An African oddyssey

Living on his wits, author Will Randall finds himself pulled towards the southern African nation where he resumes a teaching career that has previously taken him from an inner-London comprehensive to the Indian sub-continent.

On arrival, Randall is taken aback by the sheer beauty and biblical scale of a country which remains thrillingly wild. Yet, it is the residents and especially children of the tiny town of Kasane that shine brightest.

Through a class of wide-eyed six-year-olds, we are introduced to a nation made richer than many of its neighbours thanks to huge natural resources, yet which remains unable to repel the twin threats of Aids and poverty.

Randall makes room for such issues, yet never allows them to dominate. Instead, the charm, beauty and effervescence of his young charges and their lush surroundings take centre stage.

We see teacher and football crazy pupils travel hundreds of miles to take part in a football tournament, courtesy of an ancient 4x4 dubbed ''the old Queen Mum'', share their fear when forced to spend a sleepless night encamped in a noisy jungle with a gang of bloodthirsty hunters, and pride when unexpectedly encountering an exotic beast.

Botswana Time is a book which assaults the senses. Randall's narrative blows away the traditional childhood vision of Africa and replaces it with a ''fresh, vibrant world of astonishing, electric magnificence''. The natural world he depicts also provides a humorous backdrop to school life in Kasane. The school buildings are assaulted by a huge swarm of fist-sized dung beetles, speech day is witnessed by a tribe of mongooses, and teachers and pupils alike evacuate the building with great haste when a huge snake is discovered inside.

Botswana Time is an engaging, good-humoured and rich read which tells of a new African generation who seem sure to "reject the stereotypes of the past".

Randall's short stay in Botswana proves an undoubted success. There is no doubt his latest book deserves to be recognised as such.

Dan Webber

STONES OF EMPIRE: The Buildings of the Raj by Jan Morris with Simon Winchester (Oxford University Press, £12.99)

A CLASSIC work on British architecture in India which spans 300 years and shows how the size and flamboyance of the buildings changed as imperial ambitions waxed and waned. Monstrosities are to be found, of course, but it is surprising how often the creations succeeded in being aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. Georgian terraces flourished under tropical conditions while railway stations became monuments to oriental splendour as well as being lynchpins of British rule. And the magical prose is allied to stunning photographs.

Harry Mead

THE HALL OF A THOUSAND COLUMNS: Hindustan to Malabar with Ibn Battutah by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (John Murray, £20)

IN the second volume of a trilogy, Tim Mackintosh-Smith continues in the footsteps of Ibn Battutah, the Tangier-born adventurer who set out to discover most of his known world between 1325 and 1355. Crossing seven centuries, he visits the vestiges of what were once grand landmarks, breathing life into the past.

The author follows his hero through India to the river Indus, recalling a time when the land was ruled by Muhammad Shah ibn Tughluq. The Shah's audience chamber was the eponymous hall, which the author discovered had become a "hall of a thousand turds", as he picked his way through what has become an open-air toilet.

The author scrupulously sets out to reveal how much of IB's descriptions were rooted in fact and how much was fantasy. While he finds IB may have been given to exaggeration, this does not detract from the overall veracity of his accounts, which are quoted extensively and dressed with a cutting wit.

The author was joined by artist Martin Yeoman, whose brilliant illustrations adorn the book. The reader cannot but fail to be engaged by Mackintosh-Smith's subversive humour and brilliant turn of phrase. This illuminating travel has a depth lacking in many travel books.

REINDEER PEOPLE: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia by Piers Vitesbsky (HarperCollins, £20)

ANTHROPOLOGIST Piers Vitesbsky, was the first westerner to have lived with the Siberian reindeer people since the Russian revolution. This book, which is a record of successive visits he has made over 17 years, gives a fascinating insight into a people living on the limits of human existence.

The author has followed the nomads in their migrations over ice-sheets and mountain peaks and observed everything from sledge races to political meetings. The result is a warm and sensitive account of some incredible personalities living a vanishing way of life. Indeed, many of the characters we meet are dead by the end of the book. A fitting tribute to a people who have weathered the ages.

Gavin Engelbrecht

Published: 05/07/2005