The Black Heart: A Voyage into Central Africa (Armchair Traveller Series)

**SUBTITLE: A Voyage into Central Africa** A travel book, literary adventure and personal odyssey. In this celebration and critique of present-day Zaire, Paul and Noelle Hyland travelled on river-boats, in dug-out and bizarre vehicles from Congo's mouth, through equatorial forest, to the remotest uplands at the heart of Africa. Seldom sure where they would find the next boat or bed, they met horrors and delights, living among hunters and fishermen, villagers and traders. At last, beside Lake Mweru, the Hylands lived in a mud-and-grass house, where the people begged them to lay their bones. Paul Hyland was born in Dorset in 1947. He has written for music, theatre, t.v. and radio. He grew up with tales of Africa, for members of his family worked in the Congo from 1889 to 1976; they fuelled the fascination that inspires The Black Heart.