In the layers of the past Salim perceives in the land of The Domain, Salim is once again struck by his insignificance and history’s cyclicality. The Domain, once a glittering monument to the President’s dream of a Europe in Africa, hardly looks any different from an African settlement. It has been so many things; bush, trade hub, European suburb, ruin, glittering academic town, and will no doubt return again soon enough. Amidst these cycles, “true Africa” is present, somewhere between the city and the Bush.