From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-- While most readers will never go on such an excursion, they can experience the danger and wonder of an African trek here. The book is everything a well-written travelogue should be--it's a preserve of information, excitement, and realism, well stocked with thrilling adventures, comic mishaps, fascinating animals, and memorable characters. Though vivid prose, Houston recounts his first month-long safari in 1972 from Nairobi to the beach on Formosa Bay and, finally, on to Lake Paradise. Whether leaping over columns of deadly siafu ants on Mount Kilimanjaro, escaping the charge of a bull elephant at the Amboseli Game Reserve, or rescuing a companion from a mud wallow in Marsabit, he never leaves readers behind on his odyssey through Dinesen and Hemingway country. While the black-and-white and full-color photographs are at times overexposed and/or out of focus, the book's lively narrative style will keep readers moving through a Kenya that was far less traveled than it is today, over the Serengeti, past Masai warriors and, perhaps, straight to the library's atlas case. --Doris A. Fong, Benson Polytechnic High School, Portland, OR
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Houston fulfilled a lifelong dream by starting a safari business in Africa, which he knew only through books and films. Describing his first extended safari--a month-long trek into areas tourists seldom see--he gives a broad picture of the land, the people, and the sometimes dangerous wildlife, while also conveying a sense of the still-untouched wilderness and his joy in the adventure of exploration. Other members of the party--his partner Jack, two young Danish women, and two American men--are less vividly realized; only ``Orange Blossom,'' a tiny grandmother with a head of orange hair, takes on real dimension. Everyone helps cook, set up tents, and push vehicles at need. They climb Kilimanjaro, drive across deserts, visit tribes, and- -in a fitting finale--spend several harrowing days reaching the site of Osa and Martin Johnson's home. Houston's fine descriptions capture the magic of African wildlife and scenery so well that readers will be eager to pack up and go. Color photos not seen. (Nonfiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
