EXCERPT | ‘You’d be lucky to be hit’ – Al J Venter’s journey into Angola amidst a guerrilla war

BOOK: Takka Takka Bom Bom: A South African War Correspondent’s Story by Al J Venter (Tafelberg)

Al J Venter is the oldest war correspondent still active and the author of more than 60 books. His work is much appreciated by authors such as Frederick Forsyth and John Le Carré. In Takka Takka Bom Bom: A South African War Correspondent’s Story, he tells how he became a war correspondent, starting with his extraordinary journey from Cape Town to London, overland, through newly independent African countries. He has faced guerrillas with machine guns and reported on atrocities in far-flung places. In this excerpt from Takka Takka Bom Bom, Venter describes a journey into the north of Angola as the forces of the independence struggle were waging war against the Portuguese colonial government.