If you think 19th-century travel writing is stuffy, Gerhard Rohlfs is here to change your mind. Von Tripolis nach Alexandrien - 2. Band picks up where the first volume left off, following Rohlfs's epic, gritty journey across North Africa. This isn't a leisurely tour; it's a survival log written by a man with his boots in the sand.

The Story

Rohlfs continues his trek from the interior towards the famed city of Alexandria on Egypt's coast. The plot is straightforward—he needs to get from Point A to Point B—but the devil is in the details. The journey is a series of intense challenges. He deals with skeptical and sometimes hostile local rulers, manages his caravan through scarce resources, and endures the Sahara's extreme climate. There are no grand battles, but constant, low-grade tension. Will the next oasis have water? Is the local guide trustworthy? Can he communicate his needs without causing offense? The landscape itself is a main character, beautiful in its starkness and deadly in its indifference. Rohlfs documents it all: the people he meets, the customs he observes, and the sheer physical toll of the expedition.

Why You Should Read It

I loved this book because it strips away the romantic myth of the 'great explorer.' Rohlfs isn't a flawless hero. He gets frustrated, makes miscalculations, and feels fear. His writing gives you a front-row seat to a world in transition, seen through the eyes of a sharp, if culturally biased, outsider. You feel the grit, the thirst, and the cautious moments of human connection. It’s less about claiming discovery and more about the raw experience of moving through a foreign land, dependent on the goodwill and knowledge of others. Reading it, you appreciate the incredible difficulty of what he did, long before GPS or satellite phones.

Final Verdict

This is a perfect pick for readers who love true adventure stories and armchair historians who want a primary source that reads like a narrative. If you enjoyed books like The Lost City of Z or first-hand accounts of exploration, you'll find a kindred spirit in Rohlfs. Be prepared for a perspective from its time—it's a product of the 19th century—but within that, it offers an authentic, gripping, and human story of endurance. It's for anyone who's ever wondered what it really took to cross a continent when every mile was an unknown.