Walks on the Wild Side

John Pakenham

Exploring an unforgiving land

Are you ready to take a walk on the seriously wild side?

In the early 1980s, John Pakenham walked a total of 1,200 miles through the volcanic desert around Lake Turkana in northern  Kenya in the company of local Turkana and Samburu tribesmen  and their long-suffering donkeys.

Repeatedly beset by extreme thirst and dehydration, blistering  heat, bitterly cold torrential rains, poisonous spiders, vindictive  mosquitoes and the ever-present threat of bandits, not to mention a fatal fight between two of his companions, he was lucky to live to tell his tale.

Pakenham’s account provides a rare glimpse of a tough terrain and its even tougher inhabitants, where every day was a battle for  survival. This is extreme travel that, four decades on, still packs a powerful punch.

‘A lockdown read that transports you to less explored lands, packs a powerful punch and examines the attraction to extreme travel’ The Focus

Paperback: 336pp

Published: Eye (May 2020)

ISBN: 9781785631948