It's obvious to him, wherever he goes, that it's done little good, except in promoting reliance on outside help rather than trying to help (or force) the Africans to become self-reliant.

It's an ambitious trip, all overland, including areas not much visited by tourists (notably Sudan, and parts of Ethiopia and Mozambique -- though even Theroux doesn't make it to Somalia). 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 is, however, a very enjoyable read, and it does present a good picture of aspects of Africa.Along the way, he makes literary references - some involving people he knows and meets, others purely by reference. A trip through some of the most threatened and beautiful land in the world, by train, dugout canoe, chicken bus and truck. By bidding on, or purchasing this item, you are agreeing to us sharing your name and address details with that 3rd party supplier to allow us to fulfil our contractual obligations to you. and people (that is, Blacks) respond, not surprisingly, in a positive way to this bold assertion of his own rights to individuality. There's a respectable philosophical position in here somewhere: namely, that foreign aid sponsors corruption and saps local initiative.

In the travel-writing tradition that made Paul Theroux’s reputation, Dark Star Safari is a rich and insightful book whose itinerary is Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town: down the Nile, through Sudan and Ethiopia, to Kenya, Uganda, and ultimately to the tip of South Africa. People are what this book is all about, and Theroux is thrilled to bits to be around them, any of them, so he can poke, prod, discuss, listen, love them all, begrudgingly sometimes.

Rather it is a dark and very bleak sociological commentary that is a blend of vitriol and anger, pessimism with the odd interlude of ultra-cautious optimism, sadness and cynicism and, if I may make a personal observation, despair. This was my first Theroux and, on finishing it, I couldn’t fully judge of the tone of a book that was written near what will likely be the end of his career, after a certain cynicism has taken root.