Christina Dodwell, a young British explorer, sets out for unexplored jungles of New Guinea with little preparation --no map, no plan, no knowledge of the language or customs. This insouciant attitude often lands her in trouble.
She forgets her jungle boots (not for the last time) and has to hike barefoot through knee-deep mud, thorns and leeches. The charm of this attitude is that it allows her to experience her adventures with childlike freshness, a naive imperturbability which she shares with the Stone Age people she finds along the way.
Christina was born in Nigeria, West Africa, and educated in England. Her life of remarkable adventure began by chance in 1975, when she made a 20,000-mile journey round Africa by horse, camel and dug-out canoe. She followed that up with journeys in Papua New Guinea, China, Siberia, Madagascar, Turkey and Iran.
Christina has made 3 television films and more than 40 radio documentary programmes for BBC Radio 4 - several have received distinguished merit awards. She has worked for the Consulate of Madagascar in London for fourteen years and in 1995 she founded The Dodwell Trust, a charity dedicated to the Third World.
Christina was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1989.
Like Isabella Bird and Rosita Forbes, Christina demonstrates enormous courage, a keen eye for detail, an insatiable curiosity about the local people and great respect for their culture.
Read this on my holiday in France. Dodwell is a good writer and has a great story to tell. The books is an account of her solo travels through Papua New Guinea in the late 70s.
This line inspired me:
"A restless and sometimes reckless nature drove me forward and my confidence grew as I realised there is little to fear in this world."
Encountering impenetrable jungles, hostile wildlife and missionary-resilient customs, the author goes way off the map on foot, horseback and by canoe, in a richly detailed and evocative journey through Papua New Guinea.
Meeting a host of colorful characters, experiencing tribal warfare, and deftly extricating herself from several sticky situations, the country and its people are vividly brought to life in a away that the reader can almost feel the leeches, thorns and cool waters.
I was instantly transported to this magical world by her writing and only hope that, several decades later on, it has not now been spoiled by human intervention.
A most excellent travel adventure and thoroughly enjoyable read.