A Tramp in Africa

The natives were curious – it wasn’t every day that ‘a bearded traveller in kilt, floppy bush-hat and boots bound up with string walked into their midst’.
That’s just what Scottish explorer David Lessels did in the early 1950s, fulfilling a dream to travel the length of Africa, confronting serious challenges to his freedom as he walked and hitch-hiked through history.
Recalled with vivid clarity, this inspirational traveller’s tale is studded with gems and facts – some of which may be the only written accounts of the early development of unique African cultures.
A colourful and rich taste of Africa in the raw – share the author’s thrilling experiences of an extraordinary adventure.

“A kaleidoscope of a book where the constant change of pace is gripping. Sometimes at full blast, such as when hunting crocodiles and he himself is being stalked by the hunter’s wife, and other times more thoughtful when digging deep into history, archaeology and religion. A feast of a story."
Brigadier J.M. Page President Anglo-Somali Society, London
"An incredible solo journey. The best book on Africa and gutsy adventure I've read in a long time. Travel books don't come better than this."
Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt OBE Expedition Leader and Writer

A Tramp in Africa
David Lessels
ISBN 1905203-64-0 U.K. £12.95
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Why Don't You Fly

In May 2000 Chris Smith left his comfortable Worcestershire home, but instead of cycling the routine twelve miles to work, he kept on pedalling.

Thirteen months later (having fallen off six times and worn out three sets of tyres, three chains and two pairs of boots) he arrived in Beijing.

During a gruelling 16,500-mile examination of physical and mental stamina he traversed scorching deserts, scaled lofty peaks, crossed mighty rivers and risked extinction in the chaotic traffic of the cities. He ate and drank in roadside cafés in the company of inquisitive lorry drivers and shared dormitories with farm hands and mosquitoes in remote Chinese villages. He survived bugs, blizzards, cockroaches, heat, hurricanes, sandstorms, cyclones, stone-throwing locals and lunatic drivers. Sceptical western existentialism encountered religious fatalism in the cafés and teahouses of the Middle East and India during a physical and spiritual journey that constantly raised questions about attitudes and values widely taken for granted in the West.

‘Why Don’t You Fly?’ is the account of an epic quest to rediscover a misplaced sense of identity in which exhilaration and exhaustion trade positions against a backdrop of prodigious physical endeavour.

Why Don't You Fly
Back Door to Beijing - by Bycycle
Christopher Smith
Paperback -282 pages (2005)
ISBN 1905203-25-X U.K. £9.99
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More info: www.cycleuktochina.com

Overlanding

After four years studying for a dubious degree all Tim English wanted to be was a ‘man with a van’. Fortunately, just as the thrill of shifting Granny’s aspidistra and trying not to chip the family china began to dwindle, he fell into another job behind a slightly larger wheel. Dumping the Transit for a truck, he swapped the streets of London for the backroads of Africa and South America.
From the Touareg settlements of the Sahara, through the Pygmy camps of the Congo, to the Indian villages of the Andes, Tim and his various truckloads of travellers cruise the razor-edge of tourism. Blossoming romances and simmering tensions shadow their progress, but as they navigate their way through some of the world’s more intractable conflicts, Tim ponders how the injustice and determination they witness might just change the groups’ lives forever.
A stirring reminder for those who have been there, a taster for those who are thinking of following them, Overlanding balances high drama with low humour in prose that is sometimes shocking, always touching. The story of the ultimate roadtrip, the pages are packed with as much excitement, adventure and disaster as the journeys themselves.

Overlanding - The Ultimate Road Trip
Tim English
Paperback -67 pages (2004)
ISBN 1904754-40-6 U.K. £9.99
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More info: Overlanding website

Colonial Sunset - A Worm's Eye View

Travel in the 1930s was an adventure – exciting, often risky, and when Ralph Stephenson sailed from New Zealand he was destined for a lifetime of extraordinary experiences…

An enterprising young man, he headed towards London, eager to soak up the cultural delights of Europe – and maybe just a bit of study at the London School of Economics. His life was eventually to be shaped by the colonies, working as an auditor in the Colonial Service. Keeping the Empire on the straight and narrow was, told modestly by the author, ‘a routine job carried out in wonderfully varied and exotic environments.’

Add to the ‘routine’, travels across the Soviet Union and America, raising a family in the Seychelles and Africa, not to mention being a prisoner of war in Hong Kong, meant that life was certainly never humdrum! Colonial Sunset is full of fascinating tales, vividly recalled and packed with gems of history and customs – to be enjoyed and not forgotten.

Colonial Sunset - A Worm's Eye View
Ralph Stephenson
Paperback -166 pages (2004)
ISBN 1904754-58-9U.K. £6.99
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Malayan Adventure 1947-1949

In this fascinating book, Henry Mason invites the reader to browse through his ‘photo album’ and relive with him his post-war adventures in Malaya with the British Army, where he went whale-watching in the Indian ocean, witnessed the struggle against terrorism, met his life’s partner...
and fell in love with a nation and its people.
Related in frank, earthy prose and accompanied by vivid photographs, Malayan Adventure is both a moving memoir and a beautiful love story.

Malayan Adventure 1947 - 1949
Henry Mason
Paperback -67 pages (2004)
ISBN 1904754-27-9 U.K. £6.99
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Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Twenty-something Danny, fresh out of university, realises his dream of travelling the world – and getting paid for it. But his job as a bartender on a luxury cruise ship proves to be far from plain sailing. He struggles to fit in, he makes enemies as quickly as he makes friends and his limited knowledge of mixing cocktails is easily surpassed by his unlimited appetite for drinking them. A beautiful woman then slips into his life who makes things even more complicated...

A story that encompasses youth and all its associated baggage: friendships, finding a job, travelling, getting drunk, and falling in love.

‘A must-read book for young travellers’

Leavin' on a Jet Plane
Stephen Power
ISBN 1-904754-60-0 U.K. £7.99
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