Showing The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe by Douglas Rogers

WINNER, BEST TRAVEL BOOK 2010 – BRITISH GUILD OF TRAVEL WRITERS “A memoir that is both funny and deeply moving... Rogers’ compassion, humour and frequent bemusement give this heart-stoppingly good book its life force.” The Times In The Last Resort, journalist Douglas Rogers tells the eye-opening, harrowing and, at times, surprisingly funny story of his parents’ struggle for survival in war-torn Zimbabwe. For many years, Lyn and Ros Rogers were the owners of Drifters, a famous game farm and backpacker lodge in the eastern mountains. But when President Robert Mugabe launched his violent land reclamation programme, everything changed. The Rogers found their home under siege, their friends and neighbours expelled, and their lives in danger. But instead of leaving, as their son pleaded with them to do, they hauled out a shotgun and stayed. Soon afterwards, Douglas returns to find the country of his birth in chaos, and his home transformed into something between a Marx Brothers romp and the Heart of Darkness: marijuana has supplanted maize in the fields; hookers have replaced gap-year kids as guests; soldiers, spies and teenage diamond dealers down beers at the bar. Beyond the farm gates, armed war veterans loyal to Mugabe circle like hungry lions. And yet, in spite of it all, the Rogers – with the help of friends and locals, black political dissidents among them – hold on. And Douglas begins to see his parents in a new light: unbowed, even heroic. In the process he learns that the “big story” he had pursued throughout his adult life was actually happening in his own backyard. The Last Resort is an inspiring, edgy roller-coaster adventure, but also a deeply moving testament to the love and loyalty inspired by Zimbabwe and her people.