The Danakil Diary Paperback - 1998

From the rear cover

In 1930 Wilfred Thesiger attended the coronation of HIM Haile Selassie at the Emperor's personal invitation. Afterwards, he spent a month hunting alone in the hostile Danakil desert of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), which led three years later to his successful exploration of the Awash River. Aged only twenty-three, Thesiger thus became the first European to travel through the fabled Sultanate of Aussa, an expedition which he regards as the most dangerous he ever undertook, and which established the reputation of a man now considered by many to be the century's greatest living explorer.

A vivid compelling narrative, 'The Danakil Diary' records how the young Thesiger surmounted overwhelming obstacles and survived the constant threat of death and mutilation by the Danakil, warriors whose tribal status depended on the number of men they had killed and castrated.

Interspersed with letters to his mother, Thesiger's diary is illustrated with original sketch maps and drawings and many of his previously unpublished photographs.

'As a description of the barbaric splendour, savagery and colour of Abyssinia and its people, and the attitude of a young English explorer already confident of his place in the world, it is brilliant.'
PHILIP KNIGHTLY, ' Mail on Sunday'