Customer Reviews
Great book, couldn't put it down! - By: S. Mcbryde, 02 Sep 2008 
Fran's extraordinary story captivated me from beginning to end. Entertaining, witty, (it had me laughing out loud) & superbly written. It's a fascinating account of a journey through 'real' Africa.
An excellent book, I'd highly recommend it.
compelling - By: Mezza, 27 Jun 2008 
Fran is an ordinary person, like you or me, who had an idea & decided to live that idea - not just read about it. Working hard, saving even harder he managed to get to Africa & begin the adventure.
The story is told with great humor & humility & its one of those books that is hard to put down. This is certainly a book that I will keep & read again & again.
great book - By: David R. Clements, 18 May 2008 This is a great book, it's been a while since i read something that genuinely made me laugh out loud. It was a great introduction to the stories of the great explorers as well. Opened a new door of interest for me. Full marks fran sandham.
Here Be Lions (and a donkey) - By: Ms. D. R. Moorhouse, 21 Apr 2008 It's hard to read many travel books without a sense of 'Why? Why are you putting yourself through all this?' & Traversa is no exception. Those who sit at home may not understand what drives some people to these lengths, but that doesn't stop us lapping it up & asking for more.
In this enthralling book, Sandham brings his solo walk from the aptly-named Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean to life. He comes across, variously, as courageous, determined, bloody-minded, & completely insane. By the end of the book, it's easy to feel, as he does, that he has earned his right to bein Africa, even among people so poor that a man who has scrimped, saved & given up chocolate biscuits to be there, is immeasurably rich.
Throughout, Sandham places his experiencesin a historical context, evoking the horror of being preserved from shipwreck only to die of thirst, the shame & waste of the slave trade, & butcheryin wars over territory that match anything Europe has achievedin that line. As his traversa progresses, he moves from a theoretical understanding of Africa to a genuine affection for the place & its people.
The book is filled with dry self-deprecation & humour--there's a disastrous donkey, & we can only imagine Sandham's problems with his mule, as he declines to go into details--and some of the characters he meets are portrayed as so much larger than life that there's a temptation to believe they're imaginary. Perhaps the best example of the man's courage is when, having invested time, effort & moneyin a donkey (diseased), a donkey-cart (beautifully painted), & a mule (disobedient), he's able to walk away from all three. Many people would have persisted evenin the face of so much discouragement, but Sandham knows when to cut his losses. He probably wouldn't have made it across Africa without that knowledge.
Apart from the not-so-tame domestic animals, there's lions. Real, live, traveller-eating lions. Fortunately, the threat they pose is more perceived than actual; some people have been eaten, but Sandham gets through. There's also explosive diarrhea, a very unpleasant, if probably inevitable, attack of malaria, and, of course, blisters. Yet day after day, he gets up, & gets going. Even after side trips to investigate mules or donkeys, he insists on being driven back to the point where he stopped walking, so he can start again. He knows when he's idled somewhere too long, & somehow gets himself going. There's no cheating on this journey, even though the temptations must have been enormous.
This book entertained & saddened me by turns, & I heartily recommend it--reading what Sandham has to say is the only way even partially to answer the question, 'Why?'.
Great stuff - more please! - By: L. Jones, 31 Mar 2008 I loved this book. I'm easily irritated by the somewhat superior tone adopted by some travel writers but Traversa made a refreshing change. As well as the sense of adventure, for me it was the humour that made it a real page turner.
