Explorers Wanted! In the Jungle

Here we are invited, by physics teacher-cum-jungle addict Chapman, to ‘learn jungle survival, trek through rainforest, find lost cities, brave the sweltering heat, battle swarms of stinging insects and discover Indian (sic) tribes’ through the medium of a modest black and white paperback. Yes, folks, like the Merseysippi Jazz Band before us we’re off Up the Amazon! Writing in an attractively informal thrill-a-line style, Chapman rushes us through the whole gamut of tropical trekkery, combining fascinating fact with sound advice, soldered together with agreeable humour. Chapman obviously knows his stuff and writes, from personal experience, with the ability to punch it home. Whether you enjoy his Ray Mears-on-jungle-juice style is, I suppose, a personal decision, but a whiz through this deceptively lightweight primer will at least entertain, and, should the time arise, leave your better prepared for an Amazon Adventure than Willard Price ever did. Incidentally one wonders if this Chapman is any relation to F Spencer Chapman, whose The Jungle is Neutral is a classic of the genre.