A review by alundeberg
The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari by Paul Theroux

5.0

This is not your typical heartwarming cultural comedy of errors travel memoir; it sobering, depressing, and at points, downright frightening. Theroux journeys through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Angola to see how much Africa has changed in the ten years he was there last. The verdict? He cuts his trip short. Africa has always been a land of extremes and today it is even more so. There are pricey resorts where people can stay with a herd of elephants, but all of the elephants are in captivity-- not roaming free. Wealthy neighborhoods surrounded by slums and a rising business of slum tourism. Great disparities of racial equality. The iconic lush African landscape juxtaposed against post-apocalyptic cities and villages where electricity and running water are intermittent. English teachers that cannot tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction. The greatest disparity of all is Angola, a country that brings in 1 BILLION dollars every five days from its oil revenue, but about 90% of its population is unemployed and in poverty. While there are glimmers of hope, they are only mere glimmers that are eclipsed by the great socio-political movements of corrupt governments and an uneducated people. Theroux tackles many of the problems facing Africa, looking for answers. Often no answers arise. This is not an easy book to read. It is a cautionary tale of how corruption and economic inequality can destroy a land and its people.