Evelyn Waugh was sent to Ethiopia to cover the 1930 coronation of Haile Selassie for The Times, then continued to travel around the area, including French Somaliland (now Djibouti), Aden, Kenya, and the Belgian Congo. Waugh was famous for acerbic humor; it shows here. He’s sympathetic – by contemporary standards - to the Africans, but he mostly writes about Europeans he encounters; only a few natives are identified by name. There’s little sense of “look and feel” for the area, the countryside is usually described in unpleasant terms if Waugh mentions it at all, and there is much description of dinner parties which could have just as easily be set in London instead of Kenya. But it’s worthwhile for some of the encounters, particularly the Congo ship captain repeatedly demanding Waugh produce a non-existent motor bicycle. I’ll have to read some more Waugh. ( )

Waugh is, as usual, rather acid and condescending. He doesn't take anybody seriously, himself included. That being said, I didn't start this expecting sensitive portrayals of cultures and people. However, IMO, if anybody ever needed a little historical cutting down to size (sorry, bad phrasing considering his height) it is Haile Selassie, and so far Waugh's description of Selassie's coronation is really funny.

After finishing the entire book, I would say that if you are really interested in the regions he travels through, it's a funny book and will offer another view of many familiar East African characters. But his constant mockery does get a little grating by the end. ( )

Ein unterhaltsam geschriebenes Buch, eines schon zu seiner Zeit, sehr exzentrischen englischen Gentlemans.
Die sich im Anhang befindliche Kurzbiografie half mir sehr, das Buch einzuschätzen. ( )