Sunday, April 14, 2013

Kijana, the untold story by Jesse Martin

 

I liked Jesse Martin's previous book lionheart, the story of his round the world solo voyage. I'd already heard of Kijana the supposed trip with a couple of young crew looking for adventure around the globe. I already knew the trip didn't succeed. So there was a spark of interest asking the question why.

After reading the book I couldn't help make comparisons of the film 'World Safari' where Alby Mangels and his mates travelled the world looking for adventure while filming the whole thing.

  • World Safari was truly spontaneous, while Jesse felt the need to manufacture adventure.
  • Two mates compared to five, Jesse had a lot more personalities to balance.
  • Jesse had to answer to sponsors and the 'office' located back in Melbourne. Alby did have any of this burden.

In the end mainly through personalities and external pressures a three year trip imploded to 8 months. I reckon Jesse would have been better off talking to a couple of people like Alby prior to setting off, and learning a bit of basics on conflict resolution.

 

It was an interesting but frustrating book that didn't seem to resolve.

 

Rated 3/5

 

 

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