But the country's huge tourist potential is evident on the trips he makes to the stunning interior.
Theroux describes the capital, Luanda, as hell, and Metcalfe's book confirms this.
From the moment he's told his luggage has gone to East Timor, Metcalfe suffers the endless indignities to which Angola subjects inhabitants and visitors alike. It's a startling, wonderfully written portrait of a country flowing with petrodollars yet still suffering the effects of years of civil war.
The risks he takes are not ones of derring-do but involve acute mindfulness of the people around him and the space they inhabit.īLUE DAHLIA, BLACK GOLD: A JOURNEY INTO ANGOLA BY DANIEL METCALFEĭiscounting Paul Theroux's recent The Last Train to Zona Verde and a good Bradt guide, Daniel Metcalfe's Blue Dahlia, Black Gold: A Journey into Angola is the first English-language book of travel writing about Angola for nearly a decade. But it is Clare's own psyche that is most interesting. Well-informed accounts of the mechanics of shipping, together with lyrical descriptions of dolphins and whales, make it a pleasure to read. There is Conradian insight in Clare's portrayal of the crews to which he is supernumerary, from the captain who hums as he negotiates narrow channels to the first mate constantly crunching carrots. Down to the Sea in Ships is a fabulous account of voyages on two cargo ships, one from Felixstowe to LA via the Suez Canal, the other from Antwerp to Montreal, crossing the Atlantic in winter storms. DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS BY HORATIO CLAREĪcclaimed for Running for the Hills, a book describing his childhood in Wales, and A Single Swallow, in which he traces the bird's migration patterns, Horatio Clare has now produced a great book about the sea and those who sail on it.
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