Looking for suggestions on adventure/extreme travel books that take place
 

in the Sahara and/or Northern Africa. I'm interested in topics ranging from early explorers' memoirs, solo journeys across the Sahara, extreme adventures, and Royal Geographic Society mapping expeditions. At the moment, more interested in non-fiction than fiction. Thanks for any (and all) book suggestions!

I am currently reading Leo the African.

Thanks,
raiderjane

I have heard Wind, Sand, and Stars, Libyan Sands: Travel in a Dead World, Sahara Unveiled, and Men of Salt are good books. Can anyone comment? Any of your own recommendations? Thanks again!

I'm assuming you've read The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. It's non-fiction, but otherwise fits all your requirements - One of the greatest travel novels ever written.

Skeletons on the Zahara: a true story of survival by Dean King.

You might find an interview with the author on C-Span Books. As I recall the story was a favorite of Abraham Lincoln's. Dean King, the creator of this version, came across the earlier book and then attempted to recreate the adventure, maybe with funding from National Geographic.

Summary:
In 1815, twelve American sailors washed up on the shore of North Africa. Captured and sold into slavery, they were then dragged along on an insane journey through the bone-dry heart of the Sahara-a region no Westerners had ever explored. Rain was expected once every six years and it was so hot that cadavers naturally mummified. Along the way the Americans would encounter everything that could possibly test them: barbarism, murder, starvation, death, dehydration, and hostile tribes that roamed the desert on armies of camels. SKELETONS ON THE ZAHARA will remind readers of the bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, but in settings more exotic and with hardships even more difficult to survive. From the cold waters of the Atlantic to the searing Saharan sands, from the heart of the desert to the heart of man, SKELETONS ON THE ZAHARA is a spectacular odyssey through the extremes. This is quite simply the most exciting adventure story to be published in years.

The book I'm suggesting isn't focused only on North Africa/Sahara, but it's a great adventure/travel book nonetheless. "Around Africa On My Bicycle" is by Riaan Manser, a South African guy who was the first to circumnavigate Africa by bicycle. He goes through all 32(?) African countries with coastline, starting in Cape Town. I'm currently reading his Egypt portion of the trip.

I would recommend it to anyone who is into Africa travel, especially adventure travel.

I can recommend Malaria Dreams(hilarious), Dark Star Safari and the Michael Palin books.

Thanks everyone! Checking these out. :) Any others?

raiderjane

oops...i meant to say that The Sheltering Sky was fiction.

That's ok crosscheck. I knew that's what you meant. :) I must admit I've read nearly half way through The Sheltering Sky and haven't been able to get into it again. It was slow in that section. W/o giving any *spoilers*, does it pick up? Thanks!

raiderjane

One of the few whoclimbed all 8000m+ mountains without oxygen suppl.:

http://www.reinhold-messner.de/

I am sure he is also available in ENGL.

Dr. Erich Ritter - Shark specialist:

Publikationen [Bearbeiten]

* Erich Ritter: Das Lächeln der Haie. Gedanken und Geschichten aus dem Leben eines Haiforschers. Verlag Dr. Werner Steinert, 2001, ISBN 978-3-931309-07-7.

* Erich Ritter: Über die Körpersprache von Haien. Verlag Dr. Werner Steinert, 2002, ISBN 978-3-931309-08-4.

* Erich Ritter: Mit Haien sprechen. Das faszinierende Verhalten eines bedrohten Jägers. Kosmos Verlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-440-09807-3.

* Erich Ritter, Gerhard Wegner: Haiunfälle. Hintergründe verstehen - Gefahren erkennen. Kosmos Verlag, 2005, ISBN 978-3-440-10171-1.

* Erich Ritter, Gerhard Wegner, Andre Hartman: Der weisse Hai. Abenteuer, Fakten, Faszination (Ein Herz für Tiere). Kosmos Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-440-10171-1.

SV ((@))

raiderjane,

I found the Sheltering Sky riveting because I am a travel fanatic and this book is about the power of new surroundings - whether they cause you to reinvent yourself or to find your true core. (Bowles uses the stark Sahara landscape as provocative allegory.) My book club loved this book and we all have different tastes...so I would definitely recommend finishing it. If you're looking for a literary masterpiece about extreme adventure in N. Africa, this is it. It will stay with you.

crosscheck:
Yes, I need to finish. Perhaps I am at a lull in the narrative.;)

Special thanks to you crosscheck, and to everyone else who took the time to post.:) We've got some very intriguing selections here! Please keep them coming!

Thanks