Looking for adventure, Vilem Nemec traveled from Prague to Cairo. During his Twenty-Five Years in Africa, Vilem began to see life more like a native than a tourist. Unfamiliar with Arabic when he arrived, he struggled to learn it quickly, working menial jobs to support himself. Vilem not only learned to speak, read, and write Arabic, but he was able to communicate with tribal natives in many remote areas. His travels took him to remote places in Somalia, Abbyssinia, Sudan, and Sinai. Earning respect as a pharmacist and veterinarian, Vilem came into contact with many influential leaders. His memoir is peppered with rich, historical details explained from a firsthand observer and filled with stories of friends—German, Egyptian, Czech—from a woman running from an arranged marriage to a writer influencing Aida. Vilem's own adventures are no less exciting. Whether he's capturing a live caracal or wooing harem women, his stories present a vivid description of Twenty-Five Years in Africa from 1884 to 1910.
Vilem Nemec was dreaming about going to Africa for years. He was a pharmacist, just completing his exams, and studying languages, zoology and natural history to prepare himself for the trip, his dream of the future. Then one night, at a party with his friends, who were teasing him that he will never make it, he announced that he is leaving tomorrow. He got himself into a situation from which he could not back out without losing face, so he left for Africa the next day, with no money in his pocket. This is a journal of his two year trip to Cairo from Prague, with many humorous adventures in between. His granddaughter, Jana R. Nemec Jirak, translated the journal from Czech language.
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