Sunday 13 June 2010

Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley


This book was given to me to read by a neighbour of mine who obviously sees some links between me and Mary (sister to writer Charles Kingsley) in terms of my travels to Nigeria, and perhaps previously to Kenya. I may be a bit feisty at times, but l hope this is where the similarity ends!

The times when this was written reflects the Colonial era and so there is a lot to disagree with and she was obviously from quite a wealthy background. However there are some quaint stories in it which are fascinating and are somewhat reminiscent of my experiences in Africa which l am finding very amusing eg. the papaya story and how good for the digestion it is, etc. It is also interesting to read from a woman's point of view and has a lot of ethnographic information which may be useful/interesting.....so l will read on.....

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