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The Mountains Of Rasselas: An Ethiopian Adventure

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Before Ranulph Fiennes, there was Thomas Packenham, and before him was Evelyn Waugh, and before that a host of English amateur adventurers.

Packenham belongs to a long tradition of upper class Englishmen with too much money and too much time on their hands, but enough imagination (and insanity) to explore the most dismal parts of the world, and in so doing, make our world a more fascinating place.

Packenham's book recounts his visit to the golden jubilee celebrations of Haile Selassie in 1956, and his more amazing adventures in search of a lost mountain castle last seen by European eyes in 1770.

Now if all of this seems too fanciful to be true, hold the dibelief for just a while. Littered throughout the book are enthralling photos of Packenham's original expedition, and his most recent visit - pictures of monolithic churches, ancient castles in what is now Ethiopia, and a world that is gone forever.

Of course none of this would have been possible without a slight touch of lunacy, and impecable social connections. That said, the author presents his journey, and his discoveries, in a self-effacing and charming style, and without the slightest sense of self-importance. If it also comes across as something of a late 20th century "ripping yarn" all the better for that.

In a world where we are deluged with "reality television," manufactured, so-called "extreme sports" and endless trivial travel writing, this is a genuinely absorbing work, and also a record of a lost kingdom which still remains shrouded in the mists of time.

This book is something special.