Steve Foreman arrived in Tanzania in 1992, when that country was on the cusp of great change, emerging from over a decade of self-imposed near isolation. In this lively memoir, he captures brilliantly the atmosphere of analogue East Africa, a more innocent age before mass global travel, when land-line telephones lines barely existed (let alone mobiles) and the Lonely Planet Travel guide to Tanzania wasn’t even imagined. In bracingly unaffected prose, he captures the realities that we ‘mzungus’ all found in Africa in those days: navigating officialdom, trying to get involved in conservation, pursuing every possibility to find a way to make a life in such an impossibly beautiful and challenging place.
Steve Foreman takes us from the gritty streets of London’s East End to the vast, soul-stirring landscapes of East Africa with storytelling that is raw, honest and beautifully human. As you turn each page, you’re not just reading, you’re traveling.
This book will enchant readers with its refreshing take on life in the bush and on safari, long journeys on terrible (or non-existent) roads, remote places, our white skin perhaps being seen by children for the first time. Quite apart from his extraordinary adventures and the great characters he describes along the way, Steve also has a real gift for wonderful descriptive passages of the beauty of Africa, the early morning outings on safari, the dust, the light, the smells and of course the excitement of encountering its incredible wildlife.
This book is a hymn perhaps to a lost age of Africa, whose digital revolution has now catapulted it into a different world to the one Steve first found, but which still retains the magic that he captures so eloquently. Above all, it is an inspiring story of a man from the East End who fell in love with nature as a child and never could shake off that African dream, which is still a vital message for anybody today with that explorer’s spirit.
A copy of the book can be purchased online using this link here or WhatsApp/Call +256 (0)77 359 0966. All inquiries should be directed to steveforeman112@gmail.com.
