I give up. I'm going to Botswana.

I gave it a good try, I really did. I started out with it on CD and really enjoyed hearing Janeane Garofalo do voices for pretentious politicians and jaded Gen Y-ers. But then the president's salty language got too much for younger listeners that might be hovering nearby so I had to switch to the hard copy and it lost me. "Boomsday" by Christopher Buckley is political satire at it's best and good hilarious fun to boot. But I couldn't finish. It was too fun to listen to, but it just couldn't reel me in when I had to sit down and read it. Oh well. There's more books out there.

On to the next one! "Whatever You Do, Don't Run" by Peter Allison are true tales from a Botswana safari guide and absolutely delightful to read. Yes, I have a bit of a love for Botswana right now, but besides that I still would have loved reading this book. Peter Allison was an Australian teenager who went to Africa for a year to have some fun and see some big animals and never wanted to leave. He learned how to become a safari guide and eventually worked his way up to become a true animal conservationist and an expert at what he did. But you sure can't tell that could ever happen by what he gets into along the way. I've decided that he is either humble or honest because he comes across as reckless and slightly stupid. Actually, I take that back. He doesn't set up a pretense of having these great adventures because of his courageous exploration of the African wildlife. He has full disclosure that some of the things that happen only occur because he wasn't careful or made a stupid mistake.

His stories about the tourists he has to deal with are hilarious and frustrating. His stories about the animals are awe-inspiring, terrifying and vastly entertaining. You can just picture him sitting around with his buddies, swapping some of these stories, trying to one-up each other's adventures. I'm so glad he remembered enough detail to make such a fun book out of it. The best part is that you can tell that he really truly loves Botswana, the animals and the wildlife there. Africa probably needs more people like him.