Author(s): Liam Walls

Armchair

This book provides an entertaining, informative and unusual perspective on an under-travelled continent. It isn't only for off-the-beaten-path backpackers; it's for all those people who, when told about hitch-hiking in Africa, wonder, "But isn't that dangerous?" If you are one of these people, get ready to change your mind and be inspired to explore this amazing place for yourself. Liam originally intended to spend six months in Asia and Europe, but a chance meeting in Laos with an American woman knocked him off course. Somehow, a few months later, he found himself zigzagging across Africa. Hitch-hiking together with her and two other new friends, his route was dictated not by a set itinerary but by the people who stopped to pick them up, and other random encounters along the way. For five months they weaved their way from Cape Town to Nairobi. Thirteen countries and 17,500 kilometres later, Liam has a story to tell that baffles most people, often directly contradicting their media-driven preconceptions of this astonishingly fascinating continent. Befriended by a princess, they meet a Losi king and participate, as red-bereted rowers, in the grand aquatic Kuomboka Ceremony in Zambia. An unfortunate car accident leaves them hanging upside-down from their seat belts on the side of a road in Mozambique. They camp in no-man's-land between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Unexpected flooding strands them in Namibia's vast desert. In Tanzania, an argument over the price of a boiled egg leads to a violent punch-up. They master the complex art of the African handshake, devise a solar-heated shower for an isolated Peace Corps volunteer, and discover that a pair of underpants doubles as a pretty decent coffee filter.