Four Thorns of Kilimanjaro

Book excerpt: Author Jarda Cervenka discovers that reality is often stranger than fiction while living and traveling in East and West Africa. In this collection of stories set in Africa, he describes how those who do not belong, suffer and then want to return to the Dark Continent again. His tales recall a calm village man whose best time in life was the Biafra war, two young Americans who hitchhike to Lake Baringo in Kenya, and a Peace Corps volunteer who disappears in the deadly Niger River delta. He also tells of a young businessman from Baltimore who is in love with an Igbo girl and who encounters a prostitute in an unusual circumstance while on a business trip in Lagos. In another tale, a Californian professor with malformed feet travels to a deep jungle to learn how to construct orthopedic shoes, which change his life. Finally, three adventurers, kidnapped by ruthless robbers, get help from a French secret agent and a dose of luck. Life in Africa can be grim and disturbing, but there's also humor, humanity, and lots of adventure in the Four Thorns of Kilimanjaro.