Reviews (6)

Rolling down [and under] the river
Pilots say that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.The same might be said of "wilderness adventure".Peter Stark walked away from a trip down an untraversed African river, but it was a close thing.Dumped in the river, beset by crocodiles, hippos, a black mamba and a dodgy stomach, Stark lived to relate his tale.He tells it well, with all the passion of a survivor.A map and photographs, and even a bibliography provide visual accents to the narrative.With no small research flavouring the account, the story is an exciting read.
A fine blend of history and modern adventure
Peter Stark was invited to join a small expedition kayaking the Lugenda River in Mozambique: a river no white man had ever kayaked, still largely unmapped and wild. At The Mercy Of The River: An Exploration Of The Last African Wilderness tells of his adventure down the river, providing high adventure for armchair travelers with 'you are there' action. From croc-infested waters to reflections on great explorers who also explored the region, At The Mercy Of The River will have you on the edge of your seat, sharing fellow explorers' journeys in a fine blend of history and modern adventure.
At the Mercy of the River : An Exploration of the Last African Wilderness
book in excellent condition ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Description And Travel    3. Discovery And Exploration (General)    4. General    5. Lugenda River (Mozambique)    6. Lugenda River Region    7. Lugenda River Region (Mozambiq    8. Lugenda River Region (Mozambique)    9. Mozambique    10. Special Interest - Adventure    11. Travel    12. Travel - Foreign    13. Wilderness areas    14. Travel / Adventure   

Reviews (1)

Practical and informative
The book contains a good overview of the history of Mozambique as well as useful hints for tourists in relation to money, customs, wildlife, etc. The provence by provence guide was very good. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Mozambique    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Africa   

Reviews (9)

Naipaul's glance at post-Colonial Africa
Shiva Naipaul's _North of South: An African Journey_ is the most cynical book I've ever read.It is a travelogue of the author's visit to three postcolonial African countries in the 1970s: Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.Naipaul is a Hindu, born in Trinidad, and he pays attention to the role (and plight) of South Asians (Hindus, Pakistanis, Sikhs, Parsees, etc) in East Africa.He also focuses on the black-white relations in Africa as well.Naipaul gives Africa and everyone involved in its affairs (whites, blacks and Asians) no credit whatsoever.Declining European colonial powers gave their African colonies political independence in the 1960s and a variety of demagogues like and Julius Nyerre in Tanzania who took power spouting third world varieties of socialism and Marxism.Despite claims of social and economic progress, Africa remains as backward as ever. Naipaul freely writes of his disgust with the countries and its deceived leadership from the first page of the book until the last.This book, like another reviewer noted below, certainly is not going to make it into a black studies program anytime soon.It is a relief from portraits of Africa that classify it as a tropical paradise, a land of innocents exploited by evil Europeans, or conversely an AIDS infested human disaster.Naipaul's cynicism shows Africa the way it really is-struggling, corrupt, deceived, but at the same time Afroca is chugging along optimistically in some areas, with idealism and occasional realism, and attempting to do as well as it can to develop itself.No dry textbook prose here; the book is short, easy to read, engaging and very well written.

Sadly neglected and misunderstood masterpiece
This is a wonderfully written book; Naipaul's proses flows effortlessly across the page, the connexion between thought and word is seemless.The comparatively small body of work Naipaul produced before his tragic early death has been neglected in favour of that of his less talented, but longer lived, brother (a Nobel Prizewinner).However in this one work, Naipaul's prosody surpasses anything produced either by his brother, or by other twentieth century travel writers like Thoreau.That said, some of the other reviews here are ludicrously jaundiced and do a disservice to the book itself.This is no crude work of 'anti-pc' nonsense (an American political term that the archly European Naipaul would have shuddered at).The prose is not illiberal (in the American sense of the term) but rather aristocratic, in the best tradition of Evelyn Waugh (the writer Naipaul most resembles).Like Waugh, Naipaul's caustic observations rip into the heart of human weakness and frailty, exposing the hypocrisy and cant from all sides.The pretensions of ghastly businessmen disgust him as much as the crudity of the black 'socialists'.Those who seek to defend either Marxism or any form of business enterprise system face Naipaul's perfectly expressed derision.I personally found Naipaul's lack of human feeling at the extent of Africa's poverty a little shocking but it is a rapturous pleasure to be so shocked.

Tragic, funny account of the Way We Were ....
North of South describes Shiva Naipaul's journey through Eastern Africa as it emerged from colonialism several decades ago. Optimism and energy prevailed alongside a blind faith in imported philosophies which pundits failed to translate meaningfully to the impoverished, illiterate masses around them.
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Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. Africa    3. Description and travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Kenya    6. Naipaul, Shiva,    7. Social Situations And Conditions    8. Tanzania    9. Travel    10. Travel - General    11. Zambia    12. Development studies    13. Journeys    14. Mozambique    15. Naipaul, Shiva    16. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    17. Travel / Essays & Travelogues    18. Travel writing    19. Uganda   

Reviews (2)

Keep the Facts Dispense with the Politics
Lonely Planet books are always interesting to browse through.Most of the time they do stick to giving you the facts about a country and I do appreciate it.However, Lonely Planet's editors often like to mix their left wing politics with travel.The result are sections like "Responsible Tourism" that at best are paternalistic to the reader and at worst wrong.In this section it is suggested that the tourist seek out "locally run and owned" establishments and patronize them instead of foreign owned businesses.First of all if you can tell a foreign owned from a local owned perhaps it's because the standards are different.Secondly, why would you choose a lessor value (weighing in price and quality of the product together) when picking a hotel for instance?Where you stay is part of the experience and it may not be worth residing in some dank crummy hotel for the sake of patronizing a local business.The reason why countries like Mozambique never worked out economically in the past (and now are trying to change) is because their leaders applied the same kind of dim ignorant thinking displayed by Lonely Planet writers. Truly a vital tool for visitors to this revitalized nation !
Mozambique has only recently re-opened to tourism, after years of war and bloodshed.Fortunately the hard times are now over, and the country is once again a thriving, wonderful African nation.I loved it all - the people, the food, the music...With this Lonely Planet guide, I was really able to get the most out of my stay.It contains plenty of advice on visiting places, hotels, restaurants, etc.And also great advice on how to save money - indeed, Mozambique can be very expensive !A country and a book I won't forget. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Mozambique    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. Travel    4. Travel - General    5. Mozambique    6. Travel writing   

Features

• Folded Map

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Maps    3. Maps & Road Atlases    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Maps, charts & atlases    7. Mozambique    8. Travel / Africa    9. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Subjects:  1. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Mozambique    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Africa   

Reviews (1)

Mozambique, diving in paradise
For many years, Mozambique was associated with images of war, poverty and natural disaster. But since the signing of the 1992 peace accords, devastation and dark time have moved into the past. Only six years ago, diving in Mozambique was reserved to a handful of adventurer divers and exclusive travelers.Today diving and snorkeling are Mozambique's best-developed activities and there are numerous opportunities for pursuing both. I've been diving in many places in the Indian Ocean, but rarely, have encountered such diversity.
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Subjects:  1. Special Interest - Adventure    2. Travel    3. Travel - General    4. Travelers    5. Biography & Autobiography-Travelers    6. Travel / Adventure   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Mozambique    4. Travel & holiday guides    5. Travel / Africa   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Mozambique    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Africa   

Subjects:  1. Africa, East    2. Africa, Southern    3. Description and travel   

Subjects:  1. Maps, charts & atlases    2. Mozambique   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Angola    3. East Africa    4. Journeys    5. Mozambique    6. Other prose: from c 1900 -    7. Rwanda    8. Southern Africa    9. Travel writing    10. Wende, Hamilton    11. c 1990 to c 2000   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Hunting    3. Zambézia    4. Zambézia (Mozambique)   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Mozambique    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Mozambique    3. Treasure-trove   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Reference - General    3. Reference - Tips    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Mozambique    7. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business Law    5. Business/Economics    6. Business & Management    7. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY