In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz
LIVING ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER
IN THE CONGO
Michela Wrong
First published in Great Britain in 2000 by Fourth Estate
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Copyright © Michela Wrong, 2000
The right of Michela Wrong to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
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Source ISBN: 9781841154220
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN 9780007382095
Version: 2019-01-14
To Michael Holman, who made sure the book got written
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
CHAPTER TWO Plaything for a king
CHAPTER THREE Birth of the Leopard
CHAPTER FIVE Living above the shop
CHAPTER SIX A nation on Low Batt
CHAPTER EIGHT The importance of being elegant
CHAPTER NINE I get by with a little help from my friends
CHAPTER TEN A folly in the jungle
CHAPTER ELEVEN The night the pink champagne went flat
CHAPTER TWELVE The Inseparable Four
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Nappies on the floor
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Ill-gotten gains
‘He won’t be forgotten. Whatever he was, he was not common. He had the power to charm or frighten rudimentary souls into an aggravated witch-dance in his honour; he could also fill the small souls of the pilgrims with bitter misgivings: he had one devoted friend at least, and he had conquered one soul in the world that was neither rudimentary nor tainted with self-seeking. No; I can’t forget him.’
Heart of Darkness—JOSEPH CONRAD
The feeling struck home within seconds of disembarking.
When the motor-launch deposited me in the cacophony of the quayside, engine churning mats of water hyacinth as it turned to head back across the brown expanse of oily water that was the River Zaire, I was hit by the sensation that so unnerves first-time visitors to Africa. It is that revelatory moment when white, middle-class Westerners finally understand what the rest of humanity has always known – that there are places in this world where the safety net they have spent so much of their lives erecting is suddenly whipped away, where the right accent, education, health insurance and a foreign passport – all the trappings that spell ‘It Can’t Happen to Me’ – no longer apply, and their well-being depends on the condescension of strangers.
The pulse of apprehension drummed as I stuffed my clothes back into the ageing suitcase that had chosen the river