Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa
Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa | Matthew Gavin Frank
2 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
Unforgettable. . . . An outstanding adventure in its lyrical, utterly compelling, and heartbreaking investigations of the world of diamond smuggling. Aimee Nezhukumatathil For nearly eighty years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed overmined and abandoned, American journalist Matthew Gavin Frank sets out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade that supplies a global market. Immediately, he became intrigued by the ingenious methods used in facilitating smuggling?particularly, the illegal act of sneaking carrier pigeons onto mine property, affixing diamonds to their feet, and sending them into the air. Entering Die Sperrgebiet (The Forbidden Zone) is like entering an eerie ghost town, but Frank is surprised by the number of people willingeven eagerto talk with him. Soon he meets Msizi, a young diamond digger, and his pigeon, Bartholomew, who helps him steal diamonds. Its a deadly game: pigeons are shot on sight by mine security, and Msizi knows of smugglers who have disappeared because of their crimes. For this, Msizi blames Mr. Lester, an evil tall-tale figure of mythic proportions. From the mining towns of Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth, through the halfway desert, to Kleinzees shores littered with shipwrecks, Frank investigates a long overlooked story. Weaving interviews with local diamond miners who raise pigeons in secret with harrowing anecdotes from former heads of security, environmental managers, and vigilante pigeon hunters, Frank reveals how these feathered bandits became outlaws in every mining town. Interwoven throughout this obsessive quest are epic legends in which pigeons and diamonds intersect, such as that of Krishnas famed diamond Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, and that of the Cherokee serpent Uktena. In these strange connections, where truth forever tangles with the lore of centuries past, Frank is able to contextualize the personal grief that sent him, with his wife Louisa in the passenger seat, on this enlightening journey across parched lands. Blending elements of reportage, memoir, and incantation, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers is a rare and remarkable portrait of exploitation and greed in one of the most dangerous areas of coastal South Africa. With his sovereign prose and insatiable curiosity, Matthew Gavin Frank reminds us that the world is a place of wonder if only we look (Toby Muse).
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
review
CaitZ
post image
Mehso-so

This is the story of how De Beers controlled the diamond industry and exploited the people of the region. The author also intersperses his experience with child loss in the narrative. It was a hard read. 224 pages for #NovelNovember; my #BookSpin book for #BookSpinBingo and #Booked2021 #Blackjack21 @Andrew65 @TheAromaofBooks @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

Andrew65 Doing well 👏👏👏 3y
Cinfhen This has been on my TBR / it sounds super interesting!! Too bad it was only a so-so 3y
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 3y
BarbaraTheBibliophage We‘ve had lots of “club” and “heart” choices for this prompt. I *think* this might be the first “diamond!” 3y
28 likes4 comments
review
Schlinkles
Pickpick

What a weird and hard to define, yet fascinating book. Flight of the Diamond Smugglers is part memoir, part treatise on loss, part nature essay, and part history book all wrapped up in one slim volume. Frank's writing is beautiful and evocative, and the story he tells is heartbreaking.