ‘Better a live donkey than a dead lion.’ Engaging, dramatic, and honest.”

Botswana Time by Will Randall.
Javins says: “Attending a wedding in Cape Town morphed into teaching six-year-olds in northern Botswana, not to mention coaching the ‘Kasane Kudus’ soccer team, which sometimes lost its goal posts to foraging elephants. Skillfully written, disarmingly cheerful and so-very-funny.”

Swahili for the Broken Hearted: Cape Town to Cairo by Any Means Necessary by Peter Moore.
Javins says: “Six months before I arrived in Africa, Peter left Cape Town for his overland journey north to Cairo. Around the same time, Paul Theroux left Cairo for his journey south to Cape Town. Guess who got published first? I came in a distant third, but Peter was a serious runner-up. I’m not always sure what’s serious and what’s Australian humor in his hilarious book, but one thing is certain: His tale of s***ing his way up Kilimanjaro while sporting a pink fleece put me right off climbing the mountain. And for that, I thank him.”

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1 Comment for Three Travel Books: Marie Javins’s Picks

Cape Town 10.09.07 | 12:57 AM ET

Facing the Congo is a great book - it really inspires one to travel there.  If only it was safe!

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