An Affair with Africa Expeditions and Adventures Across a Continent (Audible Audio Edition) Alzada Carlisle Kistner CM Hebert Inc Blackstone Audio Books
Download As PDF : An Affair with Africa Expeditions and Adventures Across a Continent (Audible Audio Edition) Alzada Carlisle Kistner CM Hebert Inc Blackstone Audio Books
In June 1960, Alzada Kistner and her husband, David, a promising entomologist, left their 18-month-old daughter in the care of relatives and began what was to be a four month scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo. Three weeks after their arrival, the country was gripped by a violent revolution, trapping the Kistners in its midst. Despite having to face numerous life-threatening situations, the Kistners were not to be dissuaded. An emergency airlift by the United States Air Force brought them to safety in Kenya, where they continued their field work.
Thus began three decades of adventures in science. In An Affair with Africa, Alzada Kistner describes her family's African experience; the five expeditions they took beginning with the trip to the Belgian Congo in 1960 and ending in 1972-73 with a nine month excursion across southern Africa. From hunching over columns of ants for hours on end while seven months pregnant to eating dinner next to Idi Amin, Kistner provides a lively and humor-filled account of the human side of scientific discovery.
An Affair with Africa Expeditions and Adventures Across a Continent (Audible Audio Edition) Alzada Carlisle Kistner CM Hebert Inc Blackstone Audio Books
If you like entomology, you will like this book. I learned what a mymecophile is. The period of upheaval in Congo was historically interesting too. Science, travel, history in a very well written tome.!!!!Product details
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An Affair with Africa Expeditions and Adventures Across a Continent (Audible Audio Edition) Alzada Carlisle Kistner CM Hebert Inc Blackstone Audio Books Reviews
I have always been greatly intriqued by Africa, this book made me love it even more, as it was one I picked out to give me wings to travel in my mind without having the means. Spectacular Book!
I agree that the author (somewhat) romanticizes colonialism. However, the family didn't seem to have a lot of contact with black Africans, so she wrote about what she experienced the privileged lives of the Europeans there. She and her husband seem incredibly politically naive though.
That aside, I found it a fascinating book, in spite of the science, which wasn't too daunting, but caused me to mutter "here we go ..." each time it appeared.
I'd like to hear more of their adventures in other continents.
ALZADA CARLISLE KISTNER...my hat is off to you! You lived a life I could never live and yet through your wonderful book I have experienced the adventure, high drama, stark terror and beauty of Africa.Thank you. You are an inspiration! Talk about a positive attitude! When the going gets tough for me I will think of you and your family. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book. Your humor and practicality made it a book I just couldn't put down.
While I finished this book (and enjoyed the last half) and learned a lot of about Africa and scientific research, the insensitivity of the author to her surroundings ruined the experience for me! How can Kistner rave continually about the wonderful social whirl of the diamond-owners and fail to even mention the plight of the workers in those diamond mines. Same for the "glamorous" safaris. Not to mention the life-threatening danger to her children! Here she is -- for more than a decade -- exposed to perhaps the greatest of social and political upheavals, and nary a word except to lament that this wonderful way of life was changing! Read this book if you're curious about Africa in the 60s and scientific expeditions to remote sites w/ a family. But don't expect more than a limited, narrow report -- written as if the author wore blinders.
This is a very good book about the authors travels and expeditions to Africa collecting myrmecophiles and termitophiles which are beetles living with ants.
Dave the husband of Alzada is a researcher who collected beetles and the author went with him on his trips. They first went to Congo while it was ruled by Belgium and went to EINAC the research station. Congo was on the CUSP of freedom and they could hear the drums at night as the the drums were used to communicate ( like walkies talkies). After Independence the Belgium white officers did not obey the president of the country and that led to the military was being taken over by Africans and led to different regions coming under the influence of different officers. the deal with Belgium was that it would stay for another 3 years after independence. The women and children were evacuated and the after much difficulty the US Air force came in to evacuate Alzada and her husband. Their were many missionaries who refused to be evacuated and were later killed.
The myrmecophiles emulate the behavior of the ants and live in ant colonies and Alzada was spending a lot of time collecting them from the rain forest in Congo.The ants lived in colonies of upto 25 million and they moved once every few days and carried their larvae and queen with them to the new nest. Some Species of the myrmecophiles live in the ant nest and can only be seen when the ants move the nest and some other species go out with the hunting column of ants. since the beetles wals slower than the ants they are usually found at the end of the ant column. The beetles go with the ants even though they do not hunt as they do not know when the nest is getting moved.
Another trip to Africa was taken south Africa, Namibia, Rhodesia and Portuguese colonies of Africa ( Angola and Mozambique ). it is more difficult to collect the beetles in the desert as there are fewer ants. Dave and Alzada also started collecting beetles that live with termites called termitophiles.
Alzada tells a story about a mamba snake coming towards her as she was watching an massive 5 pillared ant colum and as the snake crossed the ants the started biting it and it was dead before it reached her.
Alzada talks about the difficult driving in the sand to reach their destinations being charged by black Rhinos which are more dangerous than the bigger white Rhinos and their car being tossed around by a bull elephant. They also took a merchant ship down to Africa. they were the guests of the Diamond company in Angola which manged 2 provinces. The Africa of their travels was the old colonial Africa and the blacks were not treated well by the whites but after independence most of these countries went into tribal conflicts and became very unstable
In their last trip to Africa they went to a Park where they had lions sleeping next to their tents. Titsi flies were everywhere and their bites were very painful.
this is a interesting easy to read book filled with many stories and will give the reader a general information of Africa and that of the white settlers
Admittedly some parts of these recollections of travels throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa by the author and her scientist husband are a bit repetitive and sometimes droll, but certainly this work covers a time period of great interest in African history (early 60's to mid 70's while many countries were gaining independence) and there were certainly enough adventures and interesting stories to hold my interest. recommended
Excellent!
If you like entomology, you will like this book. I learned what a mymecophile is. The period of upheaval in Congo was historically interesting too. Science, travel, history in a very well written tome.!!!!
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