Forty Years in Africa - Hardcover

Tofani, Lamberto

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846240107 ISBN 13: 9781846240102

Publisher: Book Guild Publishing Ltd, 1995

Synopsis

This is the extraordinary and exhilarating story of one man's love affair with Africa. Lamberto Tofani has lived a life of many parts. He begins his autobiography by recounting how his charismatic Italian father came to be living in Somalia, and how his own idyllic childhood was shattered by his parents' early deaths. Then in harsh contrast to his early years, he describes his ill treatment in orphanages in Africa and Italy and the uncaring neglect shown by his relatives. During the Second World War, Lamberto joined the Italian Air Force and returned to his beloved Africa, albeit to the battle-ravaged deserts of the North. By describing this period, Lamberto gives some interesting insights into the Italian and the German views on the war as well as some unusual observations on England and the English, based on his time as a prisoner of war in the countryside. In the late 1940s, he once again returned to Africa to work in the electricity industry, first in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and then Kenya. Unlike many others, Lamberto stayed long after independence - and exchanged his hunting rifle for a camera. The picture Lamberto paints of the old colonial life is enticing and his description of big-game hunting is thrilling. "Forty Years in Africa" is a thoughtful, exhilarating account of a changing world seen from an unusual angle.

About this title

About the Author:

Lamberto Tofani was born in Somalia to Italian parents who died when he was only 5 years old. He was then housed at a mission in the Somali capital for two years, before he and his brother and sister were sent to an orphanage in Italy. In 1940, aged 17, Lamberto enlisted in the Italian Air Force and was trained in aeronautical telecommunications. He served in North Africa and Egypt before being captured and sent to England as a POW. He became a clerk in the Italian Aviation Ministry on release, but before long he and his brother fulfilled their dream and returned to Africa, where he worked maintaining the electrics of military transport in Kenya. He then worked in Tanganyika before setting up his own business. He and his wife Sally later returned to Kenya before settling in England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Book Guild Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1846240107
• ISBN 13: 9781846240102
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280