Esprit de Battuta: Alone Across Africa on a Bicycle

Description

Who has not wanted to escape the daily grind, to search for life and adventure elsewhere? Australian-born and London-based Pamela Watson had a comfortable, if overworked existence, as a management consultant but yearned for freedom and the adventure. 'That's it!' she thought. 'I'll cycle across Africa!' Join her on this intoxicating journey that began as a search for adventure and turned into a journey of self-discovery. Perplexed by what causes her to choose suffering over comfort, she perseveres and along the way discovers companionship, kindness and compassion, and injustices that burn through the page. Cycling for a year and a half, covering nearly 15,000 kilometres and crossing through seventeen countries, she encountered an Africa rarely reported in the media and experienced first-hand the violent tinderbox of local politics. She discovers women are the backbone of rural Africa and is shocked to learn their responsibilities are not matched by their access to basic human rights. Now in its third edition, Esprit de Battuta: Alone Across Africa on a Bicycle is a must-read for all armchair adventurers, those who are curious about the everyday lives of the people of the rural villages of Africa and those who dare to challenge the status quo.

Pamela Watson is an intrepid adventurer and businesswoman. Born in Perth, Western Australia she grew up watching the sun setting in the west and as an adult followed its pathway to Africa. From her intoxicating solo cycling journey in the '90s, travels to 32 countries in Africa, her thrilling entrepreneurial and diplomatic adventures in Nigeria in the 2000s and her ongoing work in Africa, she has a rare insight into Africa's complex and challenging past and present, and offers an optimistic appraisal of how its future might unfold. Pamela is passionate about doing business to her own beat and championing Lagos and the unleashed potential of Africa's female entrepreneurs.