Bio
Leslie was born in Canada in 1956. She spent her teenage years in Ireland. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia. Committed travelers, she and her husband of 26 years first went overseas to live in 1990. They have since called seven countries home - Turkey, the Sultanate of Oman, Singapore (twice), Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Greece, and Congo-Brazzaville. Leslie has traveled through another thirty. Since 1996, she has written 40 travel articles for publication.

The Mama Tembo Story
In 2000, my husband and I moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I knew exactly how I would spend the next three years. In the 18-year-old jalopy christened Mama Tembo - or Mother Elephant in Kiswahili - I undertook a time-honored East African tradition - I went on safari, clocking up thousands of dusty kilometers around the country in all, and often ending up where, if I got stuck or broke down, vultures were more likely to come along before another vehicle.

In time, the names of the old vehicle and owner merged and I began to hear "Welcome again, Mama Tembo." "Mama Tembo, your tent is ready." My nickname paid me a great compliment, but it also inferred a burden of responsibility, for the matriarch of the elephant herd is vital to its protection and welfare. Anxiously awaiting my return to Dar es Salaam was my inherited Tanzanian family - housekeeper Mummy, gardener Francis, and security guard Ben, and their wives, children, and relatives. They taught me all about Tanzania without my ever needing to leave home.

The Mama Tembo Tour, the book, will be published in 2009. Part memoir, part travelogue, it is a culmination of the maturing decades of travel and overseas life which preceded Tanzania, experiences which have resulted in a comfort with worlds other than my own and a deep appreciation for what they teach me.

Find out more at www.leslienevison.com