No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Excape, A Perilous Climb

Rating:
Summary: Real world fantasy!
Review: No Picnic on Mount Kenya by Felice Benuzzi. This real world tale of adventure and danger to escape the doldrums of life as prisoners of war boggles the mind. Why would three ill-fed, poorly equipped, insufficiently trained, and uninformed Italian prisoners of war escape from their British camp, leaving behind a note saying they would return in two weeks? Encountering bull elephants and real or imagined leopards and rhinos, they slip and slide with hand-built iceaxes and crampons and overburdened backpacks up the slopes of Africa's second tallest mountain. Gives you a sense of wonder about the human animal.

Rating:
Summary: A breath of fresh air
Review: This book is a welcome change from all the peak bagging, egoistical, mountain-conquering books out there. The author talks so poetically about the beauty of the mountain , that its hard to remain unaffected. Their mission is extremely pure and simple - to climb Mt. Kenya, although some people might say that it was an irresponsible thing to do in the middle of war .... The truth is that its a fantastic description of their whole adventure, with graphic descriptions of the jungle and how they made it with POW rations and home-made climbing gear. A true mountaineering classic !