About the Author

Jeffrey Tayler is a renowned, Moscow-based travel author whose approach to his subject is nothing less than intrepid. His previous works include The Lost Kingdoms of Africa (2005), Valley of the Casbahs (2003) and Facing the Congo (2001), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He is a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and also writes for Conde Nast Traveller, National Geographic, Marie Claire and Harper's Magazine. In the early 1990s he was involved in the Peace Corps programme in Uzbekistan.