African photo safari turns deadly

I looked forward to reading Tim Farrin’s novel, Sibanda, because the story is set in Africa during a photo safari. Little did I know that the compelling plot would grab me so strongly.

Tim was born and raised in Maine, and after military service, he started an African safari business with a Zimbabwean. When he is not in Africa, Tim and his wife reside in Maine, where they enjoy our woods and waters.

Turns out Tim is a great writer, with strong dialogue and characters, and an imaginative, but realistic plot.

Here’s the very first sentence, in a brief presentation of the story: “The streets and airports of Zimbabwe had erupted into the chaos that much of the world had come to expect from Africa.” Chaos doesn’t begin to describe the tense situation a group of American tourists found themselves in.

I of course enjoyed their first day safari where they saw lots of amazing animals. But then things went badly – very very badly – and they had to set out across the African bush in an attempt to escape a country plunged into evil chaos.

I don’t want to give it all away, but I stayed up way past my bedtime because I just had to know the outcome. My advice – start reading early in the day, and don’t plan on doing anything else that day!

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.