Bell, a foreign correspondent in South Africa from 1988-93, saw the
workings of the government at first hand as he reported on the last
days of apartheid, and glimpsed the transition which was about to
take place. Archbishop Desmond Tutu had memorably spoken of South
Africa as 'the rainbow nation' - a land with 11 languages and two
national anthems - and this book recounts how Bell returned to the
country in the late 1990s to see what had become of the image Tutu
conjured, 'to present snapshots of a country in search of an
identity'. He journeys from Cape Town to Johannesburg, from Soweto
to Pretoria and on to the Kruger National Park, taking in East
London ('home of the world's only surviving dodo egg') and
Aberdeen, which boasts a leaning tower to rival Pisa's. His writing
is measured, full of humour, understated and yet luminous. Bell's
considerable experience and authority mould his tale; his biggest
achievement is to capture both the beauty of the country and the
emotional state - schizophrenic, resilient, haunted, buoyed - of
its people. (Kirkus UK)
Near the southern tip of Africa, there is a mountain that does a conjuring trick with the biggest tablecloth on earth. In a sacred forest near the Limpopo river, there is a bird that flies on wings of thunder, flashing lightning from its eyes and bearing rain in its beak. In between, there is a hauntingly beautiful land and millions of confused people. When Archbishop Desmond Tutu dubbed his native South Africa the 'Rainbow Nation', he conjured a vision of ethnic diversity and harmony in a country with eleven official languages, two national anthems, and a parliament that shuttled between two cities. As a foreign correspondent reporting on the last days of apartheid, Gavin Bell thought it was a brave image and wondered how long it would endure. A few years later, he returned to find out what had happened to Tutu's rainbow. In his travels he found a country at odds with itself, swinging between hope and despair, buoyed by a sense of freedom and haunted by a fear of violent crime. SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW is not only a fine travel book by an award-winning writer, it is a compelling portrait of a country in search of an identity. The leopard stories are good too.
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