In Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, travel writer Paul Theroux reflects on his journeys from Egypt through Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi to South Africa.

Paul Theroux first went to Africa in the 1960s, to volunteer as a teacher in Malawi. He returned in 2002 to discover how little progress had been made during the decades he had been away.

Theroux is a renowned travel writer also known for The Great Railway Bazaar, Kowloon Tong, and The Mosquito Coast, the latter of which was made into a movie.

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, published in 2003, is an honest and intimate take on travel across Africa.

In this book, Theroux brings African history alive by visiting looted temples in Sudan, following in the footsteps of Victorian explorers, and meeting former political prisoners in Ethiopia.

Through interviews with locals as well as his own impressions, the author highlights the continent's beauty and value while not shying away from its difficulties.