● Our Resident Blogger - TwoandFro

● Will's Recommended Readings

 

There is so much to know about all the different regions we travel to, and way more to read than I have listed here. I have tried to distill this list down to books that have been useful to me from a historical, geographical and wildlife perspective, as well as  novels and bios that have affected me the most. I have unashamedly leant  more to the literary than the reference, because I believe Adventure Travel is about stories, and facts can sometimes get in the way! 

Please note that the recommendations are in no particular order of either rank or genre. 

I have split the list into countries and sometimes regions to narrow down your focus if you are only visiting certain areas that you wish to know more about. I have NOT included guide books and general travel companions as those are easy enough to research. 

Field guides are included at the end of each country or region with notes as to where to source them.

 

Will Taylor                                 

President,  Khashana Adventure Travel

 

 

 

South Africa:

Playing the Enemy by John Carlin .......... The Scramble For Africa by Thomas Packenham
My Traitors Heart by Rian Malan    Country of my Skull  by Antjie Krog 
The Washing of the Spears: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation by Donald Morris    The Covenant  by  James  Michener 
Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa by Martin Meredith   Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela 
South Africa, A Literary Companion by Isabel Balseiro and Tobias Hecht    Jock of The Bushveld by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick 
Newman’s Birds of Southern Africa by Kenneth Newman   THE Great African Society by Hlumelo Biko
The Power of One: A Novel by Bryce Courtenay    Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux
Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton     
     
     

India:

Shantaram by Gregory Roberts .......... The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga   City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple
The Story of my Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi   Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta   The Far Pavilions by GM.M. Kaye
A Guide to the Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives by Richard Grimmet, Carol Inskipp   Field Guide to Indian Mammals by Vivek Menon
     
      

Australia:

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson .......... The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
The True Blue Guide to Australian Slang by Jenny Hunter   Australia:  "A Biography of a Nation" by Phillip Knightley
A Fortunate Life by A B Facey   Cloud Street by Tim Winton
The Man From Snowy River by Banjo Patterson   Beneath the Southern Cross by Judy Nunn
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes   My Brother Jack by George Johnston
Leviathan:  The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney by John Birmingham   Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay   The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
That'd be Right:  A Fairly True History of Modern Australia by William McInnes   Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
The Birds of Australia:  A Book of Identification  by Ken Simpson    
     

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