Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110597 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

A magical journey
Laurens van der Post's classic tale of his expedition to find and understand the San bushmen of the Kalahari takes the reader on a mystical journey into a different world. It is brilliantly told, capturing the vast dryness of Botswana and the attitudes of the very different peoples of that part of Africa. He is neither embarrassingly politically correct (as modern authors on the subject can be) nor patronising. His humour and palpable excitement draw you in completely. You can feel the rumble of the Landrover, taste the dust, and smell the sweat of the sacred Eland as they move deeper and deeper into the bush.

It is hard to imagine that the San could ever have existed in such a desolate land, but that they did until so recently - and perhaps still do - untouched by the outside world, seems almost beyond belief.

Outstanding.

genius at work!
This is an exciting, narrative-driven tale which despite our better understanding of tribal life in Africa - thanks mostly to the amazing documentaries we frequently see on TV today - it still has a sense of urgency and relevance to the present moment. Most of that is due to the author's talent as a writer. Van der Post is truly - not arguably - one of the greatest author's of the 20th century. Some of his sentences strike you with such power and eloquence that you have to re-read them to be sure that what you have just read is possible to say. His writing is nothing short of poetry - the greatest poetry. I would recommend this, or any of his other works.

very readable travel writing
I would like to rebut one reviewer's comments that van der Post had never been to Africa before he wrote this, which is poppycock, and that reviewer clearly hadn't read the book.
This is a great read, it is somewhat a pop anthropology book, but that is not why you should read it. It is in the ilk of 'green hills of africa', and a brilliant travel/expedition book. I must say that i have been to parts of africa and it has helped my imagination run wild whilst reading this book. But I'm sure it would appeal just as much to those who just have a vivid imagination. The book is full of well written description, and has a real thread to the whole book (something 'green hills of africa' lacks). It centres on van der Post's attempts to find the San Bushmen.
Van der Post is a well renowned writer, and despite this book being relatively old, it is still excellent, and something you'll not want to put down once you've started it.
A great book to read if you're going to Southern Africa, or have an interest in the region and it's peoples.