Christina Dodwell Knihy

An account of an exhilarating adventure across West Africa, from the Cameroun rain forest via the Sahara an Tombouctou. Christina Dodwell always chooses an unorthodox means of travel, but mircolight is the most unusual yet. As well as the danger involved it also had the great advantage of getting her to areas in accessible t ground transport and allowing her to land whenever she wished to explore. She met duck-billed women, pygmies, a mountain sorcerer, dancers and nomads. She canoed on Lake Chad, flew through a dust storm, rode a camel into the Air Mountains and - most memorable of all her many adventures - discovered a dinosaur graveyard.

In the late 1980s, Christina Dodwell transitions from a Greek Easter to a chilly Eastern Turkish spring, hindered by the observance of Ramadan. She explores the buried cities and rock-hewn churches of Cappadocia on various horses, her ideal companions for her unconventional travels. As snow blankets the eastern mountains, she journeys further into Iran, visiting a ranch breeding miniature Caspian horses near the Russian frontier, salt desert villages, and then into Pakistan for a visa renewal. Her journey maintains unity within the Persian empire, culminating in a festive village celebration marking the end of Ramadan near the Afghan border. Returning to Iran, she marvels at the ruins of lost empires at Pasargad, Naksh-i-Rustam, and Persepolis, while also navigating the valleys of the Assassins and Kurdistan. Her adventure reaches its peak in Eastern Turkey when she acquires a spirited grey Arab stallion named Keyif. Together, they traverse snow-capped mountains, salt lakes, nomadic camps, and rice paddies, journeying from Erzurum to Lake Van and up to Mount Ararat, discovering the joys and challenges of remote mountain life. Described as “a natural nomad” by The Sunday Telegraph, Christina embodies a courageous spirit and an insatiable wanderlust, sharing her zest for adventure even amidst the occasional night in an Iranian police cell.