A Tourist In Africa

Published in 1960, this book chronicles the travel of Evelyn Waugh through Eastern and Southern Africa for around two months. His last published travelogue, at the time Waugh was 55 years old.

There is a chapter on the idea, and a chapter on the journey - via Port Said & Aden, with arrival in Kenya. There is a mixture of the travel, Waughs experiences and people he meets and some historical context. If is readable and interesting without getting too in depth. There is a chapter spent in Kenya, then on to Tanganyika (now Tanzania). There are two chapters spent here, then on to ‘The Rhodesias' (now Zambia and Zimbabwe), where a further two chapters are spent before a short chapter on the return to Britain.

Shorter than his earlier travelogues, this one is not recognised for displaying his wit or sarcasm to the degree of those earlier books. He shows no interest in the animals which usually play a large part of tourism in Africa, but has a fair stab at the issues of colonialism and corruption.

I have read two previous travelogues by this author - Remote People and Hot Countries, both of which were four stars. This one fell a little shorter, at 3 stars.