Chasing Hornbills: Up to My Neck in Africa

by Simon Fenton, Chris Stewart (Illustrator)

Chasing Hornbills charts Simon Fenton's further adventures in Senegal. Now a father, and expanding his business interests to include a taxi firm and a restaurant, he continues to face the everyday frustrations and exhilarations that made Squirting Milk at Chameleons such a compelling and entertaining read. But as his understanding of Senegalese life and culture grows, so do questions about his future. Will the Accidental African settle permanently in his adopted home, or will he give up and return to his old familiar life?

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 3, 2018

About the author

Since an early age when my family was visited by African students and neighbours told me tales of life in Zimbabwe, I have been fascinated with Africa. After an attempt at a “normal life” in England, I crossed the Sahara desert to reach paradise in southern Senegal and now live there with my family where I write, take photographs and explore the region. My first book is Squirting Milk at Chameleons: An Accidental African. It describes my journey and a year of life in Senegal and will be published by Eye books in early 2015.

Reviews

[Lucinda Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A TOTAL DELIGHT
I so enjoyed this read, give me a book about Africa and I’m happy. This is an account of what it is really like to live in Senegal, the good and the bad. Open the pages and you are there with Fenton in his village, meeting all the interesting characters and all their trials and tribulations. The author repeats so many of the same ideas and conclusions I came to while living much further south. Look deeply into his wise words, especially those about aid agencies. Books like this should be compulsory reading in all high schools, to open the window on a different people with a different culture to understand that we cannot judge others by our views and background. Besides all this it was an easy book to read, and took me back to Africa for a few glorious hours. Highly recommended.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never have I read a book that so mirrors my own 2 years in West Africa (Sierra Leone.) From the cultural differences to the pre-dawn loudspeakers calling the faithful to the mosque to waking up to women sweeping to trying to navigate a romantic relationship with a local person - so many similarities. I understood how he felt. The difference is that I left and he is still there running a guest house in Senegal (which I now want to visit.) If you want to find out what it's really like to live as a toubab (or in Sierra Leone, a poomwee, or white person,) this book will describe it all to you.

[Grant Leishman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first came across Simon Fenton when I read the first episode of his Senegalese adventure: Squirting Milk at Chameleons. It was the title that grabbed me that time and I was so glad it did. What followed was a fascinating tale of an Ex-pat Brit, trying to make his new life in the harsh, unforgiving environment of Senegal, in West Africa. I really enjoyed the story and knowing he was writing a follow-up to that book, I was really looking forward to it.
I was given Chasing Hornbills as an advanced reader's copy, so I was thrilled to be one of the first in the world to get stuck into it. I was not disappointed. Chasing Hornbills is more of the quirky, funny Fenton, mixed in with some deep, thoughtful and insightful comments about Africa and also about the West and its obsession with consumerism. I felt this story was definitely more introspective as Fenton questioned his life in Senegal and whether or not it would be better to write the years off as a great experience and head back to the comfort of western civilization. I'm not sure if he's reached a conclusion on that one yet, but if I can read between the lines somewhat, I suspect he is not willing to give up the benefits of that lifestyle, for the frantic, hedonistic ways of the West just yet. In a selfish way, I hope he doesn't because I , for one, would love to see a volume three in this incredible series.
In many ways, I identified with Simon, partly because I'd done a similar thing when I left New Zealand and traded that lifestyle for the world of Manila and The Philippines. I wouldn't suggest, for a second, that I had to port up with the sort of privations Fenton has had to put up with, but I could certainly identify with and empathize with many of the cultural issues he raised in this book. Having a cross-cultural relationship is never easy and I nodded sagely at many points in this story when the author was exasperated by the cultural differences between him, his partner and his partner's family. I found all of this fascinating reading and I really enjoyed the increased introspection in this edition.
If you love travel books about far-away, exotic places, you'll love Chasing Hornbills. If you just want to perhaps remind yourself, just how much you are missing out on by sitting back on the couch watching television, then this is the book for you. Fenton's love of Senegal, its people, and West Africa shines through in every paragraph, despite his regular frustrations with officials and family. I can get him and I understand that the love and respect for his partner and his children is what carries him through the tough times.
Truly, this book deserves a wide audience. In my mind it's an absolute winner and a gem. Worth every one of the five stars I'm giving it. Roll on Book No,.3 Mr Fenton.