Drive One Man's Road to Owning a Safari Business

For much of the first nine years of his life, Adam Stephen Meshallu spent his days gathering sticks for daily fires, fetching water and tending cattle at his family's mud home in Arusha, Tanzania. In the late 70's, formal schooling started late because children were an integral part of the family's workforce. Before attending school, Adam learned by surviving. His classroom was the bush. He learned to be self-reliant and to work hard -- characteristics that got him where he is today. Arusha was still very much a wild place of toothy carnivores and slithering reptiles. However, it was this tough environment that sparked Adam's interest in nature and the sciences and ultimately drove him to seek a better life.Drive: One Man's Road to Owning a Safari Business chronicles Adam's life: the setbacks, frustrations, challenges and ultimate achievements. Africa is not an easy place to grow up, live and make a name for yourself. It's even harder to start and manage a successful safari business. Throughout his life, Adam demonstrated how a positive attitude, passion, perseverance, new found friends and some creativity can overcome any obstacle.Readers will also be introduced to a diverse mix of people who played an important role in helping him achieve his dream. There's the ever colorful and never shy Zubeda, Adam's jovial father Steven with stories of how the British occupation of Tanzania introduced the family to Christianity, a no-nonsense businessman from New England with a passion for nature and the willingnesses to help a new found friend and a former advertising executive with a Zulu name who now sells safaris remotely from Columbus, Ohio. Woven into Adam's story is a descriptive, informative and at times, humorous travelogue that introduces readers to the wildlife, culture and challenges of living in Tanzania. Throughout, readers are dropped in the "bush" as well as picturesque national areas such as Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area where animals rule and humans watch from a safe distance, most of the time.