Distant Suns

This is Sam Manicom’s third book. By the beginning of Distant Suns he’d been on the road for four years through Africa, Australia, SE Asia, Asia and the Middle East.

During this time Sam met Birgit, a German girl riding a bicycle through New Zealand for six months. She joined him as pillion for three months in Nepal and India, and Sam asked her if she’d like to go to South America with him. Birgit said yes, but on two conditions. She wanted to go to Africa first, and she wanted to ride a motorcycle too.

Starting in Mombasa Kenya, over a period of two and a half years, Distant Suns takes you riding with Sam and Birgit through Southern Africa, South America and across Central America.  The journey starts with Birgit riding out of the port with just 600 miles of experience on a motorcycle.

Based on Birgit’s detailed diaries, Distant Suns doesn’t just document the journey; Sam also describes the cultural differences, traditions and lifestyles of the various countries they cross. Whilst doing so he paints a vivid picture of the terrain and weaves in historical titbits.  With a natural ease he describes the people, the cultures and the places.

Sam has described himself as a bit of a disaster magnet and things do go wrong. Sometimes badly so, but these tales of the road add new insight into the countries and the challenges. Sam says, ‘When my guardian angel was there for us, the journey was a combination of laughter, adrenaline burning fun and pure awe.’

Distant Suns also highlights the joys and potential tensions of traveling with others, and how you often do and see things you otherwise may not have done. This is a great story which reads with the ease of a novel. Distant Suns has it all: love, good guys, bad guys, beauty, danger, history, geography and of course, motorcycles! It’s a fast, truly involving and enthralling read.