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The Terrifying Journey Through the World's Most Dangerous Country
by Tim Butcher
Book Reviewed by:An utterly absorbing narrative that chronicles Tim Butcher’s forty-four-day journey along the Congo River, Blood River is an unforgettable story of exploration and survival.
Published to rave reviews in the United Kingdom and named a Richard & Judy Book Club selection—the only work of nonfiction on the 2008 list— Blood River is the harrowing and audacious story of Tim Butcher’s journey in the Congo and his retracing of renowned explorer H. M. Stanley’s famous 1874 expedition in which he mapped the Congo River.
When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the legendary Congo River and the idea of recreating Stanley’s legendary journey along the three-thousand-mile waterway. Despite warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo’s eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in an assortment of vehicles, including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a pygmy rights advocate, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers.
An utterly absorbing narrative that chronicles Tim Butcher’s forty-four-day journey along the Congo River, Blood River is an unforgettable story of exploration and survival.
The title, Blood River, speaks volumes for the history of the region that Butcher describes as 'Africa's broken heart'. Interweaving anecdotes and historical accounts from earlier colonial explorers (such as H.M. Stanley and David Livingstone), Butcher portrays a Congo that is mostly forgotten, misunderstood, little known and destroyed...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by Fiona Lorrain).
For much of it's length, the Congo River forms the border between The Republic
of Congo and The Democratic Republic of Congo (map of Africa). Both countries and the
river are named for the early settlers to the area known as the Kongo people, and for the Kingdom of
Kongo which controlled much of the area between about 1400 and 1914:
The Republic of Congo
Also known as Congo-Brazzerville or the Congo, The Republic of Congo was a
former French colony which gained independence in 1960 and currently has a
population of a little over four million. From 1970 to 1992
it was run as a Marxist-Leninist single-party state, having signed a twenty-year
friendship pact with the Soviet Union. A democratically elected ...
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Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness
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Alexander McCall Smith
A remarkable, fascinating book by a courageous and perceptive writer. One of the most exciting books to emerge from Africa in recent years.
