African Unmasked

The author spent some 900 days traveling overland through 49 countries on the continent of Africa. It included 31 trips spread over three decades. He used whatever transportation he could find: trucks, bush taxis, buses, trains, a riverboat, car ferries, canoes, rental cars, walking and more. It took him beyond safaris and must see locations to Africa’s back roads that he found the most intriguing and challenging.

He dealt with armed robbery, a hotel invasion attempt, assault, checkpoint extortion and bribery attempts, fake police scams, navigating past landmine areas, a gorilla mock charge, flash floods and a bout of malaria. He met fascinating people and people who helped him navigate through dangerous areas, as well as find places most worth visiting.

Additionally, a few of the most interesting major events he encountered and investigated are related in the intertwined topics of political versus economic apartheid, slavery, endless variants of forced labor and exploitation, obscene inequality, overpopulation and related resource conflicts often masked as having an ethnic or religious basis, including genocide.

The excitement of exploration and overcoming obstacles with curiosity, reconnaissance and research, added to the fascinating things he learned, inspired the author to return again and again to the continent he found the most exiting in all his travels. Africa.