Nature guides to ecologically important regions of Europe from the Crossbill Guides Foundation, with each title combining extensive information about the region’s eco-system with routes to explore the area on foot, by bike or by car. The Crossbill Guides Foundation, based in the Netherlands, is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing public involvement with nature conservation. Its aim is to produce comprehensive guides & other services for nature enthusiasts & tourist to all major European natural areas. The guides are prepared in consultation with local experts. Each title, produced on high quality paper & illustrated with numerous colour photos, is divided into four sections:* An extensive introduction to the area, including its climate, topography & habitat types (bogs, fens, mires, meadows, forests, etc), history & nature conservation, etc.* Fauna & flora* Recommended routes to explore the region on foot, by bike or by car, each accompanied by a map cross-referenced to the text plus a list of selected important species to be found along the route.* Practical tourist information & observation tips, including a list of local species with names in English, Latin, German & Dutch. ...

A dozen years after his last visit, Jeebleh returns to his beloved Mogadiscio to see old friends. He is accompanied by his son-in-law, Malik, a journalist intent on covering the region`s ongoing turmoil. What greets them at first is not the chaos Jeebleh remembers, however, but an eerie calm enforced by ubiquitous white-robed figures bearing whips. Meanwhile, Malik`s brother, Ahl, has arrived in Puntl&, the region notorious as a pirates` base. Ahl is searching for his stepson, Taxliil, who has vanished from Minneapolis, apparently recruited by an imam allied to Somalia`s rising religious insurgency. The brothers` efforts draw them closer to Taxliil & deeper into the fabric of the country, even as Somalis brace themselves for an Ethiopian invasion. Jeebleh leaves Mogadiscio only a few hours before the borders are breached & raids descend from land & sea. As the uneasy quiet shatters & the city turns into a battle zone, the brothers experience firsthand the derailments of war. Crossbones is a fascinating look at individuals caught in the maw of zealotry, profiteering & political conflict, by one of Africa`s most highly acclaimed international writers. ...

The extremes of the human experience are encapsulated in Jerusalem, & Nicholas Woodsworth’s “ Crossing Jerusalem” is one of the most authoritative & evocative travelogues in existence. From the ultra-orthodox communities of Mea-Shearim, where immodestly dressed women can expect to be spat at or stoned, to the Palestinian communities of East Jerusalem, Woodsworth writes about the city with great precision & wit. ...

Shortlisted for a 2016 Edward Standford Travel Writing Award. In 2013, three friends set off on a journey that they had been told was impossible: the north-south crossing of the Congo River Basin, from Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Juba, in South Sudan. Traversing two & a half thousand miles of the toughest terrain on the planet in a twenty-five year old Land Rover, they faced repeated challenges, from kleptocracy & fire ants to non-existent roads & intense suspicion from local people. Through imagination & teamwork
- including building rafts & bridges to cross rivers, conducting makeshift surgery in the jungle & playing tribal politics
- they got through. But the Congo is raw, & the journey took an unexpected psychological toll on them all. Crossing the Congo is a story of friendship, what it takes to complete a great journey against tremendous odds, & an intimate look into one of the world`s least-developed & most fragile states.

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In 1930...” Arabia`s Empty Quarter constituted the broadest expanse of unexplored territory outside the Antarctic continent...” The Explorers` Club Arabia`s vast Rub Al Khali desert is one of the world`s most extreme & inhospitable environments, & in 1930 the race was on to become the first European to cross what is the biggest sand desert on earth. The potential hardship was not to deter Bertram Thomas, the intrepid British explorer who set out to travel from south to north in the winter of 1930-31, guided by Omani Sheikh Saleh Bin Kalut al Rashidi al Kathiri. Challenged by the unknown, they walked for nearly 1, 000 kilometres from Salalah on the coast of Oman, through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Doha, the capital of Qatar; it was to be the first recorded crossing, dashing the hopes of Ibn Philby. Now, some 85 years later, another team of Omanis has taken on the challenge
- leading British explorer Mark Evans across the same stretch of desert. Crossing the Empty Quarter is a large format celebration of the journey in all its aspects. Combining extensive photography
- both archive & contemporary
- with an authoritative yet highly readable text, this book will be a unique exploration of the region as it was more than eighty years ago, & as it stands today.


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Thesiger is first of all a photographer & then a writer. He had to be convinced to write Arabian Sands by someone who had seen these photos. Extracts from this book accompany & comment the pictures. Thesiger has always regarded his five years with the Bedu in Arabia as the most important & rewarding years of his life. His portraits of his companions during the crossings of the Rub al Khali are as impressive as those of the landscape. ...

Award-winning journalist Wolfgang Bauer & photographer Stanislav Krupar were the first undercover reporters to document the journey of Syrian refugees from Egypt to Europe. Posing as English teachers in 2014, they were direct witnesses to the brutality of smuggler gangs, the processes of detainment & deportation, the dangers of sea-crossing on rickety boats, & the final furtive journey through Europe. Combining their own travels with other eyewitness accounts in the first book of reportage of its kind, Crossing the Sea brings to life both the systemic problems & the individual faces behind the crisis, & is a passionate appeal for more humanitarian refugee policies. ...

A new & indispensable companion for planning Thames Estuary passages. This set of tables enables navigators to select the best routes according to tide times. A set of tide tables, Imray charts, East Coast Pilot & now Crossing the Thames Estuary provide all the information that is needed to fully explore the estuary & coasts of Suffolk, Essex & Kent. Designed to help plan your journey across the complex waters of the Thames Estuary quickly, easily & accurately by using the tables provided. These tables are based on 32 routes with alternatives for Springs & Neaps & with a choice of speeds between three & seven knots. The time planning tables will answer questions such as: What is the preferred route? What time do I start to ensure sufficient water through swatchways or over banks? What is the best way to get the most help from the tide & still have sufficient water over the banks? The (South) East Coast of England captured Roger Gaspar's imagination back in 1959. Tiller Girl, built at Leigh-on-Sea in 1964, & now a West Mersea resident like Roger & his wife, has taken them safely & comfortably across the Estuary more than a few times. When you pass them (as surely you will) bear in mind that she was built for these waters & might not need as much water as you do! ...

63 routes with full passage tables An indispensable companion for planning Thames estuary passages, this set of tables enables navigators to select the best routes according to tide times. A set of tide tables, IMRAY charts, East Coast Pilot & Crossing the Thames Estuary provide all the information that is needed to fully explore the estuary & coasts of Suffolk, Essex & Kent. The object is help you plan your journey across the complex waters of the Thames Estuary quickly, safely, easily & accurately. To do this a series of tables is provided based upon a variety of routes with alternative tables for Springs & Neaps & for a choice of average boat speeds of 4, 5, 6 & 7 knots. As with the first edition, the concentration is on the `inside` routes that weave through or across various sands & swatch ways. However, this edition now

Includes:: the `outside` route between the Suffolk Rivers & Ramsgate. The Time Planning tables will enable you to plan departure times to arrive at key points on the crossing at your chosen time. The purpose is to provide the reader with a simple & accurate way to determine the best choices when making the crossing: what is your preferred route? What time do I start to ensure sufficient water through swatch ways or over banks? What is the best compromise to get the most help from the tide & still have sufficient water over the banks? Please visit www.crossingthethamesestuary.com for corrections & changes, an illustrated ` Notices to Mariners` service for the area covered by this book & a range of chart lets of Roger`s surveys.

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A novel of the friendships & woes of two couples, which tells the story of their lives in lyrical, evocative prose by one of the finest American writers of the late 20th century. When two young couples meet for the first time during the Great Depression, they quickly find they have much in common: Charity Lang & Sally Morgan are both pregnant, while their husbands Sid & Larry both have jobs in the English department at the University of Wisconsin. Immediately a lifelong friendship is born, which becomes increasingly complex as they share decades of love, loyalty, vulnerability & conflict. Written from the perspective of the aging Larry Morgan, Crossing to Safety is a beautiful & deeply moving exploration of the struggle of four people to come to terms with the trials & tragedies of everyday life. With an introduction by Jane Smiley. Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) was the author of, among other novels, Remembering Laughter, 1937; A Shooting Star, 1961; Angle of Repose (Pulitzer Prize), 1971; The Spectator Bird (National Book award), 1977; Recapitulation, 1979. Three of his short stories have won O. Henry prizes, & in 1980 he received the Robert Kirsch award from the Los Angeles Times for his lifetime literary achievements. His collected stories were published in 1990. Jane Smiley is the author of many novels & works of non-fiction, including, most recently, ” Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel”, about the history & anatomy of the novel. Her most recent novel is ” Good Faith”. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for ”A Thousand Acres”, & was shortlisted for The Orange Prize in 2001 for Horse Heaven. ...