Marmite, Bites and Noisy Nights (in Zambia)

Their BAE Jetstream was now coming in to land at Mfuwe’s airport. “Mfuwe International”, Brian soon learnt, wasn’t very international, or very large or indeed very smart, but it was still the all-important gateway to the South Luangwa National Park. And that’s why he and Sandra had come here. They were embarking on a three-week safari holiday in Zambia, where for the first two weeks they would be making their way around this national park.

Marmite, Bites and Noisy Nights (in Zambia) is another day-by-day account of an expedition made by Brian and his wife, Sandra, this time around the South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi national parks – in, unsurprisingly, Zambia.

However, it is also an example of how the travel-book genre can be harnessed for the purpose of humour, and of how Brian tends to regard his travels as an opportunity not only to study the wonders of the natural world but also to vent his opinions – whether these are on what he observes around him or on anything else that comes to mind.

This book describes the wildlife that Brian encounters, together with the people and the perils he encounters, but it also catalogues a number of his valuable ‘insights’. There are expositions on the de-evolution of mankind, the likely demise of mankind as a result of the resilience of pathogenic biological agents, the advantages of setting up a new, online religion – and the desirability of the rapid evolution of both universal knee joints and inflatable boobs.

This is the final book in David’s seven-part series that details Brian and Sandra’s travels to Assam, Syria, Borneo, Cape Verde, Namibia/Botswana, Morocco and Zambia. But it is unlikely to be his last!