cover image A Traveller on Horseback: In Eastern Turkey and Iran

A Traveller on Horseback: In Eastern Turkey and Iran

Christina Dodwell, Christina Didwell. Walker & Company, $18.95 (191pp) ISBN 978-0-8027-1078-9

An unorthodox and adventurous traveler, Englishwoman Dodwell has used horses, camels, canoes and rafts for transport in Africa and China as well as in Papua New Guinea, where she was prominently featured in BBC-TV's prize-winning film River Journeys , rafting down the River Wahgi (``eater of men''), braving arrest three times and, on one occasion, a pelting with stones. In this book, she tells how her plans for a horseback journey in Eastern Turkey were stymied when she found the mountain passes clogged with snow. Awaiting thaw, Dodwell went by bus to Iran, where she borrowed and hired horses for day-long excursions to historic sites. When her visa for Iran was about to expire, she went to Karachi in Pakistan to renew it. Never missing an opportunity, she visits an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan and explores Baluchistan. Then, further adventures in Iran and finally into Eastern Turkey, where she buys a gray Arab stallion and sets out to explore the area, from lowland rice paddies to Mount Ararat. Dodwell is interested in people, history, architecture and artifacts, an irresistible combination. Her first-rate travel adventure is in the tradition of fearless globe-trotters like Dame Freya Stark and Devla Murphy. Photos. (Apr.)