Customer Reviews

On Foot Through Africa

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was torn about how many stars to give this book (1 star, 5 stars...I went for the middle). On one level, it is a compelling story about a strong, woman who walks across Africa. She endures all sorts of hassles (natural and human), yet also develops a great respect for African cultures. Her travels are amazing, and this book makes me wish I could just hang it all up and go for an adventure like hers. Yet at the same time, Ffyona is a very unlikable character. She demeans all westerners who travel into Africa as ruining Africa, without any sort of self-knowledge that she falls into the exact same category (littering, doing culturally inappropriate things, etc.). She portrays herself in the book as rude and arrogant, frequently fighting with her European support staff. Therefore, I both admired her while reading the story, and was almost disgusted by her. One aspect of her "walk" that she hammers repeatedly was her integrity for the walk. She would religiously go back and make sure she hadn't missed a step. After reading this book (while in Africa myself), I was intrigued with her and curious to find out whatever happened with her. I have to say, I was not surprised to hear that she came clean about lying about one of her previous walks. In her walk across the USA, she admitted to taking rides from her support staff for almost 1,000 miles to make her deadlines due to an unplanned pregnancy. While she publicly apologized and went back and retraced her steps later, I think that I would have enjoyed the book more if I'd known this part of her story before reading the book. She's a complicated character, that Ffyona.

This book was filled with an energy which made it impossible to put down. This was not only about a walk but fills the reader with an understanding and appreciation for Africa and its people and an awareness of the harms done by the arrogance with which the West has imposed on African people. Obviously Ffyona is a person with tremendous fearlessness and determination and like everyone else on the planet, not without flaws. Whether she completed the walk or not, I do not really care - her insights, perspectives and experiences of Africa are enriching to the spirit and encourage a deeper understanding of this tremendous place!

i found it very beautiful. it was liked that she showed the things that go on around a walk as well, even tho a previous reviewer didn't. i thought her perceptions on africa were great. and her perceptions on how such things she acomplished and the life that went with it. it helped me fall even more deeply in love with africa and people and that unnamable peace that is so nice.

i'd like to do something similar oneday and i don't think that she should feel bad about the missing miles, espescialy when she's gone back and put them in. i was very surprised to see what nasty things some press had written about her, but then those people are more mad because they're mad more than anything elese, and they often say nasty, stupid things. reading her book has made her something of a personal hero to me, and will go with my other imagended (not physically kickable) statues of people i honour and remember, which may sound sappy, but it's a pantheon, very big one, and i'm more than happy to have her in it ^_________^

I read this book not long after meeting Ffyona, and it helped me to see her as a person, with feelings and emotions, and not just as the outside shell we often judge people by. This is a book about a noble effort, and well worth reading...most of us will never get the experience any other way. I loved this book, and I am honored to call the author my friend.

Ffyona has written the best book I have ever readed. It changed my life, realy! The impact that it has on your thinking about the world and your personal life is great. The manor of writing isn't very good but what's it about makes it all good. I want to read it again and again. Please Ffyona make more books!

I absolutely loved this book which provided an exceptional look at the challenges faced by a woman travelling across Africa. I felt like I could really relate to her and I really enjoyed seeing Africa through the eyes of a white young woman in a truly foreign land.

Story of a beautiful journey through Africa, told in a plain and courageous way... What pushed Ffyona Campbell to walk more than 2 years ans the personal demons she faced... A story about being human.

Ffyona Campbell has determination, guts, and a talent for describing her surroundings in an entertaining way.

The only disappointment with this book was the tendency to "waffle" about personal relationships adnd problems with her sponsors.

The book is balanced by also dwelling on the less savoury elements of the walk (harassment, etc) rather than only portraying the good/interesting experiences.

The photos of removing jiggers from severly blistered feet has my stomach squirming!

Having read this book; almost without putting it down, I had the tremendous good fortune to sit in an empty Waterstones with Ffoyona and talked about her experiences. This was before all the fuss about whether she actually completed her round the world walk (and I'm happy that she did though maybe not in strict 'chronological' order). The Dark Continent draws you in, whether you've been there or not, and this book is 100% Africa. It also illustrates how (in a world that from a developed country point of view we see as getting ever smaller) when you're actually there the world can seem very big and unfriendly. To my mind, 'On Foot Through Africa' rates right up there besides 'First Overland' by Tim Slessor as one of the top 10 journeyman books of the 20th centuary.

Ffyona is an confident, self absorbed, bordering on arrogant, adventurer and explorer. While it is much about her ordeals, its is at its best in giving an outsider a good idea of how to approach different cultures as in africa.

Where the Ffyona fails is that she has a history of lying about her travels. She admitted lieing about accepting rided in her trip across America and many people believe that she accepted rides or failed to complete parts of her trip in the congo and central africa area.

Still a worthy read excepting that caviot and her arrogance...