Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town

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Ruinous because of the effects of colonialization; because of the effects of freedom, and corruption, and the profound and dire incompetence of the Africans themselves; because of the AID agencies who build Dams and projects that no one will ever use, instead of helping the Africans thatch their roofs; because of the stupidity both of modernity AND of those who will not be so easily modernized. The dreadlocks were weird to Ethiopians, not African at all, and not the cultural statement Rastas regarded them, but just the epitome of a bad hair day.

But it’s not so simple, because he also quite obviously has a deep love and respect for the old African societies he viewed so hopefully in his youth, when he spent 3 years in the Peace Corp in Malawi and had (during the years of his early friendship with V. Dark Star Safari is the work of four kindred spirits, their open modus operandi, and a remarkably interconnected creative nerve system.

Having worked in some of Eastern and Southern Africa in his younger days he is in a superb position to answer that question both from his own experiences and from the comments of the people that he meets, ranging from simple, near naked, fishermen to the Prime Minister of Uganda. Theroux is an ideal sort of traveller: curious, passionate and well-served by his motto of "try anything twice". Makerere University, where he taught in the late 1960s, is run down and hardly seems the site of such promise as when he was there. It's an ambitious trip, all overland, including areas not much visited by tourists (notably Sudan, and parts of Ethiopia and Mozambique -- though even Theroux doesn't make it to Somalia). Composed with passion, eloquence and insight, Dark Star Safari is travel writing at its most eye-opening, thought-provoking and heartfelt.

If we see you broken down or in trouble by the side of the road,'' he says, adding an unprintable oath, ''we're going right past you. Several of his books have been filmed (including The Mosquito Coast) and a TV series was made of his stories, The London Embassy and The Consul's Files.

In the walled city of Harar, a Maltese nun cooks him a gourmet meal and beguiles him with tales of the lover she left for God. This exceeds even Eritrean government rhetoric; the war, which left tens of thousands dead and no discernible gain for either side, was a disaster for both countries. Even when he relishes a place, it often seems that it is the dirt, the stink and the squalor that inspires him. Focussing on people (and crumbling infrastructures) Theroux does point out much of the best and worst of Africa -- and also gives a good sense of the often forgotten fact that "Africa" is in fact made up of many very different nations and cultures.