Laurens van der Post (1906–1996)

Colonel Laurens Van der Post, a British subject born in South Africa, has "spent most of his adult life with one foot in Africa and one in England." A soldier, explorer, traveler, and philosopher, he fought in World War II in Ethiopia, Syria, and the Far East. Since the war he has worked for the show more British government on a variety of missions throughout Africa. Van der Post's beautifully composed Venture to the Interior (1952) is much more than an account of the planned journey from London to Nyasaland in South Africa, the climbing of Mianje, and the exploration of Nyika. It catches the "unique and indefinable spirit of the ancient continent" and explores the interiors of people's minds. His The Heart of the Hunter (1961) points the way toward a rediscovery of the positive values of the wilderness in our own lives. (Bowker Author Biography) show less