Crocodiles, Camels, and Dugout Canoes

Exciting segments from the adventures of eight travelers who followed their dreams, regardless of setbacks and sometimes insurmountable obstacles. A pre-Darwinian naturalist who trampled barefoot through the snake-infested jungles of South America; a nineteenth-century Swedish engineer who set out for the North Pole in a gas-filled balloon; and a Victorian woman who, after a sheltered life in a London suburb, pursued a fish and fetish mission in West Africa. These are just a few of the intrepid travelers whose exploits are dramatically evoked in this fascinating book. Bo Zaunders and Roxie Munro have brought together people of rare individual initiative and sketched their stories from diaries, letters, and books. As success is not necessarily a gauge of valor, their quests do not always turn out as they hoped. What really matters is how they dealt with unexpected, often desperate situations. Their stories make for compelling, even spellbinding reading. Roxie Munro