WOMEN ADVENTURERS

My fascination with Central Asia led me to discover the first of several women adventurers. Not only did these women persevere under the harshest of conditions they had to do so in male dominated environments hostile to women. 

I have three books by Ella Maillart, born in 1903 in Geneva, Switzerland who was a star athlete competing in the 1924 Olympics as the only female sailor and an international skier. Her occupation is listed in Who's Who as explorer.

• Turkestan Solo – One Woman's Expedition from the Tien Shan to the Kizil Kum. Maillart details her 1932 trip through the Soviet Union from Moscow to the Central Asian regions of Kyrghizstan and Uzbekistan, shortly before Stalin's Great Terror. The trip required six months of determination during which she encountered food shortages and secret police but she manages to find the world's most delicious melons in Charjew. She completes her adventure with the feeling the life of the nomad is the best life. First published in 1934; my edition is part of The Century Travelers series published 1985 in the UK and Canada. Bought used in a book store, possibly Second Story in Washington, DC.

• Forbidden Journey – From Peking to Kashmir, Introduction by Dervla Murphy. In 1935, Maillart was reporting from regarding the Japanese occupation where she met Peter Fleming (brother of Ian Flemming, author of the James Bond books). the two teamed up to travel from Peking to Kashmir (3,500 miles) exploring hostile deserts and Himalayan passes. They were often tempestuous traveling companions improvising at each stage on trains, trucks, on foot, horse, and camel. She describes Fleming's behavior as erratic. Peter Fleming wrote his own account of the trip in News from Tartary (mentioned in an earlier entry Two Views of Central Asian Journeys). First published in 1937; my edition is part of The Century Travelers series published 1983 in the UK and Canada. Bought used in a book store, possibly Second Story in Washington, DC. 

• The Cruel Way. In 1939, Maillart she undertook a trip from Geneva to Kabul in a two-door Ford Coupe, in the company of fellow Swiss writer. Her companion is battling drug addition during the journey, which created difficulties for their already arduous trek. Their adventure is cut short by the outbreak of WWII. First published in 1947, reprinted in 1986 as part of the British Verago Travellers series.  Contains Maillart's black and white photos. Bought used but forgot where.
  

Freya Stark, born in the UK in 1893, she wrote more more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Stark was one of the first non-Arabs known to travel through the southern Arabian Desert in modern times. Freya Stark books on my shelf: 

• The Valleys of the Assassins: and Other Persian Travels, (Modern Library, 2001). Bought used.
  

• Baghdad Sketches, (Marlboro Press, 1992). Bought Used

• Freya Stark, Caroline Moorehead (Penguin Series Lives of Modern Women, 1985). Bought used. 
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Full Tilt, Derlva Murphy (Century Travelers edition, 1991). Born in Dublin in 1932, Murphy bicycled from England to India traveling through some of the most rugged terrain carrying a small pistol (which she only use once in a difficult situation). Her determination and perseverance is jaw-dropping. 

A Traveller on Horseback: In Eastern Turkey and Iran, Christina Dodwell (Walker and Company, 1989). Dodwell embarked on a series of adventures including treks on horseback around Turkey, Iran, Africa, and China.

 

 

 

 

I realize I'm missing many others such as the Middle East adventurer, Gertrude Bell, but as I mention up top, the lists are not exhaustive and usually what I have at hand without turning my house upside down.