 On his first trip to Africa, Stuart Stevens enters the Central African Republic with a bag of spare parts for a Land Rover, a detailed Michelin Map, two books on travelling across the continent and a young woman with a penchant for carrying 2-kilo issues of Vogue Magazine. His mission: to recover his friend’s Land Rover and drive it to the Mediterranean.
Within ten minutes, he is robbed. Within one week, he knows the Land Rover will never be released from its new home in the C.A.R. Not to be deterred, Stevens and his travelling companion purchase a “new” Land Rover and set off across Cameroon and Chad in the hopes of meeting his wife in Algeria after three months of travelling – plenty of time.
Stevens’ utopia-like visions of a well-prepared overland safari quickly crash into the realities of West Africa like a Peugeot caught in an elephant attack. His life is saved numerous times not by his extensive preparations and practiced negotiation skills but the presence of a lovely female companion and sheer dumb luck.
Bribery is an art form, driving is a full-contact sport and canned food is a delicacy, Stevens learns. He comes to fully understand the meaning of a phrase repeated by everyone he meets: “West Africa wins again.” Bureaucracy and paperwork abound like his car problems and the scarcity of everything inflates prices to explosive levels. In fact, the only thing that everyone seems to have plenty of is time!
Aside from his adventurous, risky and hilarious journey, Stevens’ writing style is more than entertaining. The wit and humour in every sentence leaves the reader begging for more detail, hoping that the trip will never end.
To reveal the offbeat characters and twists and turns of Stevens’ novel would only dampen the impact of this wild tale. It must be read and enjoyed like a glass of ice water after a harrowing ride through the desert.
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