Crossing the Heart of Africa

Author: Julian Smith
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062030612
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Book Description
Banff Mountain Book Awards WINNER The spellbinding true story of retracing the extraordinary trek of Ewart "the Leopard" Grogan—the legendary British explorer who, in order to win the woman he loved, attempted to become the first person to cross Africa In 1898 the dashing British adventurer Ewart Grogan fell head-over-heels in love—but before he could marry, he needed the approval of his beloved's skeptical, aristocratic stepfather. Grogan, seeking to prove his worth and earn his love's hand, then set out on an epic quest to become the first man to cross the entire length of Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo, "a feat hitherto thought by many explorers to be impossible" (New York Times). A little more than a century later, American journalist Julian Smith also found himself madly in love with his girlfriend of seven years... but he was terrified by the prospect of marraige. Inspired by Grogan's story, which he discovered by chance, Smith decided to face his fears of commitment by retracing the explorer's amazing—but now forgotten—4,500-mile journey for love and glory through Africa. Crossing the Heart of Africa is the unforgettable account of these twin adventures, as Smith beautifully ineterweaves his own contemporary journey with Grogan's larger-than-life tale of cannibal attacks, charging elephants, deadly jungles, and romantic triumph. SOCIETY OF AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITERS WESTERN WRITING AWARDS WINNER: GOLD PRIZE (TRAVEL) BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK COMPETITION WINNER: SPECIAL JURY MENTION AMERICAN SOCIETY OF JOURNALISTS AND AUTHORS AWARDS BEST-BOOK WINNER: MEMOIR

Crossing the Stream

Author: Elizabeth-Irene Baitie
Publisher: WW Norton
ISBN: 1324017104
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
"A powerful coming-of-age story of self-discovery and overcoming fear.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review Ato hasn’t visited his grandmother’s house since he was seven. He’s heard the rumors that she’s a witch, and his mother has told him he must never sit on the old couch on her porch. Now here he is, on that exact couch, with a strange-looking drink his grandmother has given him, wondering if the rumors are true. What’s more, there’s a freshly dug hole in her yard that Ato suspects may be a grave meant for him. Meanwhile at school, Ato and his friends have entered a competition to win entry to Nnoma, the island bird sanctuary that Ato’s father helped created. But something is poisoning the community garden where their project is housed, and Ato sets out to track down the culprit. In doing so, he brings his estranged mother and grandmother back together, and begins healing the wounds left on the family by his father’s death years before. And that hole in the yard? It is a grave, but not for the purpose Ato feared, and its use brings a tender, celebratory ending to this deeply felt and universal story of healing and love from one of Ghana’s most admired children’s book authors.

Djoliba Crossing

Author: Dave Kobrenski
Publisher: Artemisia Books
ISBN: 0982668996
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
Take a journey into the heart of West Africa... Artist, musician, and author Dave Kobrenski takes the reader on a musical and visual journey up the Djoliba river in Guinea to explore ancient music traditions, as well as to understand the challenges that face a country "balancing between the world of its ancient traditions and the frontier of modern ideals and influences." Dozens of original paintings and drawings accompany vivid first-hand accounts of the music, culture, and people of Guinea, while scores of rhythm notations make this a unique and valuable resource for musicians, educators, and travel enthusiasts alike. From the author's preface: "Part travelogue, part sketchbook, this is a book about glimpsing in the everyday dust of existence the potential for rich and meaningful expressions of being in the world; of seeing that beyond the tattered common cloth of life hangs a veil of mystery infused with magic and wonder."

Native Stranger

Author: Eddy L. Harris
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 9780679742326
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
When Eddy Harris went to Africa, he ended up learning a great deal about his own identity as a black American as well as witnessing both the splendor and squalor of the continent. From encounters with beggars and bureaucrats to a visit to Soweto and a hellish night in a Liberian jail, Harris evokes Africa with candor and vividness.

Through the heart of Africa

Author: Frank Hulme Melland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 582

Book Description

The Heart of Africa

Author: Georg August Schweinfurth
Publisher: London : S. Low
ISBN:
Category : Africa, Central
Languages : en
Pages : 656

Book Description

To the Moon and Timbuktu

Author: Nina Sovich
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544025954
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Book Description
Documents the author's journeys through Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, discussing the inspiration for her travels, the women who adopted her into their ranks, and her discoveries about the region's forgotten areas and future promise.

Heart of Africa

Author: Sihle Khumalo
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
ISBN: 1415202605
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Book Description
150 years separate two explorers of Africa: the Englishman John Hanning Speke and South African Sihle Khumalo. Speke set out to “discover” the source of the Nile, and Khumalo to fi gure out what the hell Speke and men like him were after. Khumalo’s 2008 journey to Central Africa was not without its challenges. First he had to outperform his famous earlier trip and book Dark Continent My Black Arse. Then he elected to travel, as before, by public transport only. Which in practice often meant more transit and less transport. Giving himself a mere four weeks, and propelled by a frank fascination with the Victorian explorers, Khumalo set out on a six-pronged quest aiming, inter alia, to ferry across Lake Tanganyika, stand on the equator in Uganda, bungee jump at the source of the Nile, or see if any mountain gorillas were forthcoming (none were). But it was his emotive visit to the Memorial Centre at Kigali, epicentre of the Rwandan genocide, that brought home elemental questions: What is at the heart of Africa? What makes me an African? Where lies my centre? Heart of Africa is the unputdownable account of a journey that seldom went as planned. Khumalo’s unfailing eye for the good, the bad and the amusing in Africa, his refreshing candour and his sheer cheek, make this book every bit as delightful as its forerunner.

The Heart of Africa

Author: Georg Schweinfurth
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3368830872
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 614

Book Description
Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

Blood River

Author: Tim Butcher
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0099494280
Category : Congo (Democratic Republic)
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
'Blood River' is a readable account of an African country now virtually inaccessible to the outside world and what is perhaps one of the most daring and adventurous journeys a journalist has made.