Customer Reviews

In Search of King Solomon's Mines

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"As soon as there's a bomb, an earthquake...or a riot, I call the travel agent," Tahir Shah says, explaining his thirst for adventure. In this account he searches for King Solomon's legendary gold mines, armed with books and research he acquired in preparation for his trip and a "treasure map" he purchased in Jerusalem. King Solomon had built a lavishly appointed temple there three thousand years ago, using gold which the Queen of Sheba had brought from Ophir. No one knows from what direction she came or where the legendary Ophir actually was, however, with different researchers claiming that it was in Zimbabwe, South Africa, or even Haiti or Peru.

A sacred Ethiopian text claims that the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon is the ancestor of the Ethiopian emperors, and since Ethiopia's gold is also one of its richest resources, Shah accepts the idea that the legendary Ophir was probably in Ethiopia. Hiring a guide and translator, he checks out many mines, both legal and illegal, where gold is so close to the surface that men, women, and children dig for it with their hands. Always, Shah seeks some connection to Ophir.

The author keeps the reader constantly intrigued with the fascinating characters he meets during his many side trips. When he hears that hyenas guarded Solomon's gold, Shah travels to Harar seeking out Yusuf, the hyenaman, who handfeeds wild hyenas each night so they will not steal the town's children. He meets Noah, a powerful miner at a dangerous, illegal mine; Rachel, an elderly woman, who is the last survivor of Beta Israel, the group of Ethiopian Jews who were airlifted to Israel; a "miracle man," who performs four miracles; and Kefla Mohammed, leader of a salt caravan, who weeps when he must euthanize one of his camels. And Shah also includes wonderfully revealing photographs of these people and the artifacts he finds.

Occasionally, Shah, a member of Afghan royalty who grew up in London, betrays an unfortunate sense of entitlement in his attitudes toward the people around him. He does not give his devoted interpreter a "sick day," even when he is clearly very ill, and he does not always share his supplies and equipment, once hiding from his employees to eat canned food. He also fails to offer assistance at the site of a terrible road accident--something which he says never occurred to him. His unflagging sense of adventure is admirable, however, and he brings fascinating and unique Ethiopian cultures and people to the attention of readers who would not otherwise be exposed to them. In providing rare glimpses of a world which few tourists have seen, he provides a service for which we can all be grateful. Mary Whipple

As someone who has travelled the continent and lived in it for more than a decade, this is the book for all those who still maintain a romantic vision of modern times in Africa. And for the so-called African experts (some of which have never actually traveled outside of multi-star hotels and government sponsored trips into the 'bush') I strongly suggest that they spend some time getting to know the real Africa. Well done Mr. Shah and I look forward to your next great adventure into the daily, and sometimes miserable, lives of average people who aren't motivated by political gain but are just trying to get by. I would caution those pundits of Africa's present day ills, however, that this real life story will not conform to the text book learning and rhetoric used so often to describe a wonderful continents self-generating decline.

In a shop close to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem the author spots a map. The owner of the shop informs the author that the map depicts King Solomon's mines in Africa, the mines from which gold was extracted to build his famed temple. The fact that the map was not genuine (Shah finds an identical copy in the same shop soon after) does not deter Shah from embarking on his journey. Like many other travelogues by Shah, it is the experience but not just the goal that counts.

This is not to say that the author wanders about aimlessly. Quite to the contrary, he even risks his life for his quest, for e.g. in crossing deserts in northern Ethiopia with the infamous (for killing) Danakil tribe. As a review on the back cover of the paperback edition puts it: "...Shah wins you over with the mad purity of his quest." I can't agree more.

Apart from the very beginning, the book situates itself in Ethiopia. From the country's epicenter and capital Addis Ababa some of the major sites the author visits: are Kebra Mengist to the south, Harar to the east, Lalibela (where the churches carved from crevices -- like Petra of Jordan -- are located), Debra Damo (the monastery located on top of a mountain top plateau) and Mekele to the north, and Tullu Wallel to the west.

The rich historical and anecdotal background Shah provides together with his wonderful sense of humor make for a powerful concoction. A group of eccentric characters make appearances, Shah reveals his reverence for Victorian era adventurers, and at times ponders over why his job is so much difficult compared to others'. There was hardly a dull moment during my read.

Although Shah starts his book in old Jerusalem, where he purchases a dubious treasure map off the wall of an even more dubious shop named Ali Baba's Bazaar, this is actually an excellent travel book about modern Ethiopia. Apparently Shah's grandfather and father both harbored obsessions about locating the source of the gold King Solomon used for his great temple in Jerusalem. This obsession was passed down to the intrepid Tahir, who embarks on his own quest to find the ancient gold mines. Shah is not hoping to cash in (he swears an oath not to harvest gold), rather, the trip is another of his retro-adventures (cf. The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Trail of Feathers) in the style of Victorian-era explorer/romantic adventurers like Richard Burton.

According to the ancient sources, Solomon's gold was brought to him by the Queen of Sheba from the land of Ophir. Shah briefly outlines a geographical and etymological case for Ophir being located in present day Ethiopia, and organizes himself to visit this country largely known in the West for its poverty and famines. Armed with a trunk of books and articles (and far too much equipment), he arrives and promptly hires his taxi driver Samson to be interpreter, guide, and all around fixer. Samson is an extremely devout Christian and a reluctant guide throughout the trip, but the money is a boon to his precarious existence. Together, they set out by train and bus to visit a a series of potential locations Tahir has marked out. After a great deal of hardship in getting to the first site, they return to Addis Ababa and hire a driver-even though Ethiopian roads sound as bad as any I've read about. This is Bahra, a qat-addicted Somali cardsharp who likes to break up the tedium with deliberate roadkill. One of my favorite moments in the book is when, near the end of the journey, he simply stops in the middle of nowhere and declares that his luck has run out and he won't drive any more.

What emerges from Shah's trip is a land far more naturally varied and lush than the typical perception of Ethiopia-though desperately poor. Although there are numerous places where gold is so near the surface that impromptu (and illegal) mining communities spring up to pan for gold and dig tiny tunnels to extract it, the avenues for selling it are such that wealth-as in much of the third world-is highly concentrated at the top. The depiction of one such camp, where even the suspicion that one has found a nugget of gold and swallowed can result in your throat getting slit and your entrails opened up for inspection, is terrifying. Of course, the only thing more desirable than gold is getting to America, and at one point Shah is called upon to give a seminar to several hundred miners on the best way to cross the American border.

Although the focus is obviously on the gold, Shah always has his eyes open for a good story. He visits ancient churches hewn from the rock, hangs out with a "hyena" man whose designated task is to feed hyenas at night so they don't steal children from the town (hyenas are said to be the guardians of Solomon's secret mines), consults with the guru of a Rastafarian sect, travels across desert with a salt caravan, debunks a traveling miracle worker, and sit in many a seedy roadside bar with the ubiquitous prostitutes. Shah details everything with crisp writing and many a well-turned phrase (one of my favorites is "To most Ethiopians, the idea of a hotel without prostitutes is a bad joke.") that act as nice counterpoints to the hardship and struggle he witnesses. The book is bound together with a spirit of adventure rare in modern travel books, and despite a rather rushed and unsatisfactory end, is valuable reading for anyone interested in modern Africa.

This is a travelogue with a difference. Shah becomes obsessed with the tale of the Queen of Sheba and her relationship with King Solomom. While in the holy city of Jerusalem, he purchases an old map from a dubious shopkeeper. The map points to the mysterious country of Ethiopia, the land that allegedly possesses the prized Ark of the Covenant. He then takes on the quest to find the legendary city of Ophir, the ancient home of Makeda, the Queen of Sheba. It is this location that King Solomon's mines might have existed. In the Ethiopian holy text, Kebra Negast, (The Glory of Kings) tells the story in full of Sheba's relationship with the wise king, their exchange of unimaginable riches, and the theft of the Ark, which supposedly still resides in the city of Axum. Shah begins his journey in this mysterious and misunderstood country, experiencing many hardships, adventures and disappointments along the way.

Tahir Shah is a walking-talking anachronism - as he models himself after the great explorers of the 19th century - Stanley, Burton and Livingston. He has that dogged-persistence and general Romantic spirit of the old explorers, which makes this text inspiring and enormously entertaining. The book contains a myriad of strange characters that have many unusual, funny and macabre stories to tell. Shah's central guide, Samson, an Ethiopian taxi driver and devout Christian, reluctantly accompanies our narrator to the end, and the reader will empathize with Samson because of his many hardships throughout the journey. Then there is Bahra, the 'qat' consuming Somalian, who chauffers Shah and Samson around Ethiopia for most of the trip. Close to the end of the journey, Bahra simply stops the truck, claiming adamantly that 'his luck has run out' and simply refuses to go any further. This proves to be extremely frustrating for Shah, and totally hilarious, but there's nothing he can do about it, and must leave the man behind.

Most Westerner's usually think of Ethiopia as a barren, dusty desert. Surprisingly, though, we discover that parts of the country are rich in vegetation and quite beautiful. However Ethiopia ia a developing country and one is constantly reminded of this with Shah's descriptions of the people's general living conditions. This is an irony because the country still, after thousands of years of mining, continues to be rich in gold deposits. The big question is who is benefiting from this wealth, because it certainly isn't the common people?

This is an extraordinary modern adventure that rings of the 19th century Romantic traditon. Shah writes with enthusiasm and wit and makes one envious of his adventurous spirit. Excellent reading.

Traveling to Ethiopia often for months at time, Shah showed me a side of it I've never seen, despite my time spent in local homes, hotels and villages. My only fear is that this book will leave some with the impression that the places he describes are in fact the real Ethiopia. I am happy to say they are not. In fact the flea bag hotels and bars he frequented are mainly frequented by truckers and those looking for action and are easily identified by all inhabitants. The majority of bars, even in smaller towns, are quite respectable and serve espresso and smoothies too. I've been to countless ones all over the country. I've also stayed in hotels in many regions. Yes the majority of hotels are for truckers and are flea pits with easy access to prostitutes, but we've always been able to find decent accommodations that don't double as brothels. I really felt that his descriptions failed to reveal the diversity of people who live in the country and focused on a select group, often among the poorest.I also wondered if his guide didn't mislead him at times. Ethiopian people are extremely hospitable and very protective of foreigners. Frequent concerns about violent attacks are contrary to anything I've experienced there. I wondered if the guide's warnings weren't just a way of manipulating Shah to buy drinks or prostitutes for his friends to make him look good. I am not questioning that the story took place as described, just that Shah evidently saw a very tiny slice of the real Ethiopia, one which is fortunately not seen by most travelers there. The storyline was engaging and well written. The history was informative and the scenic descriptions accurately portrayed the lush landscape and sometimes harsh conditions. Overall an excellent read, just be careful to to judge the people based on his impressions. In 20 years of traveling there I haven't yet met most of the people he describes.

After coaxing a shopkeeper in Jerusalem's Old City to part with his "not for sale" heirloom treasure map for a whopping six hundred shekels, Afghan author Tahir Shah sets off on an adventure to find the legendary gold mines of King Solomon. He speculates that the mysterious Ophir the Bible describes as the location of the mines may likely be found "just a short boat trip down the Red Sea" in Ethiopa, a land with extraordinary reserves of gold and ostensibly the home of the Queen of Sheba. Known as Makeda in Ethiopian texts, the Queen of Sheba, according to Ethiopian legend, purportedly bore a son, Menelik, by King Solomon through whom the imperial family of Ethiopia descends.

Tahir journeys Ethiopia first to Addis Ababa, south to Kebra Mengist and Bedakaysa, east to Harar and Dire Dawa, north to Lalibela, the Danakil Desert, and Debra Damo, then west to Tallul Wallel. Along the way, the reader comes to know a little about the land and the people of Ethiopia. Where even a haircut or a bus ride or encounters with guide-dogs for the blind are laden with danger, Tahir insists "the thrill lies in surviving".

Somehow the discordance between Shah's engaging brusque humorous style and the stories that reveal to the reader the bleak reality of existence for many Ethiopians works, as he makes the reader want to laugh, sigh, and cry all at once. I highly recommend this colorful travelogue/adventure story/geography-culture-history book as it is an exciting, entertaining, and educational read.

La búsqueda del oro de Salomón acarrea la cuasi prueba de que, efectivamente, mucho del oro de la antiguedad egipcia y hebrea provino de la antigua Abisinia, lo mismo que la reina de Saba. Luego, muestra la pobreza enorme de una zona mayoritaria del territorio etíope, la riqueza situacional de pequeños sectores asociados a la minería del oro y el efecto negativo de la riqueza o la promesa de riqueza repentina sobre la fidelidad a las tradiciones y religiones....Es un libro que acarrea tristeza con su lectura y donde Tahir Shah, porfía con su gigantesca capacidad para exponerse a dificultades y, en este caso, de hacerlas subrir a su ayudante. Un descarnado vistazo de esa desconocida y prejuiciada Africa.

Tahir Shah presents an obsession to go on with his trip, no matter what. Sometimes the risks he takes seem uncalculated and borders on the insane, but probably I wouldnt be reading his book if he didn't do that! He presents many interesting and touching tales of Ethiopians. An excellent read. Good luck to the author for his next travel (and hence the next book?)

I found this book on a table in a book store in Morro Bay. I'm a sucker for travel books of this sort, looking for history as well as adventure. Although a tad slow, it is an engrossing story, humorous as well. Like Paul Theroux, Tahir Shah goes off the beaten path, and tells the truth about people and conditions he meets. Unlike Paul Theroux, he seems to like the people and enjoy the hardships. And seeing the grim side of life doesn't seem to make him grim. Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I'm going to order more of his books.