Tropic of Capricorn
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In his greatest challenge yet, Simon Reeve, sets out on a global adventure circling the world around the Tropic of Capricorn. He encounters sumptuous landscapes, spectacular wildlife, strange rituals and desperate poverty. For the Tropic of Capricorn tracks the southern border of the Tropics, and is home to great deserts, paradise beaches and some of the wildest and most extraordinary parts of our planet. Motivated by a desire to learn more about the often forgotten parts of our globe, Reeve investigates the turbulent histories and wide-ranging tensions that shape the identity of these vastly disparate countries, all linked by one invisible line. From the impact of German colonialism in Namibia, diamond mining and civil war in Botswana to Nazi war criminals in mysterious Paraguay, and a controversial nuclear power station built on an earthquake fault line in Brazil, Simon sheds light on important issues that will eventually impact on the West if left neglected. He reveals parts of our planet little understood or even known about in the western world - until now.
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The BBC series of the same name, consisting of four episodes, was on television and as I had a copy of the book in my shelf, I thought I would read the relevant chapters after seeing each episode.
The premise of the book is Simon Reeve travelling along the Tropic of Capricorn - the imaginary line of latitude running around the globe, (ie south of, and parallel to the equator) at the point where the sun can still be judged to pass directly overhead. As Reeve says in his introduction “It is getting harder to find such a unique journey. Mr Palin has bagged many of the best, and I will not be the first to travel around Capricorn.”
It is a bit of a contrived journey. It is really three quite individual trips. Across Africa - Namibia, Botswana, the corner of South Africa, Mozambique and then the island of Madagascar. Then Across Australia. Then Across South America - Chile, Argentina, Paraguay & Brazil. Africa is split into two episodes.
Reeve has a couple of agendas in this journey. He seeks them both out at each opportunity or occasion. The first is the indigenous people - he visits the minorities, he sees their hardships (there are few indigenous people who don't suffer at the hands of the majority), and he passes criticism on the government - either of the time or in the recent past. He learns a little of their culture, but as he is passing through, it is a pretty shallow introduction.
The second is exposing the causes of impacts of global warming - reduced rainfall, deforestation and other environmental issues such as mining, the removal of non-renewable resources, soy production. Of course these things also effect the indigenous population.
Unfortunately in the book (as with the series) Reeve comes across as critical, as superior and judgemental. There really was no need - as simply providing readers / viewers with the facts, information and stories, and allowing them to draw their own conclusions would be infinitely more rewarding. It reached a point where you can see him building up the point where he gets his paragraph of criticism in.
It was readable, but for me this was very much travel-lite. He wasn't working very hard, he had guides and fixers, he wasn't far off the beaten track, and it nearly always went to plan. He also moved quite quickly, so didn't drill too deep into any location or issue.
This was very easy to read, and was of moderate pace throughout, so really is pretty middle of the road for me. 3 stars, but not 3 very challenging or glamorous stars!
