KEY POINTS:
This is the story of one man's unrelenting obsession with the Congo, his overwhelming desire to understand Central Africa, and a burning need to journey into the heart of the dark continent.
Everyone told him he was insane, that it couldn't be done, that he would end up dead - but Tim Butcher refused to listen. He was utterly addicted to the premise: to retrace the footsteps of the legendary Henry Morton Stanley.
The Congo River snakes halfway across the African continent. The country itself has been, and still is, besieged by war and famine, disease and despair. The first part of the book fills the reader in on the Congo's disturbing history. Butcher is a serious student of the region and has read everything he could lay his hands on, from fiction to academic tomes. Thus, he sets up his journey well, and gives the reader a solid understanding of his task.
The real story begins when Butcher dispenses with the textbooks and begins his arduous trek. Travelling by motorbike, canoe, boat, car and helicopter, he soon realises the magnitude of what Stanley achieved - but he also understands that the achievement ignited the hurried land grab for Africa by the European powers, and the ensuing colonisation.
Butcher notes that the Congo suffered greatly under colonisation, but is quick to point out that it is a great deal worse off under its own self-governance.
The Congo he traverses offers little in the way of modern conveniences: the roads are gone, the trains no longer run, and the river is virtually absent of boats; there are no backpackers, restaurants or service stations, hospitals, police stations or drinking water.
Butcher, like Stanley before him, is a journalist for the Daily Telegraph, and, just like his predecessor, has a penchant for adventure. But this is where the similarities end. Butcher truly cares for the people, the land, the very essence of the Congo: the river. On his pilgrimage he learns a great deal about Africa, human endurance, and himself. He records it with a sensitive yet critical eye, allowing us a brief glimpse of one of the least traversed paths in the world.
Blood River: A journey to Africa's broken heart
By Tim Butcher (Vintage $29.90)
* Steve Scott is an Auckland reviewer.
