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| Nicholas Newman interviews travel writer Fran Sandham and author of the book ‘TRAVERSA’ at the Oxford Literary Festival. Like many before him, Fran Sandham felt the call of Africa. This sense of adventure led him to undertake a trek from Namibia’s notorious Skeleton Coast to Zanzibar on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast. This amazing 3,000 mile walk was across some of the wildest parts of Africa; it was lucky for him that the natives were, for the most part, friendly. Ever since Fran had been inspired by the great adventures of noted Victorian explorers, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley, Fran had felt the call of the wild. Like these two famous adventurers he was to find it a life changing experience. Before his trek across Africa, Fran had been a quiet bookseller, surrounded by books telling of the adventures of famous travellers and explorers. Since his African adventures he has become a popular travel writer, and, for several years, editor of the well-liked Rough Guides series of travel guides for those adventurous in heart. I interviewed Fran after he had finished his talk about his book ‘TRAVERSA’ that recounts his African journey. As for Fran we talked in a room lined with paintings of notable academics overlooking Oxford’s Christ Church meadow. Fran was dressed in a smart broad pinstripe suit, which somehow clashed with his rugged features. During the course of the interview Fran revealed himself to be a self-deprecating and likeable humorous person, who reminded me of Colin Dexter. Fran realised his Reginald Perrin dream of trekking across Africa was going to cost him at least £ 3,000. It took him a year to raise the money and this eventually meant him leaving his job and selling his flat. As for his training, apart from the hours he spent on his feet every day as a bookseller, he undertook no special training. Fran says working in a bookshop: ‘Is very hard on your feet and keeps you fit’? Unlike other modern-day adventurers who usually have a camera team in tow, he had no one to record his struggles of crossing Africa alone. He had to depend on his own resources on his epic trek. Fran’s African experience was unlike the rose-tinted view of Africa presented in the BBC television series ‘Number One Detective Agency’. Yes the country was impressive, including seeing the Victoria Falls, where he managed to buy some doughnuts in a supermarket. He said: ‘I had not eaten for a week.’ However, despite the poverty and corruption, what did impress him was the hospitality of many of the people, as he travelled each day along the hot hard dusty roads with his 60lb backpack and his two walking sticks. His experiences made him appreciate Britain, though he did collapse with malaria, also he lost three and half stone in weight because of his journey. As for the dangers of African trek, Fran said: ‘This did not arise so much from wild animals as from dangerous drivers! At one point he did consider giving it all up, when in middle of the Namib Desert, he thought the prospect of weeks of extreme temperatures would be too much. Even so he did persevere despite the unavoidable bouts of diarrhea for most of the trip from contaminated water. His experience of Africa was not the typical tourist view of Africa stereotyped in much of the travel literature. Fran said: ‘I am not a fan of the typical travel literature that fills our bookshelves today.’
| TRAVERSA A Solo Walk Across Africa, from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean by Fran Sandham (Author) Paperback: 288 pages To read more |
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