Travel to Africa

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

Format: Paperback
Author: Paul Theroux
ReleaseDate: 05 April, 2004
Publisher: Mariner Books
Rating:

Excellent
I highly recommend it. This is an excellent travel read for the adventure traveller planning the Grand Tour of Africa, or for the armchair traveller who is simply looking to better understand the continent. It is impossible to put down.

A more accurate meaning for "safari"
This is Theroux's account of a journey from the very north of Africa to the very south. . but not in tourist style! Buses, rickety trucks, taxis, some trains. Travel guides give "the view from 30,000 feet. " Theroux gives what the military call "ground truth. " He sees the reality, meets many people. His account is enriched by two things in particular: He had lived and worked in some of the African countries, decades before, spoke some of the languages, so he could form a realistic view of whether things were better or (almost always) much worse: and he is a canny and skilful writer, who knows exactly how to balance description, dialog, and commentary, and packs plenty of punch into a few crisp words. For instance: "My first impression of Addis Ababa: handsome people in rags, possessed of both haughtiness and destitution, a race of aristocrats who had pawned the family silver. "

He is generally scathing about the efforts of international aid agencies, whose personnel rush about in white Land-Rovers and end up leaving some useless practice, or object or building that will disintegrate, or need expensive maintenance, or be unsuited to the location, as with the two-story condos built in Harar by a German aid agency. The people, a tall race, did not use them but stayed in their mud huts. Why? "They are too tall. There is no space. They cannot bring their donkeys and goats inside. " "Why would they want to do that?" "To protect them from the hyenas. " The well-meaning aid people had missed a point or two.

He does, however, pay tribute to certain selfless individuals who work hard directly with the people, teaching or healing. Overall, his opinion is that survival is better assured with the simplest, oldest technology and crops, and living in small traditional villages. Nearly all the cities are basically disasters, and many of the government bureaucracies are incompetent or corrupt, even if sometimes those at the top are trying to make things better.

Now and again we get a really tantalizing throwaway: "Yes, the Bachiga of southwest Uganda and their curious marriage rite, which included the groom's brothers and the bride in the urine ceremony. I could not hear the name of the tribe without thinking of the piddle-widdle of this messy rite. " To which the only possible response is, "Do tell!" But he doesn't.

A fascinating tale - a guaranteed page-turner. Incidentally, I noted the really unfavorable review by Carl Owen. It seems to have some reasonable points, but as with some other negative reviews, I felt it wasn't just having issues with the book's content. There seemed to be something about Theroux's personal style that seemed to irritate them. Now I was once annoyed with a Theroux book - I forget the title - when he thoroughly dissed my hometown of Aberdeen in Scotland! But that didn't prevent me appreciating and enjoying his thought-provoking remarks - and the humor! .

Long but revealing
Theroux opens my eyes to a richness and history of this vast continent. It is a pleasure to read about a continent that I may never visit. I enjoy his geographic descriptions and especially his anecdotes on human character. Some of the political monologues get a bit ponderous, but others might enjoy that. Definitely worth reading to expand your horizons to the richness, the frailty, the wonder, and the difficulties of eastern Africa.

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