Jambo
African Balloon Safari
Smith, Anthony
First Edition. Second Printing.
This is the thrilling saga of the free-floating balloon Jambo and the three men who risked their lives in a photographic safari over East Africa. Told with humor and at a head-long narrative pace, Jambo is a nature and adventure story that is as exciting with balloon and air as Kon-Tiki was with raft and sea.
To commemorate the centenary of Jules Verne's book about exploration of the dark continent by balloon, and to film big game herds from an excellent vantage point, the author and two cameramen decided to balloon over Africa. Difficulties arose at once: money had to be raised; the author had to learn to operate a balloon; the balloon itself had to be constructed; and everything - including enough flammable hydrogen for six flights each requiring 24,000 cubic feet of gas - had to be transported 3,000 miles to the African game preserves.
The three men came to love Jambo and ballooning in general, but also to fear and respect it. Except for their last flight, Iow over the Serengeti plain when the best photographing was accomplished, there was not a flight that did not come close to disaster. Once they just barely avoided a thermal updraft which would have sent Jambo - and the three men suspended beneath in the open wicker basket - soaring to a height of 40,000 feet.
Another time, wild air currents repeatedly smashed the balloon into the side of a mountain. And there is also drama on the ground - lions which suddenly came out from the trees and entered camp, and a flash flood that almost destroyed both men and equipment.
The safari was a resounding success. The efforts of the three men to make it so forms a thrilling story of adventure in which the balloon, Jambo (which means "hello" in many African dialects), assumes a personality in its own right, vicious and inscrutable and kindly by turns. The numerous close-up glimpses of wild and little-known animals, plus the excitement and danger of ballooning over the wild African country, make Jambo a book that will fascinate readers of all ages who enjoy nature and true adventure.
Hardcover with dust jacket
272 Seiten / pages
maps and 32 pages of color photographs
book very good condition, dust jacket rubbed and with some tears and missing chips.
New York - 1963 - E.P. Dutton & Co.
Art.Nr. 23181
