In Zanzibar, earlier an Arab slave trading island, Theroux tells how the missionary doles and microloans replaced mismanaged grants. Armchair travelers will wish the book went on twice as long -- and that is something, considering that the book runs more than 400 pages. Nothing is more exhausting than his 100-page tirade describing things that do not exist: roads, real government, a future. 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.

That seems to be the strategy for Theroux's extended "experience of vanishing" into the African continent, where disparate incidents reveal Theroux as well as the people he meets. and people (that is, Blacks) respond, not surprisingly, in a positive way to this bold assertion of his own rights to individuality.He mints generalisations and insults at such a clip that they soon begin to outstrip even the most gifted parodist. 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. As to humor: Bill Bryson (thankfully) looks for the punch line, Theroux’s humor is of the curmudgeonly sort – here, for example, pointing out the contradictory nature of the work of missionaries and aid workers. What results is an insightful mediation on the history, politics, and beauty of Africa and its people. Through Mozambique's bombed buildings and land mines left from the civil war Theroux reaches Zimbabwe, ruled by madman Robert Mugabe.

Reflecting on Mugabe's reputation as an intellectual, he remarks that there is "no deadlier combination than bookworm and megalomaniac - the crazed condition of many novelists and travellers". If Africans can find a way to rid themselves of the entrenched dependence on handouts and the apparently complete lack of motivation that is engendered by the self-serving approach of first world Western institutionalized charities such as UNICEF, SAVE THE CHILDREN and WORLD VISION, then there is also a hope that Africans can find the political maturity and the will to develop themselves into something beyond what Theroux saw in his extended tour. In some African countries it is international aid agencies that provide the most consistent source of employment. On the very last leg of his journey, as he travels back from Cape Town to Johannesburg on the famous and luxurious Blue Train, a girl in one of the townships stops by the train to beg for food.I do strongly agree with this statement: Only Africans were capable of making a difference in Africa. There are compelling episodes, when the author's prejudices melt away and the spirit of place asserts itself. After that comes South Africa,and despite being the most prosperous country in Africa,it is still crime infested. Paul does not just report on what he sees but he is always asking the question 'why' which is one of the key aspects of any good travel writing.

Knowing her work is useless, that in the era of AIDS, she cannot stem the tide of patients, she still continues, without complaint.

Even at the end of his trip, through all the corruption and horror Africa's dictators have visited on their lands and people, the beaten, oppressed Africans Theroux has met (. It's unfortunate that it was a strictly eastern African trip; a comparison to Northern and Western Africa, including Francophone and more Arabic-speaking countries, would also have been of great interest. Dark Star Safari, a newly formed group featuring Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset and Samuel Rohrer present its eponymous recording debut, an evocative song-driven album.