Having travelled across West Africa for over 10 years, Peter Biddlecombe's often hilarious account is a highly readable, hugely entertaining introduction to French Africa. In countries such as Togo, Mali, and Burkina Faso, Biddlecome encounters old-fashioned camel butchers, modern witch doctors who run mail-order companies, gold smugglers, and counterfeiters who send their sons to Oxford. He also experiences eerie voodoo ceremonies in the old slave port of Ouidah and Italian ice-cream parlors in the middle of the Sahara desert. And Biddlecombe reveals not only Francophone Africa's politics, business traditions, and culture, but also provides a mass of practical advice on everything from how to eat a water-rat to talking your way through a road block in the middle of an attempted coup.
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This astonishing book is all highlights, an incident on every page DAILY MAIL
From the Publisher
Having traveled across West Africa for over ten years, Peter Biddlecombe’s often hilarious account of a long and lingering liaison dangereuse with the 60 percent of the continent that is French–speaking is a hugely entertaining introduction to the je ne sais quoi of French Africa. In countries like Togo, Mali, and Burkina Faso, Biddlecombe encounters old–fashioned camel butchers, modern witch doctors with mail–order businesses, and counterfeiters who send their sons to Oxford. He also enjoys a delicious mélange of experiences and places, from eerie voodoo ceremonies in the old slave port of Ouidah to Italian ice cream parlors in the middle of the Sahara desert. And Biddlecombe reveals not only French Africa’s often bizarre politics, business transactions, and culture, but he also offers up a wealth of practical advice on everything from how to eat a water–rat to talking your way through a road block in the middle of an attempted coup.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"French Lessons in Africa: Travels with My Briefcase Through French Africa" is a collection of business-travel experiences and observations in ten countries in Francophone Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Zaire). Biddlecombe careens from business-class hotel and international conference center to rural village and farm, and describes his encounters with everything from white magic in Benin, locusts in Mali, to lost luggage in Congo. He shares his encounters with Africans of all sorts: government minister, customs officer, doctor-entrepreneur, gold smuggler, chicken farmer, soap manufacturer, and cassette pirater. He shares his thoughts, knowledge, and conversations covering African leaders, economic development, the CFA franc, colonization and independence, health and nutrition, literature, music, and architecture. All with a great deal of wit and humor. This is no introductory text, but anyone with some basic knowledge of Africa will find this book informative and enjoyable.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By L. Brennan
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I cannot recall where I first came across Peter Biddlecombe's books, but he really is amusing and informative. This one is about Africa, focusing on the French-speaking countries. Some of the stories are both very funny and offer quite astonishing insights to the people and practices. Whatever the man did for a living, he certainly knew how to travel the globe with a sharp eye for the curious and humorous everywhere. You have found a good "travel" author!
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