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Travel Inspiring Reads – Or Is It??

My book for this installment of “Travel Inspiring Reads” may seem to actually be the opposite. It is called “The World’s Most Dangerous Places.” But, oh, did it made me want to see those places! This book certainly made the adrenaline rush within me just by going through it. I liked how it classified danger by different vectors, like crime or just being a “forbidden” place.

What’s funny is that I read this book in its 1997 version and, looking back, some of the levels of danger in the places cited have abated whereas others not discussed have likely become “dangerous.” For example, Myanmar was classified as forbidden but very recently that has changed. Other places remain in the right category; again, in the forbidden grouping lies Iran, Iraq, Cuba, and North Korea.

One of my favorite writeups in the book is Albania. Classified under the forbidden group (something which no longer seems to be applicable), it is presented as a place that is “oil and water” with the mix of the Albanian majority with a small separatist Greek minority. More interestingly, he says has “nasty” neighbors in Serbia and Greece. Maybe the former made sense in 1997 but I never would have thought Greece would be a nasty neighbor (Turkey aside, perhaps?). Apparently, at the time the book was written, there was some unrest from a small group of ethnic Greeks. Either it has subsided or it is just not covered in the news we get through major news outlets (who are likely talking more about some dumb starlet or bad boy athlete than real news… soapbox!).

In terms of pure danger, some of the places the book called out were and remain dangerous. Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan to name a few. But mercifully, I can re-read this book years later and be thankful that places like Cambodia, Peru, Colombia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and The Philippines have become safer and great places to explore and visit while feeling safe (or as safe as one can be anywhere).

I also enjoyed the book’s self-awareness as it identifies its key weakness: the moment it is published, it is already out-of-date. Cleverly, it points out “coming attractions,” or those places likely to appear in the book in the future. Some of the places called out were called out correctly as things turned out, others did not (at least, not yet). On the former: Mali and Zimbabwe have become messy places indeed. On the latter: the Basque country has not exploded but instead remained fairly calm; Bangladesh has not fallen to civil war; China did not break up after Deng Xiaoping died; and Panama did not get re-taken by the Noriega crews nor became a mess after the Canal turned over in 1999.

I should seek out the latest version of the book and see what places feature prominently as dangerous. And see if the adrenaline kicks in like when I first read it so many years ago!

Travel Inspiring Reads – “Dark Star Safari”

“Dark Star Safari – Overland from Cairo to Cape Town” presents the story of Paul Theroux’ overland crossing of Africa, quite the safari! (“Safari” means journey in Swahili.)

I enjoyed this book because it presented interesting topics:

Thought-provoking questions
Rich descriptions of places
Horror stories
Good history nuggets
Ideas for off-the-beaten-path places to visit.

Let’s go through these briefly…

Thought-provoking questions

While a book about travel, certainly part of travel is gaining an understanding of the local situation (at least for me). The author helps the reader gain an understanding of the current state and what makes it difficult for Africa to break bad cycles. For example, he points out how education in some of the countries suffers because those that have education and could be teachers are pulled by foreign NGOs for other activities (though I think he misses the point that often what those people go do is to try to help while also further developing capacity in these would-be teachers). He also discusses with people he meets the issues introduced by corruption and mis-management without writing a dissertation about it.

One thing that was unfortunate is that the author seemed interested in putting down NGOs (“the agents of virtue in white Land-Rovers”) wherever he could which is unfortunate since many do very good work on behalf of those in need (even if not all are perfect; many have learned and evolved their approaches). It is unfortunate in my opinion since it gives the impression that he has a chip on his shoulder and, as a reader, that diminishes my appreciation for his critical thinking (though it does not impact my appreciation of his writing effort). Also, I would worry that readers unfamiliar with the questions and topics involved may just take his word for it.

Rich descriptions of places

The rich descriptions he captures of what he sees make you want to explore the places he visits. For example, this is his description of Bayna l-Qasrayn, a street in Cairo:

“Perhaps the oldest inhabited street in the high-density city of Cairo, one thousand years of donkey droppings, hawkers’ wagons, barrow boys, veiled women, jostling camels, hand-holding men, and hubble-bubble smoker, among mosques and princes’ palaces, and a bazaar with shops selling trinket, brass pots and sack of beans…”

I also enjoyed relating to some of his observations, not dissimilar to my own. For example, in many hotels in Egypt there are metal detectors. I often wondered what were they really good for should someone just decide to park a truck full of explosives in front of a hotel. He is much more eloquent than me as he shares his observations on security while in Aswan:

“There were metal detectors at the entrances to most buildings though they were seldom used and seemed more symbolic than practical… Certainly the electricity supply was unreliable and there seemed to be a labor shortage. The armed men, with assault rifles slung at their sides, meant to reassure the tourists simply looked sinister and added to the atmosphere of menace.”

Horror stories

His description of travel through southern Ethiopia and Kenya to Nairobi is filled with frustrating anecdotes and mis-adventures. Unhelpful government people, bad roads, vehicle breakdowns, touts and thieves, etc. all color this part of trip. You suffer with him and then remember to be happy you are not him. Good reading though!

Good history nuggets

The book also included great nuggets of history which certainly pleased this fan of history. It informed me about Italy’s horrible choices when it came to Ethiopia since the late 19^th century – a story I had never heard about. In 1896, the Ethiopians trounced 20,000 invaders from the Italian army at Adwa (a place I had never heard of). Those poor young men, sent there by crazy leadership ill-equipped, for no good reason, to die or otherwise suffer. Unfortunately, all these created resentment that the Fascists in the 1930s wanted to act on. So off they went (with poison gas and all) to invade Ethiopia whose fighters were still using the same weapons from the 1896 era… (Don’t mean to pick on Italy, by the way… History is loaded with ugly decisions by many!)

Ideas for off-the-beaten places to visit

The book introduces a reader like me to places I had never ever heard of but that I may enjoy visiting. For example, his inclusion of Lalibela in Ethiopia where there are twelfth century Coptic churches carved into the mountains adds to my already-existing desire to explore Ethiopia!

Favorite quote

One of the pieces of wisdom he heard in north Sudan during this safari struck me as universally true and is my favorite quote of the book:

“The criterion is how you treat the weak. The measure of civilized behavior is compassion.” – Sadig el Mahdi

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While the author can come across a little self-absorbed or sanctimonious, the story of his crossing Africa overland is gripping and well-written, sharing a lot more than just a narrative of adventures and mis-adventures. I wish I could do that trip… Maybe.