Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik: One Woman's Solo Misadventures Across Africa

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 288 pages
• Published by: Seal Press August 11, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1580051642
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1580051644
• Book Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 12 ounces

Product Description
Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik is a spirited African adventure of a solo lady traveler whose overland excursion across the continent includes challenges, inevitable mishaps, and more than a few debacles.

Author and world traveler Marie Javins is an unflappable narrator, who takes even the most bizarre and patience-trying situations with a dose of good humor. Javins fell in love with Africa when she traversed the continent in 2001 as part of a greater world tour. She later returned to spend half of 2005 revisiting the people and places that had so impacted her on her first trip. Javins was struck not by the desperation of Africa, but by its hope — the dignity of its people, the vibrancy of its cities, and the inherent adventure that is inherent it offered.

Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik is a funny and compassionate account of the sort of lively and heedless undertaking that could only happen in Africa. Javins's brushes with wildlife are punctuated with more serious dilemmas. Through it all, Javins's experience of Africa is life-altering, and her witty observations make for the best kind of travel literature which takes its readers into the heart and soul of the continent.


Reader Reviews
This is a fascinating travelog but it is also something more. It is an account of being on your own, experiencing loneliness and longing, but at the same time relishing the freedom to travel and explore the world in your own way. I first followed Marie's journey "live" through her MariesWorldTour website in 2001, but I still found the book fresh and interesting. She often chose transport that was not the usual for tourists, such as long bus rides, and thus she met local people on their own turf where pretenses were dropped. There were risks involved, but she met them with courage, a sense of adventure, and a sense of humor. I look forward to more books by this author. Comment | | (Report this)