The Shadow of the Sun, by Ryszard Kapuscinski
I lived in Africa for several years . . ." The reader will think of Isak Dinesen or Beryl Markham, but these are the words of Polish correspondent Ryszard Kapuscinski, who spent 40 years reporting on a continent that is "too large to describe . . . a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos."
He recalls his first encounter with tropical odors: "Almonds, cloves, dates and cocoa. Vanilla and laurel leaves, oranges and bananas, cardamom and saffron. . . . It is the smell of a sweating body and drying fish, of spoiling meat and roasting cassava, of fresh flowers and putrid algae--in short, of everything that is at once pleasant and irritating, attracts and repels, seduces and disgusts."
Kapuscinski first visited Africa in 1957, when many Africans were rejoicing at the end of colonial rule. But violence soon racked Liberia, Rwanda, Angola and other countries, leaving citizens desperate for jobs, safety and food. Kapuscinski describes his risky adventures in and out of Zanzibar, and sketches a portrait of Idi Amin.
