Robyn Davidson deserves much more than to be remembered as the ‘Camel Lady’, but there’s no getting away from the fact that ‘Tracks’ is a special story. Marred, but not ruined, by that human-irritant Rick Smolan who tagged along as the ‘price’ that National Geographic demanded in return for kicking in a bundle of much needed money. Davidson was much more generous in her comments about Smolan than (I think) he deserved, but for all her attachment to solitude, her life’s arc has been defined by her affection for humanity.
Davidson’s story didn’t start or end with ‘Tracks’, and we have a couple of her later travel stories – ‘Desert Places’. It’s camels again, but in Gujarat in India. That wasn’t the journey she hoped for, but perhaps the one she needed at the time – and that makes this another transcendent story. Then there’s some smaller pieces gathered together in her ‘Travellers Tales’. All waiting for you at the Library at Camp Bibliophilia.
