Dead Men Don't Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa

Dead Men Don't Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa by Brandon Wilson (Pilgrim’s Tales, November 2005) is a non-fiction travel narrative about a couple's honeymoon on a seven month, 10,000-mile, 17-country trans-African overland safari from London to Cape Town, South Africa.

Summary

This book takes readers along on the author's seven-month adventures across Africa as two confirmed independent travelers join 20 companions and inexperienced guides on a do-it-yourself safari. After their dream of crossing Africa becomes a nightmare, the couple sets off across the continent alone – and that makes all the difference. Stories include encounters with mountain gorillas, a breakdown in the Sahara, hunting with Pygmies, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, exploring the Serengeti, the frustration of border extortion, hopping a “gun-run” thru Mozambique's civil war, rafting the Zambezi rapids and arriving in South Africa as Soweto (circa 1990) erupts into violence.

Once on their own, the couple is thrust into everyday African life. They stay in local hostels, eat in local restaurants and arrange their own travel. Sometimes that means spending 36-hours on a bus ride. Or hiring guides and porters for their climb up Kilimanjaro.

One theme the author emphasizes is the challenge of traveling in a land where the rules change daily, a context likely unfamiliar to most Western readers. At first, there are the basics: where to camp, find food, locate clean water, bathe out of the reach of crocs and bilharzia, protect yourself from malaria-carrying mosquitoes and other diseases. Then there is the challenge of changing money, many times on the black market. They also deal with corrupt border officials. There is the very real challenge of crossing the Sahara eight feet at a time when their half-blind driver hits every piste along the way. Plus they always wonder when some pool in the central African jungle will swallow their truck.

With more work comes more satisfaction. For the author, part of the attraction of travel is to know that you make it from here to there on your own wits. As he states, "The destination permanently becomes a part of you." They wanted to wallow in the minutiae of African life: to talk with Africans, share in their culture, hear about their lives. In an interview the author states, "It blew away all those African stereotypes that had formed from watching films, reading the news and watching non-profit infomercials. As Westerners, we have a tendency to think of Africa as one big place. In reality, it’s composed of hundreds of different cultures, languages and peoples. By Western standards, much of it is poor. But we can’t apply the same standards to African life. The people we met had such vitality and love of life. I’ve never been to a place where the people are so quick to smile and welcome you. Nor have I been to a place where the kids are so eager to learn. We were constantly approached and asked for pens or paper. We learned that kids throughout Africa often can’t attend school without bringing a 25-cent pen."^[1]

Illustrated with 38 author photos and maps.

Review excerpts

"An invaluable amalgam of information for readers of adventure travel or anybody who is considering “do-it-yourself” safaris or simply visiting Africa." ~ Midwest Book Review
"Entertaining and a monument to those who would take on the challenge of land travel across one of the most dangerous, unhealthy continents in the world." ~ Heartland Reviews
"Honest, gritty and insightful. Best of all, it makes the world’s most exciting continent read just like that.” ~ John Heminway, author of No Man's Land: A Personal Journey into Africa

See also

• True at First Light
• Green Hills of Africa

Notes

1. ^ http://www.pilgrimstales.com/dmd_interview.html

Citations

• Wilson, Brandon. Dead Men Don't Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa. Pilgrim's Tales, 2005. ISBN 0-9770536-4-4 (perfect paperback), ISBN 0-9770536-5-2 (hardcover)

References

• [1], with expedition photos, maps and useful Africa links
• Interview with the Author