Wonder Safaris [Paperback]

Adam Levin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

The author discards his urban middle-class life in Johannesburg and starts walking - and watching, thinking, laughing, dancing - as he searches for remote people, forgotten places and his own identity on the continent of his birth. He lives the life of a vagabond, seeking out the miracles and surprises of Africa and transcribing them into 'a hundred scruffy notebooks'. Levin travels where few have been and meets some of the continent's most enchanting people, from Bi Kidude, East Africa's greatest musical legend; to a mad Zanzibari Emperor; voodoo priestesses; millionaire businesswomen; couturiers and thieves. The Wonder Safaris is a collection of these stories recording Levin's rediscovery of his 'miracle eye'; his ability to listen; his sense of wonder.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: New Holland Publishers Ltd (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1868728854
• ISBN-13: 978-1868728855
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,728,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Journeys of the heart and soul, May 19, 2011

By 

Dominique le Roux (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wonder Safaris (Paperback)

I'll come right out and tell you upfront that I was involved in publishing both editions of this book. Why? Because I had read some of Adam Levin's travel pieces and, as a writer myself, had simply thought "I'm not worthy; just give up writing right now, Dominique. You're not in this guy's class!" I'd read his pieces and I had laughed and I had cried. And I simply could not comprehend that this damn fine writing was not already available in book form.

What I find Levin's writing does for me on a wholly personal level is that it inspires my own travels. He doesn't just motivate me to go, but he shows me a way of inquiry that has me going differently, with greater curiosity, greater knowledge. His writing reminds me of my own African travels, and I find myself wanting to recreate those journeys, revisit those places, this time with more of his soulful ear. To go again and this time really to hear, to feel and so better to explore the mysteries I didn't even notice the first time.

Here again, are the words that started it all for me, and as I read them again for the umpteenth time, I'm ready to up and leave: "I am growing weary of life in this jungle. This savage hunting for money and things. This relentless gathering in plastic supermarket packets. This drumming on dark disco floors. Perhaps it is time to walk again. To walk until my feet turn a tar road back to dirt. Till my garden grows wild as savannah and my dogs run free as wolves... (Okay, I'll stop there.)