The Century travellers
4 total works
The author describes her journey through the Andes with her nine-year-old daughter and a mule called Juana. Together they clambered the length of Peru, from Cajamarca on the border with Ecuador, to Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital, over 1300 miles to the south. With only the most basic necessities to sustain them, their journey was marked by extreme discomfort, occasional danger and even the temporary loss of Juana over a precipice. Yet throughout it all, mother and daughter retained an unflagging sympathy for the perilous beauty and impoverished people of the Andes. Dervla Murphy's other travel books include "Muddling Through In Madagascar" and "Cameroon With Egbert".
Unable to get into Tibet, Dervla Murphy finds herself instead in Nepal, helping out in a Tibetan refugee camp in Pokhara. She is absorbed into a life where poverty and illness are the companions to a culture and a beautiful landscape. Nevertheless, despite the problems and discomforts (rats in the bed being only one), Dervla Murphy managed to meditate with the Dalai Lama, to conduct dangerous and memorable treks into the highlands and, in defence of the bureaucrats, to bring home Tashi (her Tibetan dog). This is the account of her journey. The author also wrote "Cameroon with Egbert", "Muddling Through in Madagascar" and "On a Shoestring to Coorg".
The author went against official advice to make a hazardous journey through Ethiopia in the company of an amiable pack-mule, Jock. During the gruelling trek through remote and hostile regions she was robbed three times, yet the Ethiopian highlanders were usually hospitable and her dependence on them, and increasing familiarity with their way of life, broke down the barriers between them. On reaching Addis Ababa she concluded that this growth of affection for another race "is the real achievement of such a journey", and the book provides an insight into a unique people. Dervla Murphy's other travel books include "Muddling Through In Madagascar" and "Cameroon With Egbert".
During the particularly harsh winter of 1963, Dervla Murphy rode her bicycle across Europe, Persia, Afghanistan, the Himalayas, Pakistan and India. This account of her extraordinary solo journey tells of her resourcefulness in the face of personal dangers and unexpected encounters. Dervla Murphy has also written "In Ethiopia with a Mule", "Muddling through in Madagascar", "Eight Feet in the Andes", "On a Shoestring to Coorg", "The Waiting Land" and "Where the Indus is Young".