Salak's writing reflects her own travails, travels

The remarkable Kira Salak has been a solo writer/adventurer in Third World countries since she was 20 years old.

Now 36, she is erudite about the problems of such Third World countries as Madagascar, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Borneo. She was the first person to kayak solo 600 miles down West Africa's Niger River to Timbuktu in Mali — and she was the first woman to cross the treacherous Papua New Guinea.

In 2003, she cycled 800 miles across Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, and in 2007, she was one of a few people in the world to complete Bhutan's 216-mile Snowman Trek, the most difficult trek in the Himalayas.

Now she is also a fiction writer, having written the exciting novel, "The White Mary," about a woman named Marika Vecera, who does the same sort of thing that Salak does but is in a romantic relationship with Seb, a psychologist who desperately wants her to stay home and give up her dangerous profession. Nevertheless, she continues to travel and risk her life for months at a time while Seb is sick with worry at home in Boston.

Although the parallels between Salak and her character are profound, Salak insists that Marika is first and foremost a fictional character. "I was not trying to re-create myself," said Salak during a phone interview from the Grand Hotel Minneapolis during her book tour — although she conceded that the majority of Marika's experiences were also her own, including suffering severely with malaria and cholera, being beaten, suffering through jungle travel, almost being raped and witnessing torture.

"We both did dangerous solo trips that most people would not get themselves into. I've gone to most parts of the world, usually alone, and I take my own photos," said Salak. "Much of my life went straight into the novel."

Salak said that her lack of self-esteem as a young girl helped lead her to seek adventure. "Traveling solo made me feel empowered. I discovered parts of me I didn't know were there. I discovered my strength. The harder the trip, the better. I got hooked on facing my fears."

But her motivation has changed over the years. She has gone from a young woman testing herself to a magazine writer "with a desire to explore parts of the world most people are not willing to see and report on human suffering. I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I don't do white water rafting in classified countries."