Riding the Rhino

Written and self published by New Zealander Megan Laing, who travelled with her Kiwi boyfriend and two Australian friends in a Land Rover through Africa for eight months in a rough figure 8 route through 12 countries. Published in 2010, I assume the travel was no more than one or two years before.

A word first on the self published fact - typically these are riddled with grammatical and/or spelling errors, so this was a pleasant surprise that there were less than a handful of errors I picked up, so well done with the proof reading.

The book is a linear explanation of their travels, written from Megan's perspective generally sharing her views on how it all evolved. As anyone who has travelled in close quarters with other people will have found, tensions become high, relationships are strained, even without things going wrong. This journey, in a 1972 Land Rover, has more than its fair share of mechanical issues, and Megan's other half Craig soon fills the role of full time driver / mechanic when the vehicle becomes too troublesome for the girls to contribute to the driving. Head gasket, starter motors, the electrics, a bent up front differential, a busted axle and a wobbly gearbox are just some of the problems that added to almost constant punctures, blown out tyres and shredded inner tubes keep Craig more than occupied.

Being Africa, there is an immediate need to adjust to Africa time (and timing), to deal with frustration, poor communication and below basic accommodation, as well as the usual travellers dramas of rip-offs, corrupt officials and thievery.

At 400 pages long, it is indeed a thorough examination of their travels, but the detail is kept in the right places - they see a lot, stay a lot of interesting places and meet a lot of interesting people - both travellers and Africans. Animals in the game parks are well covered off, beaches and some diving, most of the key tourist sights / sites and visited in route, and of course the travel itself are covered. Picking up hitchhikers was a way they subsidised their fairly tight budget, and they had a couple who travelled for some time.

Beginning and ending in South Africa, where the Land Rover is purchased and then sold, the journey takes them to Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, into Rwanda (as they were unable to cross the border into Uganda from Tanzania), Uganda, Kenya, back into Tanzania to head down to the coast to visit Zanzibar, then recross their route to enter Zambia. From Zambia they cross briefly into Zimbabwe and straight across the top of Botswana to Namibia, and from there south back to South Africa.

30,000km give or take, over eight months is a pretty good crack at it, and having purchased for two thousand GBP, and selling it again for USD2500, they did pretty well - notwithstanding the many replacement parts they utilised throughout the journey!

While it is hard not to have a fair amount of sympathy for Craig, travelling with three girls, and essentially driving most of the way, making the constant repairs, the four of them all had their own dynamic and contributed in different ways, whether it be financially or in a mediation / calming role.

Overall, I found this a generally entertaining read, and if this sort of grass roots writing and/or travelling is something of interest then this is certainly one of the better efforts.

4 stars