Crazy River: Exploration and Folly in East Africa

As they say, "Nobody travels like Richard Grant. And, really, nobody else should." I've read this book a couple times. It's one of my favorites! So many great morsels of information.

This book is a pleasant surprise and an engaging, easy travel essay on the contradiction between Tanzania's tremendous potential for moving forward and the chaos of daily life and lack of urgency one encounters as an outsider. I've traveled to Tanzania 8-10 times, and Richard's observations are entertaining and contain a great deal of truth. He does a nice job of weaving in the history (often sad) of Tanzania's different regions and peoples into his adventures and setbacks while traveling around the country. He makes friends with interesting characters and explores the slums, bars, seedy restaurants and portals of everyday life, using these experiences to build an interesting tale. It's clear that Richard finds many things he enjoys about Tanzania, and he shares these vividly. But he doesn't leave out his frustrations, and provides a clear picture of how tiring it can be to get through a day in this often hot, crowded, inefficient place. He meets interesting people in Burundi and Rwanda and shares great insights on the post-genocide attitudes he encounters, ranging from the Rwandan president to orphans and disenfranchised youth living on the street. I enjoyed the later chapters on life in these two countries as much as his adventures traveling across Tanzania.While the author warms to most of the local characters he meets, he clearly has no respect for the donors and NGOs working in East Africa. His narrative gets a little preachy at times about the real motivations of western aid workers and their inability to get anything done. He also downplayed the incredible friendliness of Tanzanians and the constant expressions of welcome that one hears from the locals. Some of Richard's travel challenges resulted from his own decisions, such as hiring a local fishing boat to travel from Zanzibar to the mainland. Most locals take the ferry, and avoid the seedy port town where he spent a depressing night. I've also had better luck avoiding the stomach viruses and tropical illnesses that plagued his entire journey; maybe that's good luck (on my part) or a bit of dramatics on his. But overall, this book is a great read for anyone traveling to Tanzania who wants a prelude on the culture, people, landscape and challenges of this enchanting country.

I am a solo backpacking traveler--more than 24 third-world countries on four continents. Two of my sojourns have been to Africa and so I understood well the trials and tribulations of Grant--the reasons for his choosing his route and destinations and the inevitable discombobulated nature of his trip. I know full well that no travel in Africa is ever linear, coherent or predictable no matter how well thought out or planned. For some unfathomable reason it is the nature of Africa, as no other place in the world, to confound those who visit and stymy those who search for answers there to grand questions and attempts to glean its soul.What happened to Grant also happened to me and countless others. Prior to going there, after extensive research on my intended route, I thought I knew what to expect but once there I immediately found myself adrift in a completely alien world with no direction and no way home. My mind was constantly enveloped in a fog as if I were in a dream-- I was unable to think clearly and found myself always trapped in the present with no consciousness of past or future--and so I drifted from one event to the next-- never knew where I would find myself next--never knew where I should go or what I should do. I might have been there forever but as all dreams end, so too did my stay there. How I managed to hang onto enough sanity, reason and strength to do what I had to do to leave I do not know. Grant's experience seemed to mirror mine in all respects--incoherent, discombobulated and without direction. Any third world vagabond would enjoy and identify with his account and recognize it as authentic.The quote I most liked was Grant's reference to Raymond Aron's thought that "Optimism is usually the effect of an intellectual error." How true--particularly in Africa. A thoroughly organized and linear story, as it is thought most good books should be, it was not--but it was refreshingly real.It is true that Africa is the most beautiful, most intriguing, most spellbinding, place on Earth and once you've been there you will always return---but Africa will, in the end, break your heart."And There I Was" by DH Koester

I read this book having lived in Dar Es Salaam for 2 years. There is a lot to enjoy but a lot that was irritating. For example, the drunk, prostitute infested Zanzibar is not one I've encountered (!) and he could have stayed at way more peaceful places at the beach. His depiction of the Tanzania mainland as some sort of bandit-riddled place is just bizarre! The Bagamoyo he describes, where it isn't safe to walk???But then if you go to dives and hang out with thieves, drunks and hunters and take lots of risks then you would see a more dangerous place than most others.He also manages to turn his opinions-especially on the mentality of Africans and the aid business- into facts. Take with a pinch of salt.The other thing I found annoying was the constant comparison of himself to historic African travellers. He's trying to raft a river in the late 2000s for goodness sake! And he didn't talk much about that.On the other hand, I did feel I learnt a bit more about parts of Tanzania I don't know about. I found his coverage of Burundi and Rwanda much better...though can't help feeling that might be because I don't know as much about them.So read it if you like but don't let it put you off visiting Tanzania/Zanzibar.

The title is a bit confusing as the whole book is not wholly about the river journey...a lot of time was devoted first of all to Zanzibar for some reason...for me two or three pages on the island would have been enough otherwise I would have chosen a book on Zanzibar. I was as anxious as the author to get to the river.Finally there the journey was very interesting albeit short and then back to overland travels to Burundi..all of it interesting as I have been to these countries so I know the descriptions are accurate..he is very good at describing Africa and Africans. I haven't actually finished reading it yet but I am pretty sure he won't be going back to the river..it was too difficult to travel the whole length of it. Well worth reading.

Wow! This was a book I could not put down (or the Kindle equivalent!). Richard Grant undertook what many would consider to be a foolhardy journey into upcountry east Africa and has written a vivid, brutally honest and unsentimental portrait of African life in the raw, brought to life by his wonderful descriptive prose. The book shows both the kindness and humanity of its ordinary people, and the hardships they must endure, and the outright corruption of most of their their power/money-hungry 'leaders'. It is a real eye-opener and asks essential questions about how aid should be administered. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The book was OK but the title and synopsis are misleading as the expedition along the river only accounts for about a quarter of the book - there is as much of the author describing being drunk in bars as there is about the river excursion.The author is hugely cynical about any funding/aid being granted to African countries, and often passes his opinion as fact.A lot of the book is almost a biography of Sir Richard Burton, which although interesting you get the sense that it is used to fill out the book. Again the author is highly cynical of others who happened to criticise Burton.All in all the book is ok, however, if you are looking for something about the wilds of Africa you should probably look elsewhere.

Interesting and thought provoking although a little convoluted in the beginning.Good book for a plane trip - will almost certainly make you feel good about your chosen destination (unless it's the darker parts of the dark continent) - unlike the authors experience.