An Explorer's Handbook

by Christina Dodwell

Few people, let alone women, have made as many unconventional journeys in the twentieth century as Christina Dodwell has. She travelled alone through Africa, Papua New Guinea, China, Eastern Turkey and Iran, Kamchatka and Madagascar. She travelled on horseback, by camel, dugout canoe, by horse-cart, bicycle, by microlight and by driving reindeer and dogs. She shared meals with witchdoctors, pygmies and hermits, was attacked by would-be rapists and bandits, arrested as a spy and flung in gaol. So if you are planning an adventure of your own, you can be sure the advice you find in this extraordinary book is the best available; Christina shares her hard-won experiences and gives many useful tips on how to survive. Need to know how to cook crocodile? Look no further. How to buy a camel? How to deal with the head-man of the native village? Christina tells you all this, and much more. She livens up the instruction with tales of some of her adventures, all told with modesty and a charming dry humour.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

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.

Reviews

[BeeQuiet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up in a charity bookshop and it left me with the romantic notion of wanting to travel remote areas on horseback. Highly unlikely, but this enchanting book takes me part way there.