A Hitchhiker's Guide to Africa and Arabia

by David Hatcher Childress

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0914091425
• ISBN13: 9780914091424
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Length: 295 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Both a guide and an interesting travel diary

I had this book for years before reading it this winter, and was surprised at how much fun it was. Although it is, in fact, a hitchhiking "guide" to a part of the world that has changed much since it was written, it is also an intimate travel diary and philosophical musing of a young man whose courage facing dangers in places where he was not officially welcome is wonderful to read. For example, he entered Uganda only a week or so after Idi Amin had been put into retreat, and rummaged around Amin's abandoned home. He spent much time with local folks and experimented with qat. He stands up to high officials and gets away with it. The recommendations for lodging in this book would obviously be outdated by now, although I'm sure some of the places he stayed (and he often slept outside or in public facilities like police stations) are still available to the adventurous traveler. Regardless, this book remains worth reading as a travel adventure, guide to interesting places, and as a means to acquaint oneself with African cultures. How he managed to survive on small change will be instructive, while his reliance on Taoist intuition as a means of opening up to possibilities and ordinary people will be inspiring.