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![Hotel = very comfortable. I slept well, except for a dream of an adventure in a South American river
where I joined a trio of Christian protagonists each seeking to remedy a Medusa curse placed there, at
the base of a mountain topped by a Christ statue. It woke me, and returning to sleep was challenging.
The last image of the dream: the curse broken, an iron‐frame cross floating down the river, and while
the trio acknowledged I was Jewish, I’d join them for the ride.
For better or worse, I had no stigmata upon waking.
11am
Took a shuttle here to our turboprop, only to hear of a mechanical difficulty so we wait for our seat.
Sitting next to a Welsh couple that lived here –
[11:15am – on plane]
‐‐ there’s something truly striking. They lived here 27 years ago, and I miss the reference to the timeline
at first, until the wife says, “It was under apartheid then.” Apartheid – 1984. Mandela was still in prison.
Black violence was picking up. Botha, the Crocodile, kept flashing his grin. The wife added, “It’s much
more relaxed now.” An understatement of course, but a tactful one, as she never lived here when it was
one person, one vote.
It had crossed my mind last night, looking at the man who picked us up from the airport, that if he lived
in SA just 20 years ago, he’d have lived under apartheid. As Egypt has taught us, as South Sudan has
taught us, as Obama’s election has taught us, the world is not done changing.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/africajournal-111013091805-phpapp01/75/The-Real-Africa-Journal-4-2048.jpg)
![Later, a brief stop at Olduvai Gorge – a quick photo opp and a couple‐room museum that’s basically a
life sized Wikipedia entry, or as Cara noted, a middle school science fair project. We passed on the
lecture.
[Somehow, in this journal, I neglected to reference the Shifting Sands, an odd science fiction‐esque
phenomenon of this massive pile of dark sand that shifts 17 meters each year while retaining the same
shape and size. It would be a fitting subject for a Spielberg film, and it’s a beautiful part of the pre‐
Serengeti landscape.
]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/africajournal-111013091805-phpapp01/75/The-Real-Africa-Journal-50-2048.jpg)
![it’s enough for people to have taken notice. And next to the Japanese couple with their doll, it may be
the weirdest thing we encountered on the trip. I mean, I’d LOVE to see a documentary on them, or read
a book. This is one of the world’s great and presumably untold stories.
[There are some reports on Rasta culture there. See http://www.mambomagazine.com/nutshell‐
guides/arts‐and‐culture/roots‐rasta‐culture .]
Back to the day:
Unwound in the room, read some of my book (Shadow of the Sun) on the hammock.
Went out after 6.
Tried an ATM. One had a Windows error and the other wouldn’t give me cash. So much for 24 hrs. Went
to Forodhani Gardens – a big outdoor cookoff of street food with lots of locals and mzungus and stray
cats. Each stand – there were dozens – had one of a few kinds of food:
‐ Sugar cane juice (love it!) – freshly pressed
‐ Zanzibar pizza with chocolate and bananas](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/africajournal-111013091805-phpapp01/75/The-Real-Africa-Journal-84-2048.jpg)
![follow, but they’re entirely disconnected. It mentions Africa just once: “As of midnight, we were in the
erstwhile capital of East Africa’s most stable nation. We did breakfast in one of the crown jewels of
Europe, along with lunch, and dessert…” Perhaps even that’s fitting in its own right – no tidy conclusions
are deep reflections, but an abrupt end to a story about bribing hotel staff for a shower followed by
details of a menu. It ends without ending, perhaps anticipating some kind of grand finale that never got
written. It’s the challenge with travel too, as you’re too busy doing it to properly capture it all or reflect
on what happened. The real impact of a trip often isn’t known for years later. I’m grateful for every
minute of the journey though, and I’m indebted to all those who made the trip as meaningful as it was,
even if the meaning will reveal itself in time.]
The End.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/africajournal-111013091805-phpapp01/75/The-Real-Africa-Journal-99-2048.jpg)
Uploaded byDavid Berkowitz
The Real Africa Journal
The document is a travel journal by David Berkowitz detailing his trip through South Africa and Kenya, covering various locations including Johannesburg, Hoedspruit, and Cape Town. It highlights experiences during safaris, cultural observations, and interactions with locals, while also reflecting on historical context such as apartheid and contemporary life in the region. The journal includes personal anecdotes, culinary experiences, and various wildlife encounters, all contributing to a vivid portrayal of his travels in Africa.
More Related Content
The Real Africa Journal
- 1. The REAL Africa Journal LIONS & TIGERS & BOERS, OH MY!1 February 11‐28, 2011 By David Berkowitz Table of Contents SOUTH AFRICA .......................................................................................................................................... 3 KENYA ..................................................................................................................................................... 30 . TANZANIA ............................................................................................................................................... 33 . Appendix: 28 Books for Your Africa Reading List ‐ Safaris, Politics, Culture, History, and More ......... 100 1 There are no wild tigers in Africa. I still had this as the original title of my handwritten journal and couldn’t toss it entirely.
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- 5. 3:40pm Djuma Vuyatela sitting room The Rules 1. Lock your doors when you leave. The monkeys could otherwise enter and have a monkey party. 2. Do not go around alone at night. The reserve is secure from elephants but not lions and cheetahs. 3. Really, watch out for the monkeys. 4. Duck under the electric elephant wire. 5. Don’t stand up in safari vehicles as it can frighten animals by breaking the profile of the Land Cruiser. At Djuma Vuyatela, we’re not exactly roughing it
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- 11. 10:30pm Mid‐morning – went to towns of Utah and Dixie with Amos the tracker, who lives in Utah with much of his family, and every other person we met seemed to be a relative. Getting serenaded by nursery schoolers – twice – was a ridiculously fun highlight, and the kids seem to be learning a lot – in multiple languages. In Dixie, the principal noted school fees are R40 a month – about $6‐$7. Parents who can’t pay must bring firewood. Can you find me? Easiest game of Where’s Waldo ever!
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- 13. Lunch – a Valentine’s spread too abundant to name. For that window we ate alone. By dinner – and the PM drive – we were joined by 5 others: Peter and Mary of Boston – he’s an environmental engineer. Sweet couple with four grown daughters. Fittingly, he had some hockey trash talking to do. Fittingly over dinner, no one cared. Paula, Husband, son studying at Uni in Singapore. The couple partnered with an aloe farmer in northern South Africa near Zimbabwe. Farmer died. Husband strangely obsessed with animals having sex – like lions having sex on command, and some animals turning gay. Guide “Merman” said worst tourists are Chinese since they all follow each other. If one stands up in the car, they all do, so then he steps on it. Dinner = v. good – bacon/camembert/cranberry in phyllo, salad, fish, cake. Great vodka and apple liquor. Fun facts: ‐ Cheetahs can be domesticated ‐ If you are being chased by a lion, throw a rock behind it ‐ Honey badgers are the toughest animal out here ‐ Don’t shine a light at a giraffe at night It is fun out here. Though I’m more scared of being killed by the aloe farmer than a jungle cat.
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- 15. 2/15 Djuma 10:20pm Woke to a rainy morning, rainy enough that we skipped the 5:30 safari. I went back to sleep – and crashed until 1. Much needed. Did lunch here with the Bostoners. This time, Asian‐inspired fare – pork with noodles, other good stuff. Returned, then afternoon game drive in mostly gorgeous weather. ‐ 2 herds of elephants, the first with 11, including a baby just days old – AMAZING ‐ A family of 3 rhinos ‐ 4 giraffes – with one huge one that materialized last ‐ A hyena ‐ A snail, millipedes ‐ Impala, wildebeest Also saw monkeys at the lodge. A few were scampering outside our room and eyeing me through the window. Also said hi to a kudu couple and George the warthog. With George the warthog
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- 27. Then Dornier, also via recs from work friend T. L.. Wines were ehhh but again gorgeous setting, and awesome lunch. 1st – Flammkuchen, Dutch‐German pizza type dish of flatbread with feta, olives, butternut squash, balsamic. Then a juicy, well seasoned kudu steak with mixed veggies. From there, back to the city from the Stellanbosch region and parted from Graham (master of the wheelybin – love that word) for Table Mountain’s cable cars to see striking views, clouds rolling off the mountain, and the adorable, fat, little Dassie (rock hyrax).
- 28. A fond farewell to Graham View from Table Mountain
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- 30. U2 plays now – we can hear them from our room. SA’s proud to have them, with Bono as liberal as he is, in the same stadium where they hosted the World Cup. Dinner: Fish & Chips from the wharf, and Haagen Dazs. Pleasant walk by the stadium with an excited populace around, and the first real sign of police in Cape Town. 2/19/11 Cape Town Airport Catch phrase for a movie I’d love to write, set as a UK/SA version of the Hangover: “A dassie bit my willy!” Guaranteed smash success. Another phrase I went to coin: calling the Cape Town – Jo.berg flight “Curry in a hurry.” Indians everywhere. Easy morning. Guide took us right to security. We may have even packed everything. And Djuma gave us directions to our camera charger. Fell asleep last night as U2’s concert ended. Awesome. KENYA 11pm Ole Sereni Hotel Nairobi, Kenya Slept 1st flight to JNB. No row or zone #s at these airports, but it always works. Passport control so far has also been easy, though Nairobi had more formalities like fingerprinting. At JNB, waited to get my camera battery charger via Djuma to no avail – lots of waiting, and help from Mtutu at Magic Bus, but little to show. Found a replacement though. GREAT Indian food at Raj in the food court, including Bunny Chow! Got more PS bars too, using up my last Rand. Napped/read to Nairobi. V. different place here. Airport feels lie late 70s. Used my limited Swahili – Jambo, rafiki. (Hello, friend) Learned some new words: Mzungu – white person Asante – thank you
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- 33. Our driver told us a bit about Swahili and Nairobi. He’s not a fan of the government – the politicians can be “nice, but mean.” He said when Obama was elected, Kenyans thought they’d be rich. Whoops. TANZANIA 2/20/11 Gibb’s Farm, Tanzania 9pm Another 5am day, leaving Ole Sereni and to the Nairobi time warm airport with haphazard security and another flight leaving on African Standard Time – though at least they’ve left. Even small flights such as our 6‐seater on Precision Air offered beverage service and a meal – for a 45 minute flight. That’d be unthinkable back home.
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- 35. 2/21/11 Gibb’s Farm 7pm Things are a little off at the farm – firewood came an hour late last night, housekeeping an hour early. Food’s so‐so, though enjoyed breakfast far more than last night’s lunch and today’s dinner. It may be fresh off the farm, but there’s been nothing particularly Tanzanian nor delicious about it. The good news is I’ve been a sustainable eater here, eating enough but not more. Gorgeous, unusual setting, but I wouldn’t return. It resembles the Inkaterra Pueblo Hotel by Macchu Picchu, but I enjoyed the food and setting more there. The bed had to have been more comfortable too. Today – 7am departure for Ngorongoro, followed by breakfast of chocolate croissants, cheese, fruit, juice. Made it to the entrance gate and hung out with some aggressive, thieving baboons. One tried knocking over trash cans (successfully), and if they find your car totally open, they’ll raid it. If they don’t find anything to their liking, they’ll leave ‘a present’ behind for you. When we left we got especially close. One tried scaling the side of a truck, one chewed a wrapper, and a couple shamelessly mated in front of us.
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- 37. Ngorongoro itself is amazing – a vast caldera yet, at around 12 miles wide, it’s all contained and manageable in a day’s drive. Mostly flat, you can often see from one end to the other. The zebras are especially wondrous, kids in tow, after crossing in front of us and hanging with their wildebeest friends. The lions were also gorgeous – the males were golden and majestic, though one chickened out when it was close to catching a warthog. Other animals: ‐ Gazelles ‐ Eland ‐ Water buffalo ‐ Black rhino (endangered) ‐ Hippos underwater
- 38. ‐ Jackals ‐ Elephants in the distance ‐ Hyenas ‐ A little monkey ‐ Ostriches ‐ Crowned cranes (fave) ‐ Black ___ (lunch birds) ‐ Guinea fowl ‐ Bustards ‐ Lots of others A hell of a show, and so fortunate to see it all. Only downside was Milinga’s overly defensive attitude at the end of the day – really unprofessional. And the picnic lunch was fun but an underwhelming spread. Had potatoes, pasta salad, local bananas.
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- 53. Serengeti is really something, and our luck today couldn’t have been much better, thanks to Milinga’s animal spotting: ‐ Lions – a whole pride of them, and more hidden ‐ A group of elephants ‐ Thousands of zebras among the park’s combined 2.8 million zebra and wildebeest ‐ Quite a number of wildebeest – like the zebra, part of the great migration, though rain patterns here have prevented all the migration to happen at the same place ‐ A leopard high up in a tree, stalking prey from her branch ‐ Dozens of giraffe, some right up close (saw great ones leaving Ngorongoro too) ‐ Hartebeest, eland, Thomson gazelle, larger gazelle ‐ A couple cheetahs on a rock ‐ Crown cranes ‐ Superb starlings with blue metallic coat at Serengeti entrance ‐ A hippo family – one yawning wide Truly superb starlings
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- 60. Why are we received so warmly? Not all of this list of wrongs is widely known – in America or Africa. Much of it I only learned or paid attention to in my self‐education before traveling here; beforehand I tuned out African news like everyone else. We also do a lot of good as a nation with investments of resources and manpower by governments, corporations, non‐profits, and individuals. And personally, I’m here – spending money, asking questions, taking pictures, and spreading the word back home. But I can’t receive such hospitality in a totally clean conscious. What becomes of that, I’m not yet sure. 9:54pm Dinner – pretty good ‐ Carrot ginger soup, brad ‐ Lamb, fish ‐ Papadam Awful dessert. Fun gift shop. Leila Salema (good night) 2/23/11 Serena Serengeti Tanzania 9:15pm – but feels much later, even with a long nap Woke at 4:15am. This is vacation? But here’s why we ddi it: Drove an hour from our hotel to the Seronera area for a hot air balloon ride at sunrise, sitting in a corner of the 3rd of 3 balloons, and with 8 compartments for a total of 16 people per ride plus a pilot. Getting in was very uncomfortable, being on our backs waiting for liftoff as the flame felt like it was burning the hair off my face (it didn’t). And then we tilted up and took off, floating ever so gently above the Serengeti. Higher or lower, it’s the smoothest transportation I’ve ever been on – nothing compares.
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- 65. Then, following an explanation of tradition by a Canadian balloon pilot, we had a champagne toast, and then traveled by car to a shady spot for an English breakfast – mimosas included. At our table were: ‐ A Tasmanian balloon pilot having the time of his life ‐ Four Danish folks ‐ And… a young Japanese newlywed couple honeymooning with… their little big‐eyed doll, Edina? Whoever she was, none of the 3 spoke much English, but they were quite insistent that the doll was their friend. It reminded us of the 30 Rock episode where James Franco dotes on a life‐sized Japanese body pillow Komiko (I’m laughing hysterically just writing it). After feeding Edina biscuits, the doll disappeared during breakfast as we munched on bacon, at which point I noted to Cara that Edina’s best friend is a piggy bank. We could barely look over their way again. Way to lvie up to a stereotype. After breakfast, waiting to leave, C told me to look at something and I looked up, expecting the blue‐ balled vervet monkey in the tree. Then she said, “James Franco” and I saw Edina’s latest photo shoot. So yes, two memorable experiences for the price of one!
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- 72. A security stand. An overhang, to sit under A ‘big office’ with big lines for women That’s about it. No security for us, no bag weighing. The pilot carried our bags. Said farewell to Milinga, who wanted to make sure we’d say good things about him. Then crouched on the plane. We just learned that rather than one flight, we got 2. First, 55 minutes to Arusha – choppy for 10 of the last 15, but beautiful views the whole way, including Ngorongoro.
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- 79. Our first stop was a plantation. They have a whole tourist industry of plantations, and given the rural nature of the island, it’s worth seeing. Mr K showed us this ‘short tour’ lasting 45 minutes where he showed us at least a dozen plants we could barely identify at first – avocado, vanilla, turmeric, pepper, lime/lemon, the famous clove, cinnamon, mango, coconut, ginger, lemongrass, nutmeg, etc – while showing us the health benefits of each. Two boy, about 9 and 13, assisted, the older climbing a tree here and there and generally helping, as both wove us baskets and crowns out of leaves. Even if it was contrived, we got a real appreciation for how much we don’t know about agriculture and produce, and how much more we can learn about the benefits of natural herbs, spices, and fruit. Annatto, a slightly peppery fruit of the achiote tree used for food coloring and even lipstick
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- 81. Then it was off to Nguni (in the north). I got a Stoney ginger beer (made by Coke) and we hit the gorgeous beach – bright blues of the Indian Ocean calling out to us, as were some hawkers and some boys ogling the women. The water was slightly colder than at our beach, and with the dhows you could smell diesel, so it was really no better than the beach outside our hotel, and only slightly prettier. Then we had lunch where we were, at this backpacker hotel, and the food was surprisingly good – we both got the seafood “fajitas” that were perfectly done. One of the best meals we’ve had in Tanzania.
- 82. Then a brief look at how dhows are made before heading back to the room. (Oh, we also saw some underwhelming, poorly maintained Portuguese ruins.) A lot of the fun came from Shaban’s insights and explanations: ‐ He’s been leaving here since before the ’64 revolution – well before. His father was born here and his grandfather came here from the mainland. ‐ The most tourists come from Italy since they were the first to offer flights when tourism got going in the 80s. The Italians run several hotels, tour companies, and other businesses. ‐ Italians still aren’t loved here. They’re way too loud, and they walk around naked (presumably on the beach) or in skimpy swimsuits (the men). ‐ The richest Italians here are mafia and profit from racketeering. ‐ The British think everything’s too expensive but otherwise aren’t too bad. ‐ The Germans are so‐so. ‐ The French are generally pretty miserable. We have yet to meet a guide who likes the French, and this was the closest one came to saying anything nice about Germans.
- 83. ‐ The new up and comers are the Russians. ‐ Americans are generally liked. We tip well because we understand the plight of poor people (go us!) ‐ The most drab area around Stone Town – really, depressingly drab – includes blocks of prison‐ style cement buildings. Guess who built them? The East Germans, in the 70s. SO fitting. People like them though, as they replaced ramshackle hovels, so without the East Germans it could all be a giant slum. Why live it up with naked Italian racketeers when you can enjoy this luxurious East German housing? We talked a lot more – politics, religion, economy, healthcare, education, etc. They don’t have a movie theater on the whole island. They do have paved roads though, and a very comfy van with AC. Shaban was great – highly recommended. Oh, another highlight from Shaban: There’s a visible Rastafarian subculture here that’s really all about people’s love for Bob Marley. They’re not really Rasta – they just have the dreds and knit hats and Marley t‐shirts. Apparently a few mzungu women have fallen in love with them and married them, taking them back home. It can’t be many, but
- 84. it’s enough for people to have taken notice. And next to the Japanese couple with their doll, it may be the weirdest thing we encountered on the trip. I mean, I’d LOVE to see a documentary on them, or read a book. This is one of the world’s great and presumably untold stories. [There are some reports on Rasta culture there. See http://www.mambomagazine.com/nutshell‐ guides/arts‐and‐culture/roots‐rasta‐culture .] Back to the day: Unwound in the room, read some of my book (Shadow of the Sun) on the hammock. Went out after 6. Tried an ATM. One had a Windows error and the other wouldn’t give me cash. So much for 24 hrs. Went to Forodhani Gardens – a big outdoor cookoff of street food with lots of locals and mzungus and stray cats. Each stand – there were dozens – had one of a few kinds of food: ‐ Sugar cane juice (love it!) – freshly pressed ‐ Zanzibar pizza with chocolate and bananas
- 85. ‐ A spread of tons of seafood and meats, much in kebab form – and each spread was the same as every other (bafflingly dumb) Went to Silk Route for Indian food. Pretty good Indian, with pretty poor service. The menu listed 5 specialty cocktails but didn’t say what was in most of them. Descriptions were cut off. I asked the server what was in a Kamasutra. She had no idea. I asked her what was her favorite. She said the Kamasutra.
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- 92. After finishing the tour, our guide directed us to Mercury’s, a happening seaside restaurant and bar capitalizing on the name of perhaps the most famous person born here, Freddie Mercury. As a gay ex‐ pat who died of AIDS, he doesn’t get too much billing on the conservative Muslim island. Lunch was pretty good – had some pizza, perhaps inspired by naughty Italians, perhaps because it’s popular here and especially at Mercury’s, and perhaps because we’re getting ready to transition back
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- 98. (8:30) We toured all around – waterfront, embassies, quick shops at markets al selling the same stuff 9if you see giraffe paintings, just run). The driver made up for a city you can confidently see without leaving your car, or even rolling down the window. Then we got to Hotel Dar, sweaty as we’ve been, which doesn’t bode well for.. oh… 40 hours of travel. We mentioned the thought of getting a room by the hour to the greeter out front and he had a plan B. He’d call his friend at the pool, we’d grease a couple palms, and we’d get access to the locker rooms, which happen to be nicer than just about any I’ve seen. 30,000 TS went to the locker room guy (who had another ‘client’ come in after me), I’ve got 20,000 TS for the guy out front (George), and we’re now refreshed and a bit more ready for 2 long flights and a half day romp through Amsterdam. Dinner was fine – sweet potato soup, a butter curry version of a chicken tikka masala (D) and pizza (C). Enjoyed another Stoney Tangawizi and Kilimanjaro beer. [And that ends the Africa journal. Normally these journals have some parting thoughts that tie it all together. There was nothing like that here – no final memories, no lessons. A few pages on Amsterdam
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- 100. Appendix: 28 Books for Your Africa Reading List ‐ Safaris, Politics, Culture, History, and More In February, Itraveled through South Africa and Tanzania, taking part in a few safaris while exploring Cape Town and unwinding in Zanzibar. Along the way I also spent a night in Nairobi, Kenya and got a brief tour of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. To prepare for the trip and expand my horizons while away, I read about 30 books on Africa. As I've done before with reading lists for Egypt and South America, your reading list for Africa is below, this time with 28 reviews and recommendations. Feel free to share other recommendations in the comments. I need to thank two sources in particular that helped with this list. One is Amazon, from its references to the Kindle. With the flights to Zanzibar I could only take 33 lbs of luggage for a 17-day trip through varying climates, and the Kindle made reading so many books possible. Highlighted passages below all come from Kindle versions. The other is Idlewild Books, a Manhattan bookstore specializing in international books, and I picked up at least 10 books there from this selection alone; most weren’t available on the Kindle, and the staff there is extremely sharp.
- 101. South Africa LongWalk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela If you only read one book about Africa, this is it. Mandela's the hero, the change agent, the revolutionary, the larger than life inspiring figure you want him to be. The only thing more incredible than his autobiography is that when reading anything else about Africa, Mandela remains unblemished. This is also a book that anyone interested in leadership needs to read. Highlight:Of so many great quotes from Mandela, here's one that stands out: "Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another." Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog This one will rank up there in terms of books that keep you up at night. Krog covers the Truth and Reconilliation Commission hearings in South Africa in the 1990s, and you feel the torture Krog endures by hearing and relaying the horrors and atrocities that happened in her country. Highlight: We all want to resign. We all yearn for another life. At Tzaneen a young Tswana interpreter is interviewed. He holds on to the tabletop; his other hand moves restlessly in his lap. “It is difficult to interpret victim hearings,” he says, “because you use the first person all the time. I have no distance when I say ‘I’ . . . it runs through me with ‘I.’ ” “Now how do you survive it?” “I don’t. After the first three months of hearings, my wife and baby left me because of my violent outbursts. The Truth Commission provided counseling and I was advised to stop. But I don’t want to. This is my history, and I want to be part of it—until the end. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton This is one of those books that I felt so privileged to read. If I hadn't gone on this trip I might never have found it, and it's undoubtedly one of the world's great works of poetry.What makes it chilling is that it was written right before the advent of apartheid, so it's this snapshot of South Africa before the country spirals even further downhill. Highlight: We do not know, we do not know. We shall live from day to day, and put more locks on the doors, and get a fine fierce dog when the fine fierce bitch next door has pups, and hold on to our handbags more tenaciously; and the beauty of the trees by night, and the raptures of lovers under the stars, these things we shall forego. We shall forego the coming home drunken through the midnight streets, and the evening walk over the star-lit veld. We shall be careful, and knock this off our lives, and knock that off our lives, and hedge ourselves about with safety and
- 102. precaution. And ourlives will shrink, but they shall be the lives of superior beings; and we shall live with fear, but at least it will not be a fear of the unknown. And the conscience shall be thrust down; the light of life shall not be extinguished, but be put under a bushel, to be preserved for a generation that will live by it again, in some day not yet come; and how it will come, and when it will come, we shall not think about at all. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee All you really need to know about this one is that it's like reading a Philip Roth novel set in South Africa. It's about a professor who can't control his prick (a term Roth would use, so it fits) and whose attempts at escaping his problems only cause more misery. It's less about South Africa than human nature, but that's also part of the fun of it - reading a book that's not a history lesson. Favorite African Folktales edited by Nelson Mandela You can often learn a lot about a country from its folktales, and the scope here is far wider than a country. It's a fun mix, but nothing here is as striking or well written as Kalila and Dimna from the Egypt roundup. If you're at all interested in folklore, go with Kalila - and if you're not, you might be after reading it. The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer This is an odd book by one of South Africa's best known writers. Here, Julie falls for a Muslim mechanic and leaves her Sex and the City set for a life of Islam, Arabie, and destitution. While it's an interesting story at times, I never really got why Julie was acting the way she was - it seemed a little forced at most major junctures. Zanzibar Revolution in Zanzibar: An American's Cold War Tale by Donald Petterson If you go to Zanzibar, or if you love Cold War history, you have to read this. You meet divinely inspired coup leaders, womanizing ambassadors, and world leaders as Petterson shares his first- hand experience from serving in the American consulate on Zanzibar during these revolutinoary days. The Sultan's Shadow by Christiane Bird Zanzibar's a surprising, even magical island, albeit with quite a few dark spots in its history. It was the capital of East Africa's slave trade, which picked up once the scion of an Omani dynasty discovered the riches from the islad's spice plantations, and slaves were needed to supply the
- 103. island. The mostambitious of the island's sultans had a daughter who was quite the renegade, as running off with German men wasn't exactly de rigeur at the time for an Omani Zanzibari princess. Along with following the sultan and princess, we meet infamous black African slave trader Tippu Tip, British Christian anti-slavery crusader David Livingstone, and other leading figures of the day. While the narrative is all over the place, as a reader I felt enriched by having it cover so many angles. Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah While the book isn't set in Zanzibar, the author hails from there. Though you won't see this in the Amazon description, the story is remarkably similar to the biblical story of Joseph. The protagonist is even named Yusuf, and he's similar to his namesake in appearance and can interpret dreams. His father sells him into bondage (instead of Joseph's brothers - but really, it's the same plot line), and you know you can expect trouble when you meet the woman who resembles Potiphar's wife. General History: Colonial Period (starting around 16th/17th centuries) until Independence (around 1950s-60s) King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild Belgium's King Leopold II is one of the world's least known genocidists, a mass murderer few can compare to, and one few heard of before Hochshild's best-seller. Edwin Morel, the hero of the book, was a British shipping executive who noticed a disparity in some records that led to a global anti-slavery crusade. Horrifying through and through, Hochshild is such a great storyteller that perhaps it's a little too much of a page-turner. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad I hadn't read this until this trip, and by the time I did, I had read so much about it that the novel itself was anticlimactic. Real life villains like King Leopold II are far scarier than anything in here. While the story itself's essential reading, I'm more impressed by what Conrad did and inspired than the work itself. Exterminate All the Brutes by Sven Lindqvist Lindqvist journeys into Africa to explroe the meaning of the Heart of Darkness phrase, "Exterminate all the brutes." Where did that ideology originate, to treat people as animals or lesser evolved humans? How did it influence Hitler, and why do we focus on the Holocaust while ignoring other mass killings? There aren't easy answers but it's a thouhtful thought experiment.
- 104. First Footsteps inEast Africa by Sir Richard Burton Sir Burton is clearly an outsized personality. Often, he's intoerably bigoted, putting down anyone and any tribe he meets with as he shares his theories of civilization. And yet, he has his moments, such as his understanding the dangers of pitting one tribe against another - this kind of action caused irreperable harm as the colonial powers left africa. It's great to have access to this work, but tough to swallow. Highlight (well, more of a typical passage - hardly a highlight): The natives of the country are essentially commercial: they have lapsed into barbarism by reason of their political condition-- the rude equality of the Hottentots,--but they appear to contain material for a moral regeneration. As subjects they offer a favourable contrast to their kindred, the Arabs of El Yemen, a race untameable as the wolf, and which, subjugated in turn by Abyssinian, Persian, Egyptian, and Turk, has ever preserved an indomitable spirit of freedom, and eventually succeeded in skaking off the yoke of foreign dominion Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa by Martin Meredith While well reviewed, this book of the Dutch history of South Africa was a bit of a slog for me. The basic history is important, and I enjoyed the character sketch of Cecil Rhodes, among others, but perhaps I was a little historied out by the time I read this. Modern Politics (post-colonial area, focused generally on 1950s-present) The Fate of Africa: A History of 50 Years of Independence by Martin Meredith This was the first sweeping work I read about Africa's modern history. You read the same story in country after country: Colonizing power props up a seemingly non-threatening but charismatic lackey; colonizing power makes a hasty exit before there are even a few hundred black Africans in the entire country with college degrees; former lackey pillages the country for his personal gain while playing Cold War rivals against each other to gain global standing; some kind of civil war, coup, and/or genocide ensues. A few break that pattern, usually with an educated leader who takes their responsibility more seriously (see Ghana, Botswana, Tanzania, and ultimately Mandela in South Africa) but not always successfully (Tanzania's Nyerere, for instance, took his socialist ideals too far, but at least he was one of few leaders to step down voluntarily when the economy crashed). This was the first such sweeping tome I read on Africa's modern history, and it was confusing to no end, but after a few such works I got the hang of it and can even put a few of these countries on a map. Yay.
- 105. Highlight: By theend of the 1980s, not a single African head of state in three decades had allowed himself to be voted out of office. Of some 150 heads of state who had trodden the African stage, only six had voluntarily relinquished power. The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai An incredible Kenyan woman who has served her country and continent in goverment, on foundations and through her writing, Maathai ultimately focuses on the Millennium Development Goals for Africa and why they won't be met by 2015. Especially powerful is when this 'green party' hero focuses on the environment and she makes a case for the positive ripple effects that stem from sustainability. Highlight: Before the arrival of the Europeans, Mount Kenya was called Kirinyaga, or “Place of Brightness,” by the people who lived in its shadow. The Kikuyus believed that God dwelled on the mountain, and that the rains, clean drinking water, green vegetation, and crops, all of which had a central place in their lives, flowed from it. When Christian missionaries arrived in the area toward the end of the nineteenth century, they told the local people that God did not live on Mount Kenya, but rather in heaven, and that the mountain and its forests, previously considered sacred grounds, could be encroached upon and the reverence accorded to them abandoned. The people believed this and were persuaded to consider their relationship with the mountain and, indeed, nature itself as primitive, worthless, and an obstacle to development and progress in an age of modernity and advances in science and technology. This did not happen only, of course, to the people who lived around Mount Kenya. Over the next generations, the reverence and spirit that had led the communities to preserve specific species of tree, like the wild fig, and the forests on Mount Kenya died away. When the white settlers and then the local communities themselves cut down the trees to plant coffee and tea and other agricultural products, encroaching farther and farther up the mountain, there was little resistance. From then on, they were seen as commodities only, to be privatized and exploited. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden As great as this book is - the writer is a gifted wordsmith while focusing on many of the salient stories and perspectives that make this modern history lesson so memorable - I wish there were a few more ordinary miracles. As in so many of Africa's histories, they proved hard to find here. Highlight: As John Robertson, a Zimbabwean economist, says, `We imagine corruption to be like a tick on a dog. There are some places in Africa where the tick is bigger than the dog.' Highlight 2: Shakespeare would have found it easier to talk with modern Africans than modern Europeans and Americans who have no sense of anything beyond the physical realities of Western urban culture. Africans understand Shakespeare's woodland inhabited by sprites and fairies or by ghosts of dead fathers and other mystical apparitions. Living in harmony with the other world is important. China Safari by Sege Michel Michel Beuret This was the first book I read in this crash course on Africa, and it's one of the best. It shows the complicated nature of the Chinese helping to build Africa while not letting morals get in the way of business decisions.
- 106. Highlight (proverbs): China: "Whena tree is moved, it dies. When a man movies, he can make a fortune." Mali: "If you see a goat at the mouth of the lion's den, fear the goat." Memoirs When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin Beautifully told, a reporter reminisces about his life primarily in Zimbabwe, where his parents survive endless diffuclties while staying attached to their country. There's also a memorable subplot, not to be disclosed here, as Godwin discovers the truth about his own heritage. Highlight: I feel like weeping. Weeping at the way Africa does this to you. Just as you’re about to dismiss it and walk away, it delivers something so unexpected, so tender. One minute you’re scared shitless, the next you’re choked with affection. Highlight 2 (because I love folkore, and hippos): Of all the theories for the hippo’s antisocial behavior, my favorite is the one offered by the San, the Bushmen with whom I have recently spent so much time for National Geographic. They believe that the hippo was the last animal to be created and was made of parts left over from the construction of other beasts. When the hippo saw its reflection in the water, it was so ashamed of its ugliness that it begged the creator — Kaggan — to allow it to live underwater, out of sight. But Kaggan refused, worried that the hippo would eat up all the fish with its huge mouth. The hippo promised that it wouldn’t eat any living thing from the water, and Kaggan relented. A deal was struck that the hippo must return each night to the land to eat and to shit so that the other animals could examine its dung to ensure that there were no fish bones in it. The regular humiliation of public fecal inspection could well account for the hippo’s irascibility. The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley This is two memoirs in one. Half of the book has Hartley recounting the story of his Scottish father who 'went native' in Arabia and then East Africa, where he came to feel at home. It's intertwined with the author's autobiography of surviving as a journalist in some of the most hellish, war-torn conflicts. Whatever You Do, Don't Run - True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison It's not saying much to call this the funniest book I read about Africa, and one of the least depressing. If I got any nightmares reading about this, then they were about Japanese tourists. While the book starts off rough, fortunately Allison matures just enough with his experience as a guide to strengthen the narrative while sharpening the humor.
- 107. Highlight: Honey badgersbelong to a group of only four animals that lions tend to avoid. The other three members are elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippos. African Fiction (general) Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing by Rob Spillman This is a useful guide to modern African writers. I bought a few of the books in this roundup after reading excerpts here, including Minaret and Half a Yellow Sun. I guess the con of the book is also a pro - a lot of the works were underwhelming, but that also meant I didn't have to read more from every writer in here. Highlight (from an introduction to the section on Mozambique and Angola, by the former's Mia Couto): I am a biologist and I travel a lot through my country’s savanna. In these regions, I meet people who don’t know how to read books. But they know how to read their world. In such a universe where other wisdoms prevail, I am the one who is illiterate. I don’t know how to read the signs in the soil, the trees, the animals. I can’t read clouds and the likelihood of rain. I don’t know how to talk to the dead, I’ve lost all contact with ancestors who give us our sense of the eternal. In these visits to the savanna, I learn sensitivities that help me to come out of myself and remove me from my certainties. In this type of territory, I don’t just have dreams. I am dreamable. Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o A teacher, a socialist, and a prostitute walk into Abdullah's bar - no, not the beginning of a joke, but the setting for the Kenyan novelist's dark story about a fictional town that becomes a city, but with many sacrifices. We meet everyone from local robber barrons to colonialist missionaries. It picks up the pace considerably as it progresses. While I wound up loving this, I couldn't get into Thiong'o's other seminal work WIzard of the Crow, though if you read its reviews you'll see I'm in the minority The Gunny Sack by MG Vassanji Dubbed "Africa's answer to Midnight's Children, it's a fantastic romp through a couple family histories spannign India, Zanzibar, Eastern Africa, and a bit of teh west. And times it's too similar to Rushdie's work, and it lost me, but it's often lyrical and playful. While I enjoyed it, it wasn't as memorable for me as most of the others. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe This was, I'm embarrassed to admit, the only book from this list I read before planning the Africa trip, thanks to my Mamaroneck High School teacher Shannon Turner-Porter (if you're Googling
- 108. yourself, Mrs. Porter,thank you). The book itself takes a little while to get going, but once it lives up to its title and things really start falling apart in the second half, we see why antihero Okonkwo emerges as one of the most renowned protagonists in African fiction. Highlight: We approach a great man through his servants. But when his servants fail to help us, then we go to the last source of hope. We appear to pay greater attention to the little gods but that is not so. We worry them more because we are afraid to worry their Master. Our fathers knew that Chukwu was the Overlord and that is why many of them gave their children the name Chukwuka—“Chukwu is Supreme.” “You said one interesting thing,” said Mr. Brown. “You are afraid of Chukwu. In my religion Chukwu is a loving Father and need not be feared by those who do His will.” “But we must fear Him when we are not doing His will,” said Akunna. “And who is to tell His will? It is too great to be known.” Murambi, The Book of Bones by Boubacar Boris Diop This Senagelese writer joined a creative mission in the late 1990s to venture into Rwanda and tell its stories. His book is so haunting that I had several horrific nightmares reading it. It's a sort of As I Lay Dying, told from several perspectives of those grappling with the genocide, and it is one of those works that makes me appreciate how revealing fiction can be to elucidate actual events. Highlight (referring to the calls for genocide broadcast casually over the radio - the "work" here means exterminating people): The radio says: "My friends, they have dared to kill our good president Habyarimana, the hour of truth is at hand!" Then there're some music and games. The host of the program, in brilliant form, quizzes his listeners: "How do you recognize an Inyenzi?" The listeners call in. Some of the answers are really funny, so we have a good laugh. Everyone gives a description. The host becomes serious again, almost severe: "Have fun, my friends, but don't forget the work that's waiting for you!" Minaret: A Novel by Leila Aboulela It's a sad story (surprise) as a Sudanese family falls apart following the father's demise in a regime change. It is an often wonderful portrait of life in different eras of Sudan's modern society, and of a wealthy heiress who finds herself barely scraping by. The protagonist is hard to pity too much though, making her own mistakes to the point where religion alone won't save her. Highlight: All the ingratiating manners, the downcast eyes, the sideway movements of the servants I grew up with. I used to take them for granted. I didn't know a lot about them - our succession of Ethiopian maids, houseboys, our gardener - but I must have been close to them, absorbing their ways, so that now, years later and in another continent, I am one of them. What is the What by Dave Eggers Wow. This book, recommended by Joe Kutchera, was the last one I read on Africa and may complete my reading for awhile, though of course it'll never end. It's the true story of a Sudanese "Lost Boy" who survives one outbreak of the North-South civil war only to find that war was the new normal. It's a true story, but billed as fiction as the narrator, Valentino Achak Deng, had a few holes in his memory. The two make a gifted pair, and I constantly wanted to flip ahead pages and chapters when Eggers was leaving me hanging.
- 109. Highlight: What didshe look like, my mother? I had only a shifting memory, as light as linen, and the longer I was with this woman Ajulo, the more distant and indistinguishable my vision of my mother would become. I told Ajulo I could not be her son, but she fed me still. I came once a week and helped how I could, bringing her water, portions of my rations, things she could not otherwise procure. I went there and she fed me and let me lie in her lap. During those hours I was a boy with a home. That's a wrap. Be sure to leave your favorite picks in the comments or tweet me – www.twitter.com/dberkowitz .