The Ukimwi Road: From Kenya to Zimbabwe - Hardcover

Murphy, Dervla

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879515562 ISBN 13: 9780879515560

Publisher: Overlook Pr, 1995

Synopsis

A record of the author's three-thousand-mile trip by mountain bike through sub-Saharan Africa describes the landscape and village life of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and other countries, and the impact of AIDS, drought, and economic mismanagement there.

About this title

Book Description

Tells of Dervla Murphy's cycle journey through sub-Saharan Africa. She describes the beauty and ruggedness of the countries she visited, but also offers her own view of the concern of the people with Western development projects, AIDS, and the return of communities to traditional ways.

From the Back Cover

FOR TRAVELLERS WHO WISH TO REMAIN CAREFREE, AFRICA IS THE WRONG CONTINENT

Embarking on a three-thousand mile solo cycle ride across sub-Saharan Africa, Dervla Murphy, at sixty 'the toughest female travel writer of our age', had hoped to escape from the mental and emotional shackles of home. But as she pedalled and pushed her bicycle over some of the roughest roads from Kenya through Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia to Zimbabwe, inevitably the harrowing problems of the peoples among whom she travelled rose up to take their place. In particular, the mysterious threat of AIDS ('ukimwi' in Swahili) was talked about wherever she went, by both men and women.

Finding comfort in the beauty of the contrasting landscapes of the countries she passed through, in the space and the solitude, and entertained by the talkative, welcoming local people, Murphy survived starvation, a beating by paramilitaries and a bout of malaria. As ever, she was sustained by her extraordinary compassion, humour and sense of adventure. What emerges from her journey along the Ukimwi Road is a personal, often controversial, always compelling view of Africa, its peoples and its future.

''The Ukimwi Road' is at times a grim work. It is also illuminating and clear-headed'
MARK COCKER, 'Daily Telegraph'

'[Dervla Murphy] belongs firmly to that fine tradition of eccentric women travellers...endearingly self-deprecating'
ANTHONY DANIELS, 'Spectator'

'Wonderful descriptions of the varied landscapes spanning her six-country tour ... the reader is given a flavour of the African sense of humour not normally found in travel literature'
JARLATH DOLAN, 'Irish Times'

Edition details

• Publisher: Overlook Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0879515562
• ISBN 13: 9780879515560
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English