To Timbuktu for a Haircut: A Journey through West Africa

(Paperback)

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Timbuktu: the African city known to legend as a land of scholars, splendor and mystery, a golden age in the Sahara Desert. But to many it is a vaguely recognizable name a flippant tag for the most remote place on earth. With this fabled city as his goal, author Rick Antonson began a month-long trek. His initial plan To get a haircut.

Aided by an adventuresome spirit, Rick endures a forty-five hour train ride, a swindling travel agent, Third World, three-lane roads, rivers, and a flat deck ferry boat before finally reaching Timbuktu. Rick narrates the history of this elusive destination through the teachings of his Malian guide Zak, and encounters with stranded tourists, a camel owner, a riverboat captain, and the people who call Timbuktu home.

Antonsons eloquence and quiet wit highlight the citys mythsthe centuries old capital and travelers dreamas well as its realities: A city gripped by poverty, where historic treasures lie close to the sands of destruction. Indeed, some 700,000 ancient manuscripts remain there, endangered. Both a travelogue and a history of a place long forgotten, To Timbuktu for a Haircut emerges as a plea to preserve the past and open cultural dialogues on a global scale.

The second edition of this important book outlines the volatile political situations in Timbuktu following the spring 2012 military coup in Mali and the subsequent capture of the city by Islamic extremists. Literally, it is a race against time to save the citys irreplaceable artifacts, mosques, and monuments, and to understand why Timbuktus past is essential to the future of Africa.

Reviews

Not just for the armchair traveler, this book would serve as a useful guide for those interested in exploring Mali. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Rick Antonson is the author of Route 66 Still Kicks: Driving America's Main Street, To Timbuktu for a Haircut: A Journey Through West Africa, Full Moon Over Noah's Ark: An Odyssey to Mount Ararat, and Walking With Ghosts in Papua New Guinea: Crossing the Kokoda Trail in the Last Wild Place on Earth. Rick is a past chair of Destination International, based in Washington, D.C. and past deputy chair of the Pacific Asia Travel Association based in Bangkok, and the former president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver. He and his wife Janice live in Predator Ridge in Canada's Okanagan Valley.