The Smiling Continent

Did you know that Mozambique has the tastiest crabs, Burkina Faso the biggest film festival in Africa and Nigeria the best Scrabble players in the world? No? Everyone has a fixed picture of Africa, most of them without ever having been there. Rarely is this picture positive. But what if Africa is completely different? Bernd Dörries travels the continent and meets people who rarely lose their laughter.

There are quite a few who believe that Africa is a single country with the same people, the same problems, the continent of the three Cs: conflict, corruption and catastrophes. But is Africa really like that, or do we just want to see it that way? Bernd Dörries describes 34 countries south of the Sahara with great humour and a subjective view. He finds routine and new beginnings, stagnation and hope. He travels to isolated Equatorial Guinea, which seldom issues visas, and is told in Ethiopia why the country is the best in Africa in the eyes of its inhabitants.