En route to Kampala the countryside looks better and yet political violence persists. The city and Makerere University were his home in 1965. In the years since Idi Amin things fell apart. Theroux recalls Naipaul's fear of Africa. This trip seems to support that aversion. He meets an old friend, now a Prime Minister. Dodging an ebola outbreak he books ferry passage to Tanzania on a vintage colonial steamship. Recorded in December 2017 and mixed in June 2018 by Ingo Krauss at Candybomber Studio Berlin. Additional recordings at Punkt Studio Kristiansand, The Green Room and home-studios in Oslo and Berlin during Spring/Summer 2018. Mastering and Vinyl cut by Mike Grinser at Manmade Mastering Berlin, December 2018. Produced by Dark Star Safari. Recorded in Dec. 2017 and mixed in June 2018 by Ingo Krauss at Candybomber Studio Berlin. Additional recordings at Punkt Studio Kristiansand, The Green Room and home-studios in Oslo and Berlin during Spring/Summer 2018. Mastering and Vinyl cut by Mike Grinser at Manmade Mastering Berlin, December 2018. The working of society was in the hands of charities, running orphanages, staffing hospitals, doing triage in the pathetic education system. They were saving lives - you couldn't fault them - but in general I despaired at the very sight of aid workers, as no more than a maintenance crew on a power trip, who had turned Malawians into beggers and whiners, and development into a study in futility." Paul Theroux was a Peace Corps volunteer, and he taught for four years at a school in Uganda. He returned to these places while taking notes for Dark Star Safari. Things are not better, he found. The situation was worse, and yet the aid workers continued to harp on the same things:

It would be naive to read Dark Star Safari and expect to walk away from it an expert on the eastern coast of Africa. However, the next time I read a book about Zimbabwe, for example, I will likely find myself thinking of this travelogue while reading it. The next time someone tells me that they know how to "fix" Africa, I will think of this book. I suppose I remain more or less as ignorant as I was when I first read the book, but I have a bit more context to rely on the next time someone mentions "Africa" than I did when I started. Composed with passion, eloquence and insight, Dark Star Safari is travel writing at its most eye-opening, thought-provoking and heartfelt." - Merle Rubin, The Los Angeles Times I answered this question by writing The Tao of Travel – listing and describing the hundreds of books I love and can't live without. How does Theroux present some of the countries of Africa? What does he mean when he says, for instance, that Kenya "seemed terminally ill"? Theroux seems to be very critical with regards to the aid industry, and while I am only going by his word, in a way I am not surprised. The question that is raised is why is it that many of these countries are still living in abject poverty despite all of this money and all of the agencies working here tirelessly for decades. Theroux suggests that a part of it is because aid is big business, and if these countries were lifted out of poverty then there would no longer be any work for them. Another suggestion is that these organisations don't educate the local population, but rather do everything for them. For instance they dig wells and the build schools, and then they leave, and while the community may have this brand spanking new building, they don't really know how to keep it in good condition, and as such it begins to decay. Another thing is that these countries are really cheap and this provides young aid workers an adventure that doesn't cost all that much. Thus they can sit in their resorts sipping margaritas by the pool, and then go out performing some project that in the end will do nothing for the community. I guess it all comes down to the old axiom – give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

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He wonders about the aid phenomenon, and concludes (several times) "the whole push has been misguided". 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.

I think the episode in Malawi or wherever pretty much sums up his whole attitude- he arrives all ready for a triumphant tour through his old country "giving lectures" and "helping out" but is met instead with a polite no and proceeds to throw a temper tantrum. I get it- this place was a hugely formative part of HIS life, but it has moved on without him and barely remembers him. He is constantly ranting about the aid workers and the tourists but he was a gd Peace Corps worker!! And he's fully touristing around Africa the same way as his despised safari-goers- he just prefers poverty tourism. He was rather a timid traveller but an energetic writer, a paradoxical soul. At his best he was brilliant. But he travelled very little, saying "It's a full-time job being a drug addict."

Another thing which Theroux is adept at is showing after 30 plus years of not living there, the conditions in Africa have not only not improved but in many cases have deteriorated further. He is at his most personal when a school he taught at in Malawi is falling apart and no one seems willing or able to do anything about the situation. He vividly depicts most of the major cities such as Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as overcrowded cesspools not fit to live in. The smell of trash comingling with the unwashed masses is a sight that is frequently mentioned. He frequently mentions his approaching birthday -- a big one, giving him a certain old man status (though given how often he remarks how young people think he looks obviously not one he's eager to embrace).

And here is Theroux's coup de grâce: "Aid workers in rural Africa are in general, oafish selfdramatising prigs and, often, complete bastards." Aid workers might, I suppose, be justified in returning the compliment. Yet, with erudition and wit aplenty, he ultimately seems to argue for stasis" - Margaret Busby, The Independent

Statistics

A conversation with a landmine specialist in Khartoum leads him to state that "not much has been written on the subject of landmines". Can he live a life so removed from the world that he has completely missed the international campaign against antipersonnel mines, a campaign that has produced acres of reportage and dozens of books and which culminated in the Landmine Ban Treaty of 1998, the best-known piece of international legislation of recent times? Why is Theroux is critical of internatinal development efforts, including many of the foreign aid workers who help the impoverished? Do you agree with his assessment? After that comes South Africa,and despite being the most prosperous country in Africa,it is still crime infested.A look at the newspaper scares Theroux,it is full of crime of the most vicious sort. Dark Star Safari is, however, a very enjoyable read, and it does present a good picture of aspects of Africa.

Thirdly, Theroux has an opinion which he spends a lot of the book discussing - his premise that continued foreign aid in Africa has a negative effect rather than a positive effect - and this lets him examine and re-examine with examples this theory. The fact I buy into this, probably makes this book more enjoyable for me as a reader. He is extremely prescient as well. At the moment of writing this review there was the scandal in Haiti with Oxfam. While in Kampala, Theroux goes on to say how prostitutes follow the money and where there are aid organizations prostitution is rife. He also talks about the presents from other countries like a school or a clinic. When the funding stops then it is not maintained and it fails. This happened in the UK when lottery money was given for a brand-new swimming pool. It was fantastic but there was no money to keep it going so it just stood there falling into disrepair. America’s master traveler ( Fresh Air Fiend, 2000, etc.) takes us along on his wanderings in tumultuous bazaars, crowded railway stations, desert oases, and the occasional nicely appointed hotel lobby.

Notes

Theroux captures the places nicely -- the friendliness of the Sudanese (despite the country appearing so uninviting to outsiders) and aspects of Ethiopia's frozen-in-time poverty -- though occasionally it seems he sketches too lightly.