In a not quite mid-life crisis, Jacqui and Sarah - fancying themselves a bit rugged - head off to Africa in search of the deepest, darkest bits they'd seen on Sunday evening documentaries on the telly.
Tear-gas riots, cholera, spider bites, rifle-toting rangers, over zealous marriage proposals and more bed bugs than you could poke a stick at, were not, however, quite what they's been promised in those National Geographic specials. Undaunted, they set out in the spirit of those early explorers who went in search of the source of the Nile and, like them, discover the magic and beauty of Africa.
In their six-month odyssey they climb Mount Kenya, follow wildebeest across the Serengeti, track chimpanzees at Jane Goodall's Gombe Stream, cruise down Lake Tanganyika, explore the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, float through the watery labyrinth of Botswana's Okavango Delta, sandboard down the massive dunes of Namibia, and try to understand post-apartheid South Africa.
Not simply a very funny tale about the dangers of enthusiasm overriding common sense, this book is also a story about steeping out of your comfort zone and pointing your life in a different direction. It's about reaching out and - every now and again - touching the edges of your life.
