Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" episode 8 recap: Pride on the Congo
Skift Take
Parts Unknown takes an honest and holistic look at the world and at travel, considering the impact politics, history, and location have on the people who call a country home and those that cover millions of miles to see it. We're looking forward to season two.
The first fascinating season of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown ended on Sunday evening with a trip to the Congo.
Bourdain explained the trip as the culmination of a "multi-decade obsession" with Africa's largest country, but even he was unprepared for what awaited his crew.
"No show I've ever made has been more difficult, more frustrating, more uncertain, maddening or dangerous," writes Bourdain on the CNN blog.
https://twitter.com/Bourdain/statuses/343766317683314690
Bourdain's original inspiration was Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and he was well educated on the violent tumultuous history of the country: A country ravaged and a people slaughtered in search of ivory and rubber, an omnipresent colonial power that vanished, and the rebel forces left to kill for an inch of power in its wake.
What Bourdain also seems surprised to find was a country still standing proud. Railway workers that show up to w
