FICTION

THE ZAMBEZI: River of the Gods by Jan and Fiona Teede (Trafalgar Square: $45; 190 pp., illustrated). He studied law; she studied medicine; happily, the world was spared another doctor-lawyer team when Jan and Fiona Teede were drawn into the mists and eddies of Central Africa’s Zambezi River. As enticing as their photographs are--spiders spinning, children fording and beetles mating to the numinous, thundering Victoria Falls--their book is far more than a ramble along the 1,600-mile river and its Jack Benny-ish towns of Mongu, Binga and Kazungula. Text and drawings (by Larry Norton) serve as a tenderfoot’s introduction to Africa, or as a reminder to the veteran traveler that beyond the Zambezi (Vasco da Gama’s treasure; Dr. Livingstone’s obsession) “progress” is plundering Paradise. Look, say the Teedes, but don’t touch. And remember, whoever plucks a flower from a baobab tree will be eaten by lions within a year!