Tropic of Capricorn by Simon Reeve

Tropic of Capricorn: A Remarkable Journey to the Forgotton Corners of the World by Simon Reeve (2009)

Read: September 2012

This book had been sitting on our shelves for about nine months and so I thought that it was about time to get round to reading it.  I wanted a good read to get me back in to reading here in Cairo and this story of a journey around the tropic of Capricorn seemed to fit the bill. What I hadn’t realised when I first picked it up was that this book actually accompanied a TV series – which I now think we should get a copy of!  The author seems to have had an interesting background, as he has presented a TV series before visiting the ‘places that don’t exist’ i.e. places that are not recognised by different organisations like Fifa, the UN, Eurovision – now that programme I’ve got to see!

What was interesting about this book was the range of different countries and hence experiences that are encountered on route, as Capricorn hits southern Africa, Australia and South America.  The author is quite daring in his food and activity choices during the journey as he meets and spends time with local people.  But he is probably more daring in the fact that he is getting married in the middle of the journey and so the first half of the trip he spends planning the wedding from a distance or with his fiancée accompanying him, and the second half he spends trying to get back to her before Christmas!

Although I found some chapters a little too long and needing more breaking up (or maybe this just reflects my need for sleep sooner in the evenings!), the book hangs together very well and the style is very accessible and understanding about the issues and peoples come across. Without revealing what he will find in other countries too soon, Reeve manages to draw out some similar tales that unite these apparently very different countries.  Although the journey is much about meeting the people who live along Capricorn it is not surprising that it is the (changing) climate that they all have in common, and as such the tale turns from a human one to an environmental one.  One that has implications beyond the belt of countries visited.