I have been fascinated with north Africa for a while now. It started with watching an obscure French movie, which i do not even remember the name of, about two old guys who decide to drive from Paris to Timbuktu to meet their dear friend who is on his death bed. This is their re-creation of an old journey the three friends had taken together. I was fascinated by the gradual cultural change from south Spain to Morocco to the Arab/African nature of Algeria to the proper African nation of Mali; and the landscape of the Sahara. I had always and only known about Sahara as a big dessert, but this was the first time i actually started thinking about Sahara and understanding the nuances that it carries.
I was also fascinated by the Saharan nomadic tribe of Tuaregs and their way of life. I started listening to the Tuareg band called Tinariwen which got me interested in their culture even more. I had already listened to the African musicians like Ali Farka Toure - his album 'Talking Timbuktu' (which i feel is a great name for an album) recorded with Ry Cooder i have listened to multiple times on youtube. I read about more about the Tuaregs, the nomadic tribe of Sahara, and came across the trade routes they chalked into the heart of Sahara to ferry people and goods and money from the Atlantic ocean to inland Africa. These look beautiful, criss crossing the African continent and could be an an interesting travel route to really feel Africa. Maybe there are Tuareg travel groups taking travellers across Africa, must explore.
I had also spent much time exploring the north African countries on google maps; i think that is one of the best ways to day dream about travel. Probably it would end up being the most inspiring source for my travels in the future. During my visit to Egypt, i got to know about the people who the Europeans call as Berbers, but who proudly call themselves Amazighs. They are native to north Africa and have been living there since before the Arabs arrived. My Bedouin guide to the desert in Egypt was telling me about the Berbers who live in the Siwa oasis in western Egypt, and how the Bedouins cannot understand the Berber language at all. (Note to self - explore more about the Berber language and its origins). The Arabs call the north African countries Maghreb, which i think means the area lying to the west. So all this context had primed me for anything related to north Africa and this is when i laid my eyes on Michael Palin's book, Sahara, while randomly walking through Blossoms one day. I had heard about Michael Palin as the member of Monty Python and i trust English men to write good books, though they could be notoriously insensitive or ignorant when it comes to understanding and writing about other cultures. I decided to give it a try a light read about the North African countries.
I enjoyed the book for the story it told about the African countries, stories that i did not know. Such as - Western Sahara and its struggle for freedom from Morocco, the longest train in the world which runs in Mauritania, the old mosques of Mali, and the Dogon people of Mali and their unique dwellings and culture, the Cure Salee festival in Niger, and the Tenere desert in Niger (considered one of the most beautiful parts of the Sahara), the oil rich northern countries on Algeria and Libya, the cultural difference between Algeria and Tunisia, the Roman remains of northern Africa, also the long passenger train from Tunis to Algiers.
I feel the best travel books can do well is tell you stories about the places and its people, provide you context so that you understand the place better. And also make your curious to know more about the place, maybe even visit the place. Of all the places i read about in Sahara, the one i am most curious about and keen to visit is Tunisia, because it is supposed to be so different from its neighbours, and for the mixture of Roman ruins, Arab culture and African landscape it promises. Another place i have been always keen on visiting and now am even more so is Morocco - it has desserts and mountains and again this curious mixture of different cultures. Thanks to this book i got to know more about Morocco and some curious places there that i would like to visit.
The book follows the chronology as Michael and his team make a counter clockwise circle (almost) from and to Gibraltar (which surprisingly is a British army centre, i didnt know). Because of the chronology, you get to sense the gradual change in the context and landscape, which makes it a better read - makes you want to read further to know what happened, like looking forward to the various places that you would be visiting on your travels. The book carries a map of the travel route followed by Michael and his team at the beginning, so you know the places they are going to be visiting. This build the anticipation of wanting to know what they saw and felt like for example in Algeria.
Its been almost a month since i read the book, and in hindsight i remember the places better than the people Michael met on his journey. Maybe the book lacked in describing the people as well as it did the places, or maybe the kind of interactions with people on such journeys is brief and hence suffers from a lack of depth.
But of all the books i have been reading, some of them currently lying unfinished, this book captivated me the most and i read it the fastest. Purely by that metrics alone, i would say i enjoyed the book.
Taking inspiration from this i will be reading more travel books in the future - books by V.S.Naipaul are on my mind. I look forward to read more fascinating stories about people and places, and derive some inspiration to travel to these places.
I was also fascinated by the Saharan nomadic tribe of Tuaregs and their way of life. I started listening to the Tuareg band called Tinariwen which got me interested in their culture even more. I had already listened to the African musicians like Ali Farka Toure - his album 'Talking Timbuktu' (which i feel is a great name for an album) recorded with Ry Cooder i have listened to multiple times on youtube. I read about more about the Tuaregs, the nomadic tribe of Sahara, and came across the trade routes they chalked into the heart of Sahara to ferry people and goods and money from the Atlantic ocean to inland Africa. These look beautiful, criss crossing the African continent and could be an an interesting travel route to really feel Africa. Maybe there are Tuareg travel groups taking travellers across Africa, must explore.
I had also spent much time exploring the north African countries on google maps; i think that is one of the best ways to day dream about travel. Probably it would end up being the most inspiring source for my travels in the future. During my visit to Egypt, i got to know about the people who the Europeans call as Berbers, but who proudly call themselves Amazighs. They are native to north Africa and have been living there since before the Arabs arrived. My Bedouin guide to the desert in Egypt was telling me about the Berbers who live in the Siwa oasis in western Egypt, and how the Bedouins cannot understand the Berber language at all. (Note to self - explore more about the Berber language and its origins). The Arabs call the north African countries Maghreb, which i think means the area lying to the west. So all this context had primed me for anything related to north Africa and this is when i laid my eyes on Michael Palin's book, Sahara, while randomly walking through Blossoms one day. I had heard about Michael Palin as the member of Monty Python and i trust English men to write good books, though they could be notoriously insensitive or ignorant when it comes to understanding and writing about other cultures. I decided to give it a try a light read about the North African countries.
I enjoyed the book for the story it told about the African countries, stories that i did not know. Such as - Western Sahara and its struggle for freedom from Morocco, the longest train in the world which runs in Mauritania, the old mosques of Mali, and the Dogon people of Mali and their unique dwellings and culture, the Cure Salee festival in Niger, and the Tenere desert in Niger (considered one of the most beautiful parts of the Sahara), the oil rich northern countries on Algeria and Libya, the cultural difference between Algeria and Tunisia, the Roman remains of northern Africa, also the long passenger train from Tunis to Algiers.
I feel the best travel books can do well is tell you stories about the places and its people, provide you context so that you understand the place better. And also make your curious to know more about the place, maybe even visit the place. Of all the places i read about in Sahara, the one i am most curious about and keen to visit is Tunisia, because it is supposed to be so different from its neighbours, and for the mixture of Roman ruins, Arab culture and African landscape it promises. Another place i have been always keen on visiting and now am even more so is Morocco - it has desserts and mountains and again this curious mixture of different cultures. Thanks to this book i got to know more about Morocco and some curious places there that i would like to visit.
The book follows the chronology as Michael and his team make a counter clockwise circle (almost) from and to Gibraltar (which surprisingly is a British army centre, i didnt know). Because of the chronology, you get to sense the gradual change in the context and landscape, which makes it a better read - makes you want to read further to know what happened, like looking forward to the various places that you would be visiting on your travels. The book carries a map of the travel route followed by Michael and his team at the beginning, so you know the places they are going to be visiting. This build the anticipation of wanting to know what they saw and felt like for example in Algeria.
Its been almost a month since i read the book, and in hindsight i remember the places better than the people Michael met on his journey. Maybe the book lacked in describing the people as well as it did the places, or maybe the kind of interactions with people on such journeys is brief and hence suffers from a lack of depth.
But of all the books i have been reading, some of them currently lying unfinished, this book captivated me the most and i read it the fastest. Purely by that metrics alone, i would say i enjoyed the book.
Taking inspiration from this i will be reading more travel books in the future - books by V.S.Naipaul are on my mind. I look forward to read more fascinating stories about people and places, and derive some inspiration to travel to these places.
