The Tightwad Economist has a lust for discovery and adventure. Incited by the preaching of the Messiah of Travel, the call of Africa is ineluctable. Not the clich?d chic safaris and animal spotting tours of travel brochures. Tightwad sets off hitching through the Maghreb in North Africa alone before following in the footsteps of Mungo Park, the celebrated Scottish explorer, the first European to delve into the heart of West Africa and come out alive, barely. But it is 1993, not 1796, and Tightwad is joined by the Messiah of Travel and his disciples as they set out on their own exploration of modern West Africa. Where European borders cross traditional tribal lines, where corrupt and inept leaders struggle to improve living standards, where transport and infrastructure is rough, where food is sometimes scarce, but where the people have a longing for life and laughter.