An affair with Africa : expeditions and adventures across a continent /

A self-declared reluctant writer and amateur scientist, Kistner sets out to record her hair-raising experiences in Africa between 1960 and 1973 as the wife and assistant of entomologist David Kistner. She dwells too much on hours spent over anthillsÄher husband eventually uncovers more than 500 new species of beetlesÄbut the wealth of this narrative is its many fascinating anecdotes in a land where danger is a constant companion. In 1960, the couple is airlifted out of the Belgian Congo as that country descends into chaos. They watch unrest develop in Angola and make a hasty exit from a restaurant in Uganda where an entourage led by future leader Idi AminÄthen a military generalÄcreates an intimidating scene. Kistner is swarmed by ants, stalked by a poisonous mamba and held at gunpoint by drunken soldiers. Most valuable, however, are her descriptions of European and African characters at the twilight of the continent's colonial era. The couple meets with prominent researchers of their dayÄLouis Leakey among themÄbut also with a European crocodile poacher who keeps peace with various tribes in his hunting grounds by marrying their women and fathering dozens of children in scattered villages. Kistner's storytelling lacks pizzazz and authorityÄRedmond O'Hanlon or Lyall Watson, for instance, describe science and travel in Africa with more entertaining resultsÄbut her astounding encounters with a world now receded into history make this an involving personal memoir. Photos. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Associate editor of the journal Sociobiology, Kistner relates her experiences living in the Belgian Congo while she and her husband researched a species of beetles that live with army ants. The result is a humorous tale detailing her five African expeditions from 1960 to 1973‘a tumultuous time in African history. From images of her "hunching over ant columns while seven months pregnant" to the surprised feeling of waking up next to a slumbering lion, Kistner captivates readers with her anecdotes and descriptions of Africa. The book also provides an excellent account of the politics of the country at the time. Both history buffs and armchair travelers will enjoy this story. Recommended for all public libraries.‘Stephanie Papa, Baltimore Cty. Circuit Court Law Lib., Towson, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The adventures of a family spanning more than a decade of scientific expeditions to Africa in search of some of the tiniest of that continent's wildlife. Kistner, associate editor of the journal Sociobiology, is the gamely devoted wife of entomologist David Kistner, the world's foremost expert on myrmecophiles, beetles that live among ant colonies. Beginning in 1960, the young couple began an often harrowing but productive series of expeditions to Africa at a time when many Americans and Europeans were headed the other way to escape the instability of the end of the colonial era. In search of their small quarry, the Kistners, eventually with both of their young daughters in tow, spend long, dusty hours on all fours sucking up insectsŽsometimes thousands in one sessionŽthrough an aspirator. But what readers will find more memorable in this unflaggingly cheery narrative are the family's frequent life-threatening encounters with both nature and man, from poisonous snakes and charging elephants (not to mention biting ants) to bandits and terrorists. They also experienced the last gasp of the European and especially British colonial period with its dinner parties, sumptuous houses, and colorful old Africa hands and colonial administrators. Then, too, the family by happenstance ran into some of the famous and infamous men who took their places, such as presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, and in a brief but scary restaurant encounter, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Kistner tiptoes around the issue of apartheid in then Rhodesia and South Africa, only vaguely muttering her dissatisfaction with the policy and with white attitudes toward black Africans, but politics is only tangential to this account, which is really a rather remarkable family saga. While readers might get tired of stooping to examine ant nests with the Kistners, the portrait of Africa from nearly four decades back makes for an unusual tale. (maps, figures, photos, not seen)