Heart of Africa

150 years separate two explorers of Africa: the Englishman

John Hanning Speke and South African Sihle Khumalo. Speke

set out to “discover” the source of the Nile, and Khumalo to

fi gure out what the hell Speke and men like him were after.

Khumalo’s 2008 journey to Central Africa was not without

its challenges. First he had to outperform his famous

earlier trip and book Dark Continent My Black Arse. Then he

elected to travel, as before, by public transport only. Which

in practice often meant more transit and less transport.

Giving himself a mere four weeks, and propelled by a

frank fascination with the Victorian explorers, Khumalo set

out on a six-pronged quest aiming, inter alia, to ferry across

Lake Tanganyika, stand on the equator in Uganda, bungee

jump at the source of the Nile, or see if any mountain gorillas

were forthcoming (none were).

But it was his emotive visit to the Memorial Centre at

Kigali, epicentre of the Rwandan genocide, that brought

home elemental questions: What is at the heart of Africa?

What makes me an African? Where lies my centre?

Heart of Africa is the unputdownable account of a journey

that seldom went as planned. Khumalo’s unfailing eye for

the good, the bad and the amusing in Africa, his refreshing

candour and his sheer cheek, make this book every bit as

delightful as its forerunner.