Jun 6, 2020 | Non-Fiction, Travel |
In a stretch of comparative quiet, by a shore of white sand, a bird I recognized at once was wading carefully in the shallows: rook-size, it was brown all over, but its head was remarkable: a big broad bill balanced by a triangle of crest projecting from the back gave...
Mar 14, 2020 | Non-Fiction, Travel |
He squatted down, arranging the fire, shouting back over his shoulder into the hut, ‘My grandfather was the greatest sorcerer in Dongou, Uncle. Everybody knows. They all know the story. The Chief of Dongou, now, he also was powerful in the spirit way, and in the...
Feb 8, 2020 | Non-Fiction, Travel |
Just after four in the morning, Nze stuck his head through the tent-flap. ‘Psst!’ he said. ‘Dr Lary! Let me in!’ Lary, coughing his odd, dry, rapid little cough, switched on his torch and undid the ties. ‘I’m dying!’ said Nze,...
Jan 11, 2020 | Non-Fiction, Travel |
In her hut in Poto-Poto, the poor quarter of Brazzaville, the feticheuse, smiling at us, knelt on the floor, drew out a handful of cowrie shells from the cloth bag at her waist, and cast them across the raffia mat. Lary Shaffer and I, despite ourselves, leaned forward...
