Dark Star Safari. Part 2

Kenya
From Moyale Kenya, he gets on the local transport( a truck taking goods south(Marasabit). On the way they get shot at by bandits, have a tire puncture with no spare in sight, meets the 'development set'( aid workers that like me has a dislike for) and gets to Nairobi where he talks to Wahome Mutahi( before he died) about what he went through at Nyayo house. The accounts by Wahome Mutahi, which include a meeting his torturer in a matatu years later, gives a disturbing view of the dark side of the Nyayo Era. Interestingly someone mentioned to him that Kibaki was the cleanest politician in Kenya at the time(this was a year before elections) adding that he(Kibaki) had never hurt anyone to stay on top. I wonder what that person would say now.

Uganda
He goes through western Kenya to Uganda where he meets his old friends most of whom are now in Government. He gives a very interesting account of the way they behave. Some of the stuff was just plain funny. He then takes a Ferry from Uganda to Mwanza where he meets a young apprentice who works in the engine room diligently studying in the din so that he can pass his next exam and be promoted.

Tanzania
Travels from Mwanza by Train and then takes a bus to the border with Malawi. Here, he details stuff from the train breaking down, to the distraught European aid worker who keeps being propositioned for sex by men wherever she goes to work, and his interactions with a white south African couple taking a trip through southern/ Eastern Africa.

Malawi
His knowledge of chichewa helps out a lot and even helps him get by without bribing the border guards. He goes to the school he helped start and is dismayed to see that things are even worse than he left it 40 years ago. He vows never to come back or to send a book there.
He meets with the local intelligentsia and here we get introduced to
The term P.H.D(Pull him/her down) attitude you find in many third world countries( including Kenya). He gives an account of empty shops in the rural areas that used to belong to Asian businessmen who were chased away by Kamuzu Banda. He gets livid when a VC of the University asks him( the author) to send his son to teach there, yet that VC has several kids who have graduated and live in Europe and USA who can do the same but he does not ask the same of himself. He notches it down to selfishness prevalent with African Elites and declines the 'offer'.

Mozambique,
Gets to Mozambique by canoe from Malawi. The accounts of the boat ride is so vivid you can almost smell the marshes. He also gives a historical account of the places he goes to which is quiet illuminating. He gets into a theological argument with another aid worker out in Africa to save Africans from themselves and to of course show them the right path to God. He then takes of by bus to South Africa.

South Africa
The accounts he gives on his way make the contrast so evident.The most striking contrast is the lights for most of the way when in South Africa. In the other parts of Africa, he had gone for miles without even seeing so much as the flicker of a candle. In contrast the roads in South Africa are lined with lights from homes, industry and billboards. Not to mention the comparative smoothness of the roads. He goes around South Africa and meets up with the South African couple he had met in Tanzania and gives interesting accounts of race relations, the new South African and other personal reflection. He ends his trip in Cape town with a final personal reflection

“"It is so much worse for Africans. The most civilized ones I met never used the word "civilisation'. The wickedest believed themselves to be anointed leaders for life, and wouldn't let go of their delusion. The worst of them stole from foreign donors and their own people , like the lowest thieves who rob the church's poor boxes. The kindest Africans had not changed at all, and even after all theses years the best of them are bare-assed.”"

There are so many interesting episodes through out the book that what I have typed does not even scratch the surface.
A very interesting read, if you want to take a cerebral Safari through the countries mentioned and get a quasi-outsider's view of the places.