IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA - DODWELL - 1985

Papua New Guinea is 'the Last Unknown', one of the least explored places on earth, its jungle more treacherous and impenetrable than any to be found in Africa or the Amazon.  It is a land of torrential and persistent rain, of mountains, forests, swollen rivers and tropical diseases.  Some of its 700 tribes still live in the Stone Age; some are still cannibals.

This is the story of Christina Dodwell, a woman whose 'restless ands sometimes reckless nature' compelled her to set off on a one-person journey through the jungles and highlands of Papua New Guinea.  Her expedition lasted two years and took her from one end of its unwelcoming terrain to the other.  She met and stayed with primitive tribes, learning their customs and taking part in their rituals and celebrations, she trekked 1000 miles on horse back and spent four months paddling a dugout canoe down the Sepik River.  She appeared to the tribesmen as no white woman they had ever seen and so they treated her as an honorary man.  She became a legend to the people of Papua New Guinea, and her journeys remain as a part of its history.

This book is completely absorbing.  Christine Dodwell can make you realise that you are sharing experiences with a most unusual and courageous woman. 

This 255 page softcover is illustrated with colour photographs.  This book is ex-library and as such has all the usual stamps and stickers, however there are no external markings.  There is a contact covering to outside,  which has some light creases and marks.  Internally there is some browning to page edges due to age and the number 2 written on first page.   There are also two moisture marks - one impacting on last 12 pages and another impacting (to diminishing degrees mostly on margin area) on first 40 or so pages. These marks have caused some light crinkling and discolouration only - the pages are not stuck together.  Even with these faults this is still a good reading copy and a fascinating read!