Top 5 books for Travelling to Africa

This week as we explore the wanderlust continent of Africa and with bank holiday weekend looming we thought we’d suggest another batch of virtual travel material…

 

Whether you’re seeking inspiration for a trip to Africa or want to venture there for an afternoon or two then download/order one of these books:

 

1. AFRICA: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles

by Richard Dowden

“I write chiefly for outsiders, those who have not been to Africa but would like to know more about it.” – For the past three decades or so Dowden has travelled this vast and varied continent, listening, learning, and constantly re-evaluating all he thinks he knows. His readers journey with him country by country, as he has sought out the local and the personal, the incidents, actions, and characters to tell a story of modern sub-Saharan Africa – an area affected by poverty, disease and war, but also a place of breathtaking beauty, generosity and possibility. The result is a compelling, illuminating, and always surprising Africa insight.

2. Dark Star Safari

By Paul Theroux

Theroux earned his reputation as one of the all-time great travelogue writers because he lives every word that he writes. Dark Star Safari takes readers on his voyage from Cairo to Cape Town. He endures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances which make for quite the page turner. It’s an honest account of his epic and enlightening journey and a refreshing take on overland travel in Africa.

3. Ivory, Apes and Peacocks: Animals, Adventure and Discovery

By Alan Root

Root’s personal account of childhood and professional life is a fine African memoir, taking his readers from the adventurous innocence of wildlife-filming in colonial Kenya to the complexities of recent years, in particular the murder of his wife Joan in 2006, which we are lead to believe is because of her anti-poaching campaign.

4. Savannah Diaries

By Brian Jackman

This book collects Jackman’s accounts of game parks, including meetings with legendary safari guide Robin Pope. The first is when Pope is a rookie, apprenticed to Norman Carr, the grand old man of the Luangwa Valley; the second takes place 30 years later, when Jackman joins Pope for a walking safari.

Having written about the animals and landscapes of Africa for 40 years or so you can really explore with Jackman and his attention to detail.

5. The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild

by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence

Conservationist Lawrence Anthony devoted his life to protecting the world’s most endangered species. The Elephant Whisperer depicts his time bonding with a herd of ‘rogue’ elephants, which he saved from being killed by taking them in as his ‘family’ on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand. This really is an energetic firsthand reportage from the heart of the African wild.

This book may make you cry, laugh and have you completely absorbed, but it will also have you planning your next safari trip straight away…

 

Happy reading!

If you’d like to chat Africa or plan a trip please get in touch: [email protected]

Virtual Travel

Virtual travel, travelling virtually, whatever you want to call it, the bottom line is we aren’t going anywhere at the moment. Sobs aside, we can certainly still plan for freer times and daydream about far flung destinations…

Let’s travel virtually with our top pick of films and TV programs that transport you somewhere further than Costa del backyard.

1. The Beach

It might reaffirm your desire for a nice hotel over a hostel, but Leo’s journey to a hard-to-reach island, described as the ultimate paradise with white sands and clear water should makes for a nice couple of hours in Thailand.

 

2. The Motorcycle Diaries

Visit Latin America on a road trip with Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and his his pal Alberto Granado. Filmed through major landmarks in South America, as per Che’s memoir, from the Andes mountain range to Machu Picchu and even a leper colony in San Pablo.

 

3. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Grab and a gin and tonic and hunker down for an evening in Jaipur with a pleasing ensemble cast (including Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, and Bill Nighy), who prove how deeply travel can stir us, at any age.

 

4. Out of Africa

The film is timeless and should be on everyone’s travel film list. If it doesn’t tempt you to Kenya I don’t know what will…

5. The Bucket List

This is a heart warming film that will inspire you to tick one or two things off your travel wish list. Filmed in various locations in India, China, Egypt, Tanzania, France and the US there’s no shortage of places to virtually travel to.

 

6. March of the Penguins

Any time is a great time to revisit this cuddly classic filmed in Antarctica – but now seems particularly good. Morgan Freeman narrates the story of a year in the life of the Emperor penguins, who waddle across glorious but perilous icy landscapes on an annual trek for mating season. Plus with solar eclipse next year it’s a good time to think about booking an Antarctic adventure.

7. Street Food

Experiencing street food culture is one of the joys of travel. This inspiring series from the makers of Chef’s Table is as much about the compelling survival stories of these talented street chefs as it is about their signature dishes.

Including countries: Thailand, Japan, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam

7. Virunga

The Oscar-nominated heart-rending true story of the rangers risking their lives to save the Congo and its endangered gorillas.

8. Magical Andes

From Argentina to Colombia, this inspiring documentary follows five characters who share their deep connection to South America’s majestic mountains.

9. Travels with My Father

Jack and Michael Whitehall are bonded by blood and not much else. They take us on comical journeys with them through South East Asia, Europe and the US.

10. Joanna Lumley’s Hidden Caribbean: Havana to Haiti

She’s one of our favourite tour guides, and this time she leads us into a lesser-seen side of the Caribbean in her new two-part documentary, Joanna Lumley’s Hidden Caribbean: Havana to Haiti, which begins in a boxing gym in the lively Cuban capital.