Customer Reviews

Africa Solo: A Journey Across the Sahara, Sahel and Congo

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a travel book for those who have travelled. I really don't think, judging by some of the other reviews below, that one can judge this book if s/he has never thrown themselves headfirst into a travel adventure like this one.

Having spent several months travelling in India, Nepal, and then the Middle East, I experienced every single emotion and, unfortunately, most of the gastro-intestinal disturbances that the author did. At times great, the trip was just as often miserable. Doing this kind of trip has nothing in common with Eurailing. The countries are very poor, the language and culture barrier is far greater, and the going can be very rough. First time travellers, me included, often delude ourselves about our adaptability. We eventually learn it, but it is an arduous process.

I saw this book as a chronicle of a maturation process. Travel can often lay bare our best and worst qualities and force us to come to terms with them. Kudos to the author for honestly and poignantly portraying that here.

This is a refreshing travel book. No ego, just honesty. If you want more history and culture, read anthropology. That is not this book's purpose.

Kevin Kertscher's Africa Solo is the account of the kind of trek that just cannot be undertaken right now, and so it's worth reading for both its historical and its sociological value. Although it is different from many travel books in that it focuses on individual experience rather than history or events, the book offers a different kind of education: a single person's insight and experience.

In the late 1980s, Kertscher trekked - mostly by hitchhiking, with some walking and one plane trip - through West, Central, and East Africa, taking a winding path from Oran in Algeria to Nairobi in Kenya. He also traveled mostly alone, which gave him a lot more exposure to the continent, and put him in more danger as well. An average person like Kertscher probably could not duplicate this trip today; political instability and unrest have rendered many of the countries he visited more dangerous for foreigners, as well as altering the areas through which he traveled significantly since his journey.

That change is one of the primary reasons why Kertscher's book is still worth reading - he provides an account of an older Africa the one that gave birth to the current one. His observations of Mobutu's Zaire, while not as detailed as Helen Winternitz's in East Along the Equator, explain a great deal about the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And his account of Rwanda during a break in its long history of conflict is surprising - he describes it as one of the most peaceful and progressive countries in Africa.

The personal perspective of the book - the author's solo movement through the continent, relying mostly on others for transportation - is also valuable; I got a better sense of the regional differences in the people than I have from other Africa books. Kertscher also experienced much more than most travelers do of the kindness of strangers in Africa; in his sort of travel, he was forced to rely on others, and it impressed me how often those others came through for him. I can't say I'd travel the way he did, but the results were apparently better than I would have expected.

All in all, this is an engrossing read that provides a personal perspective on one portion of a very large place. Africa Solo should not be used as a guidebook, because of the many changes in the area, but cultures do change more slowly than governments, so perhaps a person planning a trip to the area would still benefit from this book. Certainly armchair travelers will enjoy it.

After a trip to Zimbabwe and Botswana recently, I became entranced with Africa. Kevin Kertscher validated my new-found emotional attachment to the continent. His fascination with and acceptance of his experience is easily understood by the reader. And his strong visual sense and training is apparent in his verbal description of his experiences and environment. This is an easy read of a way of life so foreign. I don't know that I would have the wherewithall to travel as he had done, but this book makes me feel as if I had been along with him on his journey.

I was captured from the first page and found I couldn't put the book down. I have been reading as many books on Africa as I can in preparation for my own trip to the continent. Although lacking in the history and current issues facing the various countries the author visited (which have subsequently changed over the past decade) I found Arica Solo to be quite entertaining and educational from the perspective of traveling alone in a land that can still truly be called foreign. The author's trip through Africa was certainly more challenging and exciting than backpacking through Europe. The book lacks the wit of a Bryson, or the detail of Ridgeway, but it creates its own niche in the travel essay genre. Africa Solo is the author's diary cleaned up for readability and full of additioanl reflection during his post-Africa adventure. It is educational in providing anecdotes of situations future adventurers will likely encounter and the solutions that worked for the author. I enjoyed meeting the characters (most of whom would be called eccentric) who came across the author's path on his journey, and the social interaction that occurred. And I couldn't help but appreciate how lucky it is to be born and raised in a country as privileged as America. After finishing the book I was not disappointed, instead craving more, both about Afica and the author's further travels in Pakistan and India.

This is adventure/travel writing at its best. Kertscher takes us along as he hitchhikes his way across the Sahara, down the Congo River, and into the African rainforest. His smooth writing paints a vivid picture of the land and its people and his experiences along the way. Africa Solo is entertaining and enlightening, and, like any good book, left me wanting to read more.

I too could not put this book down. It is very engrossing and it keeps you entertained. I don't see why so many are affected/offended by its simplicity, as I don't think it was ever meant to compete with any in-depth literary accounts (The Little Prince is a simple story, yet still a thoughtful read). It is an honest tale from an innocent, often amusing, perspective. It strikes a particular chord with other travellers though. I have been to Africa but plan on doing a fairly similar, if more extensive, journey through the continent- yet, books like this one are often the only invaluable insight on street-smarts and dealings with locals. Granted it is dated, it still provides bits and glimpses into what these cultures entail. I only wish the author continued his story, with accounts of his explorations in Asia.

I really enjoyed this book. I found myself sitting in a local drive-thru restaurant for hours just so that I could read this book. It is written in a fashion that makes you want to know where he is going next on his journey across Africa. The writer is so detailed in some parts that I felt like I was escaping and going along with him as I was reading.

This was a journey I could only take through reading a book like this. Mr. Kertscher wrote interestingly as he saw the individuals and the country at that particular time. There are places that change so fast in important ways that each visit will be different, if only through the people you meet. Africa is like this, more than most. I know African travelers and residents that see a different world than he did; both worlds are Africa. As I am not brave or resourceful enough to make these journeys, I appreciate the people who make them and write a very readable and interesting account of their own truths learned.

Kevin spent several months in Africa in the late 80s (so it is a little outdated), wanting to across Africa on his own - on foot, bus or boat. He does overfly certain sections of West Africa in order to get to Zaire before the rainy season, but this does not take away from his journey.

I read this book in a weekend, wanting to see how Kevin fared on this travels and because I was interested in the characters that he met along the way. This is one of the better travelogues I've read on Africa and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in that part of the world.

Africa Solo is a wonderfully compelling book. It is an easy to read narrative of a man who is doing what most of us at one time have thought about doing-exploring! I enjoy travel books because it sends you to locations you've never been. You can feel the desert fever, hear the silence, and taste the sand on your face. It was a great book and I recommend it!