Somewhere Over the Rainbow

By Gavin Bell

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0349112614
• ISBN13: 9780349112619
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Abacus (UK)
• Length: 314 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.9" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Travelling in South Africa

An easy to read book about the author's travels in South Africa. His journey begins in Cape Town and his route takes him up and through the Western Cape to the Northern Cape and across to Johannesburg, to Durban, Port Elizabeth and back to where he began his journey in Cape Town, visiting many interesting and familiar named places on the way. Never boring, and delightful glimpses of a way of life sometimes very different from that perceived here in the U.K.