When I was in Harare recently I inquired about an old naturalist I'd known there. He knew he had cancer, had told his friends he'd finished his book, was all through and would like to be cremated. Since nothing works in Zimbabwe any more he'd got in a nice store of mopani logs and was sure his friends would know what to do. They did. When he died they came round, wrapped his body in a blanket, made a funeral pyre and stood around it, glass in hand, till it burned low. The few doctors left in the country are so badly paid that it wasn't hard to get the various necessary certificates made out. Anywhere else DIY cremation might raise eyebrows, but not here.

LRB 22 February 2007 | PDF Download