"The Mad Matatus of Kenya"

For those interested in another voice on Kenyan life and travel in the capital, I invite you to read this excerpt from Carl Hoffman's upcoming The Lunatic Express and the accompanying interview.

They're not bad. When I first read the title, I was worried about some Western adrenaline junkie looking for real life-and-death thrills when roller coasters and their strict safety guidelines stopped being exciting. There is more than a dash of poverty porn, but they are honest and could have been so much worse in so many ways.

My one complaint: Hoffman only travels the Nairobi matatus. No doubt they have their own insanities, but he doesn't get to enjoy the flat madness of matatu travel between cities, hopping the narrow, gravel shoulders and passing three trucks in a single go.