Laurens Van Der Post

venture-to-the-interior

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more

source_10558

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our <a href="/company/about-us/notices/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a>

Keep an eye out for a confirmation in your inbox

Stories, ideas and giveaways to help you spark young imaginations

source_10972

The latest books, activities and tips to help you grow little readers

source_10975

About us

About Us (Header 4)

john-le-carre-a-legacy-of-spies-960-2.jpg

Margaret Atwood

Richard Osman

Malorie Blackman

George Orwell

marian_keyes_mobile_320x200px.png

Elif Shafak

shonfaye

Authors (Header 3)

Books (Header 2)

Company

Features (Header 1)

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Journey Into Russia

An Anthology of Laurens Van Der Post

Feather Fall

The Voice of the Thunder

In A Province

A Story Like the Wind

Flamingo Feather

A Far Off Place

A Mantis Carol

The Hunter And The Whale

With 'The Great and the Little Memory'

The Lost World of the Kalahari

A Walk with a White Bushman

Yet Being Someone Other

Jung and the Story of Our Time

The Heart Of The Hunter

The Seed and the Sower

The Night Of The New Moon

Venture To The Interior

It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide

An outstanding book... I rank Laurens van der Post with the best writers of English... This book confirms my constant admiration and the nobility of his mind

I hope all those who are appalled by the destruction of Hiroshima will read this book-for a greater understanding of what man is capable of doing to his fellows in time of war

No one can write more feelingly of Africa-an experience not to be missed

One of the noblest books of travel written in our time, and one destined, I imagine, to have a permanent place in English literature

Inspired... Some of the poetic descriptions of the scenery are most beautiful and fill me with envy. The book is magnificent

Summoned to Whitehall in 1949, Laurens van der Post was told that in old British Central Africa there were two large tracts of country that London didn't really know anything about, and could he go in there on foot and take a look, please? Venture to the Interior is the account of that journey, a journey filled with adventure and discovery, flying from London across Europe and Africa, and after days in small aircraft, on foot across the mountains to the two lost worlds of central Africa.

An account of a journey on foot across the mountains to the two lost worlds of Central Africa.

Laurens van der Post was born in Africa in 1906, the thirteenth of fifteen children in a family of Dutch and French Huguenot origins. Most of his adult life was spent his time divided between Africa and England. His professions of writer and farmer were interrupted by ten years of soldiering in the British Army, serving with distinction in the Western Desert, Abyssinia, Burma and the Far East. Taken prisoner by the Japanese, he was held in captivity for three years before returning to active service as a member of Lord Mountbatten's staff in Indonesia and, later, as Military Attache to the British Minister in Java. 
 
After 1949 he undertook several official missions exploring little-known parts of Africa, and his journey in search of the Bushmen in 1957 formed the basis of his famous documentary film and The Lost World of the Kalahari. Other television films include All Africa Within Us and The Story of Carl Gustav Jung, whom he met after the war and grew to know as a personal friend. In 1934 he wrote In a Provice, the first book by a South African to expose the horrors of racism. Other books include Venture to the Interior (1952), The Heart of the Hunter (1961), and A Walk with a White Bushman (1986). The Seed and the Sower was made into a film under the title Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, and, more recently, A Story Like the Wind and A Far-Off Place were combined and made into the film A Far-Off Place. 
 
Sir Laurens van der Post was awarded the CBE in 1947 and received his knighthood in 1981. He died in 1996.

Venture To The Interior

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

Reviews

About the author

Laurens Van Der Post

More from this Author

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter