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No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Escape, a Perilous Climb
 
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No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Escape, a Perilous Climb (Paperback)

by Felice Benuzzi (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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  • This item: No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Escape, a Perilous Climb by Felice Benuzzi

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Product details

  • Paperback: 248 pages
  • Publisher: The Lyons Press; New edition edition (Jul 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1592287247
  • ISBN-13: 978-1592287246
  • Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.7 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 132,212 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #11 in  Books > History > Countries & Regions > Africa > Eastern > Kenya
    #74 in  Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Climbing & Mountaineering > Mountaineering History & Biography

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Product Description

Synopsis

Felice Benuzzi recounts one of the most bizarre and daring prisoner-of-war and escape adventures of the past century. In 1943, Felice Benuzzi and two Italian compatriots escaped from a British POW camp in equatorial East Africa with only one goal in mind - to climb the dangerous seventeen-thousand-foot Mount Kenya. NO PICNIC ON MOUNT KENYA is the classic tale of this most bizarre and thrilling adventure, a story that has earned its place as a unique masterpiece of daring and suspense. FELICE BENUZZI was born in Vienna to a family of mountaineers. He was an accomplished swimmer who represented Italy in several international meets from 1933 to 1935. He was also a graduate of law school. In 1938 he entered the Colonial Service and began serving abroad, where he was captured and imprisoned in a POW camp at the foot of Mount Kenya. Benuzzi managed to escape from the camp and immediately began writing. He then rejoined the service while continuing to write and, while travelling all over the world, became more accomplished in both professions. Felice Benuzzi passed away in 1988.

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Escape to escapism, 12 Aug 2008
By D. Elliott (Ulverston, Cumbria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
The author of `No Picnic on Mount Kenya', Felice Benuzzi, was an Italian prisoner of war held by the British in a camp in East Africa during the Second World War. PoW Camp 354 just happened to be at the foot of Mount Kenya - providing a setting for escape and for extreme escapism. When he first viewed the mountain Benuzzi was spellbound by "a massive blue-black tooth of sheer rock inlaid with azure glaciers, austere yet floating fairylike on the near horizon". From the monotony of routine prison life Mount Kenya became a symbol of freedom, and it dominated the dreams of Felice Benuzzi.

`No Picnic on Mount Kenya' tells the story of Benuzzi and two fellow prisoners, from their planning and preparation, through absconding and approaching the mountain, then the climbing, to their return to break back into prison. This involved assembling equipment and supplies as for any expedition, but for them it meant manufacturing ice-axes and crampons, stealing rope, hoarding food, fabricating cooking equipment, acquiring alcohol fuel from the camp hospital and borrowing items from other prisoners. Also they had to gather information on possible lines of ascent which in their case included use of a label depicting Mount Kenya from a tin of meat and vegetable rations as well as details copied from publications in camp.

Felice Benuzzi has written the book with a blend of humour and humility, but it is a tale of earnest endeavour and considerable courage. Climbing involved advances and retreats, including being driven back by a blizzard on Bation, and hunger and illness added to the difficulties and dangers - but the men persevered. Tension is interminable throughout the valiant venture, and this factual tale is as exciting as any far fetched fictional adventure. The intrepid trio of prisoners of war aimed high, they played their game - they escaped from the drudgery of incarceration. Mount Kenya' main summit may have beyond them, but they bagged the subsidiary summit of Point Lenana at over 16,000 feet - a truly remarkable achievement exemplifying escapism at the heart of mountaineering. In climbers' language, `epic' is an appropriate epithet for the audacious attempt by Benuzzi and his companions on Africa's second highest peak - `No Picnic on Mount Kenya' makes an exhilarating and illuminating story - it is heroic mountain adventure.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Literally an escape to the mountains. Brilliant!, 20 May 2006
By L. Weeks (Hertfordshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
My first copy of this book is a 1955 paperback (2/6d net!). I've read it so many times that it's nearly fallen apart. This will appeal to mountaineers, those who like stories about the war and those who just like a really good adventure tale. And it's all true! Planning an ascent from within the confines of a prisoner of war camp, three Italian soldiers, longing for their native Dolomites, see Mount Kenya as a way of lifting the boredom of being PoWs. Brilliantly written; it's funny, sad, exciting, beautifully descriptive and compulsive. To whoever is sitting on the screen rights - please do something about it!
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Climbing Mount Kenya with home-made crampons, 16 Sep 2005
By Ian H. Robertson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is an enthralling book.
Benuzzi and his companions realised that escape to the nearest neutral country - Mozamabique - would be impractical, but despondent of prison camp life, they decided to escape anyway - but instead climb one of Africa's highest mountains.

The story of how they made home-made climbing equipment under the noses of the prison guards is as exciting as the story of their daring climb itself.

As well as the British and the hazards of the mountain, they also had elephants, leopards and rhinos to contend with.

A tremendous tale of adventure and determination against all the odds. Highly recommended to anyone interested in either escape stories or mountaineering.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars snoozer
Read this in two nights -yep its a cure for insomnia.
the book is a over detailed discription of a mountain climb wraped up in a lax P.O.W. Read more
Published 15 months ago by masspecguy

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