Chair Miles
As armchair travelers know, there are always more places to visit than one can manage to see.
In the event your air miles have not yet taken you to Botswana, then use "chair miles." Send the dog for your slippers and cozy up with one of these wonderful books. Bon voyage!
Botswana
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (a series)Alexander McCall Smith, author
When Gabarone locals find themselves in difficulty, Precious Ramatswe is the bush tea-sipping detective who shows them the way out. Her approach is a home-cooked stew of kindness, intuition, strength and patience, with which she manages to illuminate the good and forgive the weak in us all.
Easily addictive, this gentle series and its warm heroine expose readers to Botswana, a country with one foot in the traditional rural past, and one in a modern present. More
Whatever You Do, Don't Run:
True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide
Peter Allison, author
Peter Allison did what 19-year-olds are generally warned against: headed into territory about which he knew nothing, and in which there awaited plenty of danger. Lucky for all of us, Allison survived to tell his story in terms that are often hillarious and occasionally poignant.
A dozen years later, this teen-turned-thirty-something safari guide has matured while surviving lion charges, royal indescretions, and hundreds of tourists, not all of whom bring their best judgment into the wild.
Reading this book is a bit like having that most valuable of weekend guests -- one who thoroughly entertains through all the main meals and sends everyone home wishing for just a bit more. Show me
Okavango: A Journey
Robyn Keene-Young, author and Adrian Bailey, photographer
Captured in these pages is a society of Okavango Delta wildlife from storks to hippos to elephants and lions -- a portable Botswana courtesy of this talented husband-wife team. More
Coming up in Chair Miles: Scotland