"What am I doing here?"

Paul Theroux (2013) "Last Train to Zone Verde: Overland from Cape Town to Angola". London, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Book Group, 353 pages. Softcover, P239. ISBN 978-0-2411-4367-4. Available at Exclusive Books, Riverwalk. Reviewed by Sheridan Griswold

The Last Train to Zone Verde: My Ultimate African Safari is Paul Theroux's 16th travelogue. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek here. For example, he travels by elephant back, hired tourist taxis, limousines and rickety old buses, but only twice on a train, and never in Angola. He missed a number of opportunities to ride on trains, he even missed the last train to Zona Verde, and then gave up, retreated, flew back to Cape Town instead of going on to West Africa. Zona Verde is not a specific destination, just an Angolan expression for ‘the bush’. Theroux claims he loves the bush and its hardships over any city, even when encased in the luxury of a five star hotel. He has a lot to say about the horrors of African cities.

Editor's Comment
Let us all go to vote

Figures released by the country’s electoral management body have shown that a total of 1, 037, 684 people have registered to vote.However, eligible voters could be discouraged by events leading to the voting day like poor execution of advance voting amid talks that the elections could be unfair.There have also been threats by certain opposition politicians that shall the elections not be free and fair, they will halt them.Despite these...

Have a Story? Send Us a tip
arrow up