Product Description

Wilfred Thesiger, this century's greatest living explorer, recalls his travels among the mountain ranges of Asia. Although Wilfred Thesiger is still largely associated with the Arabian deserts and the Marshes of Iraq, he has also travelled extensively at intervals, over the years, among mountains and mountain people in other remote areas of the Middle East and Asia. In 1987 Thesiger wrote: 'I have always been attracted by mountains!' And he observed more recently: 'Had I done nothing else as a traveller except my journeys in Nuristan, these alone would have amounted to something worthwhile'. Eventful, interesting and remarkable achievements in their own right, the Asian journeys -- among the Hindu Kush, the Karakorams and the Pamirs -- have inspired many of the finest photographs Thesiger has ever taken and contribute significantly to his standing as a great traveller and explorer. Spanning a period of over 30 years (1951-1983) this book draws on Thesiger's original diaries of his various journeys and his vivid memories of them, and includes some 80 or so previously unpublished photographs of the stunning mountain scenery he saw and the people he encountered.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137322 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
Praise for The Danakil Diary: '!a revelation. The diaries get us as close as we can now come to the camp fire around which Thesiger told his best stories' Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times Praise for Life of My Choice: 'One of the most engrossing life stories I have ever read' Richard Holmes, The Times

About the Author
Wilfred Thesiger was born in 1910 in Ethiopia. From 1930 Thesiger travelled through remote areas of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. His journeys and his books have won him numerous prestigious awards over the years. In 1968 he was made a CBE; he was honoured with a KBE in 1995.

Customer Reviews

Among the most average travel journals I've read.
I expected this journal to provide a fascinating and colourful insight into a rarely visited part of the world. But, unfortunately, the script lacks any real life and it falls short of the vivid, beautiful descriptiveness of other travel journals I've read. It feels like it was written in hindsight (it is based on the notes he took at the time) and without too much soulful reflection - when the warm glow of the immediacy of being in such wonderful places had faded somewhat. Nevertheless, it does provide some insight into what life was like at a particular moment in time in parts of the world that are quite remote from most people's first-hand experiences.