Chasing Africa: Fear Won't Find Me Here

Chasing Africa delicately explores the loss of identity, the gift of health and adventure, and the courage to put oneself first despite guilt, fear, and the pull of family.

As a teenager, Lisa couldn’t wait to escape suburbia and travel the world. Years later, as a healthy young climber, she was confronted with the depressing realities of her dad’s and her brother’s neurological diseases: Parkinson’s and progressive multiple sclerosis. In 1996, after watching her dad’s and brother’s bodies fail for five years, she was determined to push fear, worry, and guilt aside to reclaim her adventurous identity the only way she knew how: travel to Africa on her own.

Without Google Maps or the internet, Lisa relied on herself, fellow adventurers, and the kindness of locals while navigating unknown territory. She ascended the magical dunes of Namibia in sole-sizzling heat, paddled the Zambezi River among crocs and hippos, went hiking alone in the Chimanimani mountains, and attended a witchcraft healing ceremony on the remote island of Likoma. Lisa’s unpredictable adventures and serendipitous setbacks taught her that wonderful things happen when she lets go of guilt and fear. Despite her solitary nature, Lisa discovered that being brave doesn’t mean she has to do it alone. For over two decades, these lessons stayed with her as she grappled with her dad’s and her brother’s lengthy illnesses and witnessed the toll it took on her mom as their caregiver.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Duncan’s outdoor pursuits have taken her all over the world. After years climbing in Squamish, Skaha, Smith Rock, Red Rocks, Joshua Tree, and the Bugaboos, she got hooked on road cycling and mountain biking. Lisa and her husband have travelled to Maui, Tenerife, Portugal, and Spain to push the limits of their cycling legs, and with their mountain bikes and border collie/pit bull in tow, they drove from Vancouver to Cape Breton across the American Midwest in their VW van. Since the birth of her daughter in 2014, their family adventures have included backcountry camping, sailing along the Sunshine Coast and in Desolation Sound, and trips to Maui, Haida Gwaii, Yosemite, the Rocky Mountains, and Costa Rica. Lisa has been an educator for over two decades, teaching Japanese as a second language and visual art for most of her career. She holds a BA in art history and an MA in environmental education and communication. When she isn’t teaching, writing, or travelling, she spends her time hiking, running, and biking the trails near her home in Squamish, British Columbia.