Venture to the interior

by Laurens van der Post

Book Overview

Summoned to Whitehall in 1949, Laurens van der Post was told that in old British Central Africa there were two large tracts of country that London didn't really know anything about, and could he go in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140012389
• Release Date: January 1957
• Publisher: Penguin
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.5" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Thoughful, Philosophical, Introspective Story of Expedition

Just after World War II, Van der Post was sent by the British government to explore and report on two little known and little inhabited regions of British Nyasaland (later Malawi). These two areas are highlands and mountainous, rather atypical of Africa. With the help of colonial officers and numerous African guides and porters he completed the assignment, filed his report and later wrote this short book."Venture to the Interior" is a thoughful, philosophical, and introspective account of the expedition. Van der Post very much writes in the style of travel writers like Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux; the reader sees as much of a mental landscape (Van der Post's) as a geographical one. He describes the journey, both the physical and the mental, in prose that is honest and clear. His thoughts on Africa are usually interesting and often profound.The people he encounters and writes about are mostly Europeans: the district officer, the businessman, the settler-farmer. It would have been nice had he written more about the African population. Still, overall, this is a book well worth reading for those interested in Africa, exploration, travel writing.Most of Van der Post's other books are also well written and well worth reading.