An example of the "Doing something no one else has done" travelogue that have been pumped out in this millennium. This case has the author deciding to walk the length of Madagascar with a zebu for company; certainly not an example I have read elsewhere. Eveleigh claims he is the first westerner to do so and while I have no idea whether he was, it was an enticing possibility.

After waking in an Antananarivo hotel having found that he had rolled over in the night, squishing a rat bedmate, Eveleigh sets off with a zebu (a local beast of burden) for the south. He talks about the danger of him doing such a thing, and no doubt it was dangerous, but that sense of danger just didn't seem to come through in the text for me. And when you factor in that "Maverick in Madagascar" doesn't include photographs (at least the edition I read did not) of what must be one of the most picturesque countries going, left me slightly disappointed with the result. Still, you're not going to get the opportunity to read about someone else's trek through Madagascar with a zebu anytime soon, so maybe "Maverick in Madagascar" could fill the gap in the meantime. ( )