A Leaf in the Wind: Travels in Africa

In 1985 Hudson, an Englishman, returned to Africa, where he had once spent time working on a Zambian farm, to travel for a year as a ``leaf in the wind,'' with ``no pretension of aim and no ambition.'' This lovely, startling, humorous book records his experiences. Seeking out the most undeveloped areas, Hudson walked the arid plains of Mali, rode a riverboat through the dank jungles of Zaire and hitchhiked through war-torn stretches of Somalia, where foreigners are usually not allowed. With a cultivated yet refreshing naivete, he rode a night truck through rain forests, watched the ``animal dance'' of pygmies and accepted the hospitality of the generally gracious, gentle African people. In the caresses of curious, friendly pygmies (which felt to him like ``a shower of autumn leaves''), in the whims of apparently corrupt border officials, even in the overwhelming silence of the Sahara, the author finds the heart of this continent filled not with darkness but with small triumphs, real danger and an almost painful beauty. (Nov.)