Ever since Stanley first charted its mighty river in the 1870s, the Congo has epitomised the dark and turbulent history of a failed continent - from colonial cruelty under the Belgians to the kleptocratic chaos of Mobutu Sese Seko and the current post-apocalyptic riot of robber-baron politicians. However, its troubles only served to increase the interest of "Daily Telegraph" correspondent Tim Butcher, who was sent to cover Africa in 2000. He remembered his mother's stories of her own genteel river journey there in the 1950s and his connection deepened when he discovered that Stanley's expedition was funded by the "Telegraph". Before long he became obsessed with the idea of recreating Stanley's original expedition - but travelling alone. Despite warnings from old Africa hands that his plan was 'suicidal', Butcher spent years poring over colonial-era maps and wooing rebel leaders before making his will and venturing to the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. He travelled for hundreds of kilometers on a motorbike, dogged by punctured tyres, broken bridges and dehydration. As he drove through the most dangerous areas, he stopped only to sleep - biking through the bush for hours and speeding up every time he passed a soldier. And then he reached the legendary Congo River, making his way down it in an assortment of vessels including a dugout canoe. Helped along the way by a cast of characters - from UN aid workers to a campaigning pygmy, he passed through the once thriving cities of this huge country, saw the marks left behind by years of abuse and misrule, and followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers, and of the visitors - such as Katherine Hepburn and Evelyn Waugh - who had been there in very different times. Almost 2,500 harrowing miles later, he reached the Atlantic Ocean a thinner and a wiser man. His extraordinary account describes a country with more past than present, where giant steamboats lie rotting in the advancing forest and children hear stories from their grandfathers of days when cars once drove by. Butcher's journey was a remarkable feat. But the story of the Congo, told expertly and vividly in this book, is more remarkable still.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Amazon Review
JOHN LE CARRE
Quite superb…..a masterpiece
WILLIAM BOYD
Tim Butcher's extraordinary, audacious journey through the Congo is worthy of the great 19th century explorers. Completely enthralling but also a thoughtful and sobering portrait of modern Africa
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.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
Tim Butcher’s book is the latest in a long line, running through Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, VS Nai-paul… his account of a hair-rising trip from east to west, against all advice, by motorbike and then river boat, is gripping and harshly informative…
MAX HASTINGS
Blood River represents a remarkable marriage of travelogue and history, which deserves to make Tim Butcher a star for his prose, as well as his courage.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
From his adventure he has plundered a wealth of terrific stories, and survived to recite a rosary of unstinting horror.
FERGAL KEANE
This is a terrific book, an adventure story about a journey of great bravery in one of the world's most dangerous places. It keeps the heart beating and the attention fixed from beginning to end.
HATCHARDS
…unputdownable…
GILES FODEN
An intrepid adventure... Tim Butcher has followed in the footsteps of Stanley and Conrad. It takes a lot of guts to yomp through the Congo and he obviously has plenty of those. But it is the wit and passion of the writing which keeps you engrossed.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
..stirring and thought-provoking.
AESTHETICA MAGAZINE
….a remarkable travelogue of exquisite proportions…. highly emotive, historical and personal…Butcher’s elegant style demands the reader’s attention…….Blood River is nothing short of a modern-day masterpiece.
WANDERLUST
What makes Blood River such a compelling read is the fact that the journey becomes an exercise in mental terror, the author skilfully conveying the exhaustion of six weeks on tenterhooks, wondering what might happen just around the next bend.
THOMAS PAKENHAM
Tim Butcher deserves a medal for this crazy feat. I marvel at his courage and his empathy with the unfortunate Congolese...
ESQUIRE
…gripping…
TRAVEL AFRICA
The past meets present in this enthralling travelogue through the depths of the Congo.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Review
'stirring and thought-provoking' -- The Sunday Telegraph
Blood River represents a remarkable marriage of travelogue and
history, which deserves to make Tim Butcher a star for his prose, as well
as his courage. -- Max Hastings
Tim Butcher's extraordinary, audacious journey through the Congo
is worthy of the great 19th century explorers. Completely enthralling but
also a thoughtful and sobering portrait of modern Africa
-- William Boyd
`Butcher is a meticulous story-teller and accurately portrays Congo's terrible decline' -- Times Literary Supplement
`it reminds us that travel writing can still be exciting,
uncompromising and politically relevant.'
-- The Spectator --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Blood River represents a remarkable marriage of travelogue and
history, which deserves to make Tim Butcher a star for his prose, as well
as his courage. -- Max Hastings
Tim Butcher's extraordinary, audacious journey through the Congo
is worthy of the great 19th century explorers. Completely enthralling but
also a thoughtful and sobering portrait of modern Africa
-- William Boyd
`Butcher is a meticulous story-teller and accurately portrays Congo's terrible decline' -- Times Literary Supplement
`it reminds us that travel writing can still be exciting,
uncompromising and politically relevant.'
-- The Spectator --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By F Henwood
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
I didn't like the sound of this book at first, thinking it was an example of macho adventure tourism but I am pleased to say that I was mistaken.
It's true that the author at the outset is driven by a seemingly hubristic ambition: to be the first man (or white man at any rate) to traverse the length of the Congo River since the Victorian explorer Henry Morton Stanley's 1876-77 expedition, which sounds like the sort of thing only a egomaniac with a death wish would undertake. But Butcher is a sober character who carefully assessed and measured the risks beforehand. He could not ultimately have accomplished his feat without the assistance of Congolese on the ground and he accords them the credit due. The snide uttered by one reviewer that the author used dollars the way Stanley used brute force to secure compliance from the locals is ridiculous. Apart from the fact that the author never carried any weapons during the trip, the remark omits to mention that his motorcycle drivers who assisted the author with the first leg refused payment, out of professional pride. Otherwise he did what all journalists do if they want to get close to the ground, using local guides and fixers, entirely legitimate means to go about their trade. There is nothing amiss about that.
By Butcher's own admission, this was an example of ordeal rather than adventure travel but the details of the hardship he experienced are not overdone. They offer you a vivid sense of what it was actually like to do the trip. We don't just get a lucid impression of the hardships of the journey but also the land in which he travels and of the people he meets there. The DRC is the heart of Africa and the Congo River is at the heart of the DRC.... Read more ›
It's true that the author at the outset is driven by a seemingly hubristic ambition: to be the first man (or white man at any rate) to traverse the length of the Congo River since the Victorian explorer Henry Morton Stanley's 1876-77 expedition, which sounds like the sort of thing only a egomaniac with a death wish would undertake. But Butcher is a sober character who carefully assessed and measured the risks beforehand. He could not ultimately have accomplished his feat without the assistance of Congolese on the ground and he accords them the credit due. The snide uttered by one reviewer that the author used dollars the way Stanley used brute force to secure compliance from the locals is ridiculous. Apart from the fact that the author never carried any weapons during the trip, the remark omits to mention that his motorcycle drivers who assisted the author with the first leg refused payment, out of professional pride. Otherwise he did what all journalists do if they want to get close to the ground, using local guides and fixers, entirely legitimate means to go about their trade. There is nothing amiss about that.
By Butcher's own admission, this was an example of ordeal rather than adventure travel but the details of the hardship he experienced are not overdone. They offer you a vivid sense of what it was actually like to do the trip. We don't just get a lucid impression of the hardships of the journey but also the land in which he travels and of the people he meets there. The DRC is the heart of Africa and the Congo River is at the heart of the DRC.... Read more ›
77 of 85 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a fan of writers like Jonathan Raban and Simon Winchester, who weave historical narrative into their own personal quests and journeys, I sent for Blood River after catching the tail end of a radio interview in which Tim Butcher described the various strands which run in parallel through his book.
I found it a compelling and satisfying read. There is the central account of the author's apparently impulsive decision to travel, against all advice, through the Republic of Congo in the first place, while it is in an on/off state of civil war; the lives of the equally intrepid Victorian adventurers who went before him; and as backdrop, the grindingly bleak and heartbreaking history of colonial, post colonial and present-day Congo. Three stories for the price of one - four if you count the heavy-hearted journey through the Congo in the late 1950's, after disappointment in love, of the author's mother.
Butcher's prose style, as you'd expect from a seasoned journalist, is crisp, economical and forward-flowing; but he is not afraid to share his vulnerabilities and his (abundantly justified) fear of what might easily have lain ahead at any point on the journey - `objective dangers', as he calls them, over which he had little control. I warmed to him for that, and for his empathy towards the ordinary Congolese he encounters: for me, they are the heroes of the story, helpless victims of an endless cycle of exploitation, violence and political bankruptcy.
Blood River is a gripping story well told; but beyond that, unlike some have-the-adventure-to-write-the-book yarns, it is highly relevant and by rights should tweak the conscience of those of us in the developed world who looked the other way.
I found it a compelling and satisfying read. There is the central account of the author's apparently impulsive decision to travel, against all advice, through the Republic of Congo in the first place, while it is in an on/off state of civil war; the lives of the equally intrepid Victorian adventurers who went before him; and as backdrop, the grindingly bleak and heartbreaking history of colonial, post colonial and present-day Congo. Three stories for the price of one - four if you count the heavy-hearted journey through the Congo in the late 1950's, after disappointment in love, of the author's mother.
Butcher's prose style, as you'd expect from a seasoned journalist, is crisp, economical and forward-flowing; but he is not afraid to share his vulnerabilities and his (abundantly justified) fear of what might easily have lain ahead at any point on the journey - `objective dangers', as he calls them, over which he had little control. I warmed to him for that, and for his empathy towards the ordinary Congolese he encounters: for me, they are the heroes of the story, helpless victims of an endless cycle of exploitation, violence and political bankruptcy.
Blood River is a gripping story well told; but beyond that, unlike some have-the-adventure-to-write-the-book yarns, it is highly relevant and by rights should tweak the conscience of those of us in the developed world who looked the other way.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Super moth
Format:Paperback
After reading this, my over-riding impression was why bother? I came away thinking that he unneccesarily put people's lives in danger so that he could write a book. It starts off very slowly and then just when it gets going stops abruptly.
I live in Africa near the Congo border and was disappointed in the lack of historical detail and background research. The first chapter of Africa by Blaine Harden on his Congo river journey, to me, was far more interesting.
I live in Africa near the Congo border and was disappointed in the lack of historical detail and background research. The first chapter of Africa by Blaine Harden on his Congo river journey, to me, was far more interesting.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Frootle
Format:Paperback
Like many people, I kind of 'knew' the Congo: Heart of Darkness, and the horrors of the Belgian Congo, right? What I hadn't realised was what a mess it still was, and to get a sense of the scale of the potential and the waste. I'm not a big fan of travel writing, and this suffers from some of the usual cliches and ticks of the genre: the fact that a lot of travel is essential dull (how much more can you say about travelling huge distances by canoe/motorbike?), punctuated by humbling moments of epiphany. What saves this book is the history that interweaves the travel, the context, and the sense of perspective it gives. I hadn't realised that the Congo itself was so unnavigable at the moment: this made me aware of the shocking chaos - which can only get worse before it gets better, with the recent news...
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Eileen Shaw
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Have we forgotten about The Congo? It's a country left to rot by its so-called civilisers, rendered now, once again, in Joseph Conrad's words "...the blankest of blank spaces on the earth's figured surface". It wasn't always thus and Tim Butcher has done the profound, if unwelcome, service of reminding the world of its existence with this amazing book.
Butcher describes his journey as "ordeal travel" rather than straight adventuring in the old-fashioned sense, which is what Stanley, he of the "Livingstone, I presume," moment, was all about. Butcher follows the journey as made by Stanley, who in the end vindicated his reputation with a heroic last leg, his entourage brought to their knees by the privations of the jungle and, most of all, the Congo River. Butcher does something similar, and along the way introduces the reader to many ordinary people whose life-stories he allows them to tell in their own words. The stories are mainly ones that the rest of the world doesn't seem to want to hear. Here is a man in a town called Kasongo: "I am the mayor, appointed by the transitional government in Kinshasa. But I have no contact with them because we have no phone, and I can pay no civil servants because I have no money and there is no bank or post office where money could be received, and we have no civil servants because all the schools and hospitals and everything do not work. I would say I am just waiting, waiting for things to get back to normal."
Civil society has broken down in The Congo. There is no rule of law; there is no lasting peace and the phrase comes again and again as Butcher talks to people "... we fled into the bush." The Congo is ruled by wandering bands of rootless and homeless soldiery, from one faction or another.... Read more ›
Butcher describes his journey as "ordeal travel" rather than straight adventuring in the old-fashioned sense, which is what Stanley, he of the "Livingstone, I presume," moment, was all about. Butcher follows the journey as made by Stanley, who in the end vindicated his reputation with a heroic last leg, his entourage brought to their knees by the privations of the jungle and, most of all, the Congo River. Butcher does something similar, and along the way introduces the reader to many ordinary people whose life-stories he allows them to tell in their own words. The stories are mainly ones that the rest of the world doesn't seem to want to hear. Here is a man in a town called Kasongo: "I am the mayor, appointed by the transitional government in Kinshasa. But I have no contact with them because we have no phone, and I can pay no civil servants because I have no money and there is no bank or post office where money could be received, and we have no civil servants because all the schools and hospitals and everything do not work. I would say I am just waiting, waiting for things to get back to normal."
Civil society has broken down in The Congo. There is no rule of law; there is no lasting peace and the phrase comes again and again as Butcher talks to people "... we fled into the bush." The Congo is ruled by wandering bands of rootless and homeless soldiery, from one faction or another.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart
A great read. I knew very little about the Congo, both past and present, and found this book kept me enthralled as I followed Tim Butcher's journey retracing Stanley's journey. Read more
Published 14 days ago by lesley wolhuter
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable Read
I found this an enjoyable and interesting book to read. Moved along at a rollicking pace and had a good mixture of history and more current events in the Congo. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Mad Geographer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous book, depressing subject
This is quite an extraordinary travel story. Why anyone would willingly subject themselves to such a risky venture is quite beyond me but thank goodness for crazy people like Tim... Read more
Published 28 days ago by Mr Gordon Davidson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic read
I love this book. Amazing how a country that was thriving can literally turn back into bush and regress centuries in a matter of a few years.
Published 28 days ago by Georgina Enzer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Informative and well-written
Having returned recently from two weeks in Rwanda - a first visit to Africa - I was mesmerised by this incredibly well-written book. Read more
Published 3 months ago by John
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read
Very interesting and thought provoking discussion of the problems currently in, and the history of, the Democratic Republic of Congo in the midst of a fascinating journey across a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by F. Naylor
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written and informative.
As a journalist Tim Butcher had read and researched alot about the Congo and how dangerous it was.
This is his journey and how he managed it on a bike and managed to... Read more
This is his journey and how he managed it on a bike and managed to... Read more
Published 4 months ago by atticusfinch1048
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great adventure!
This was facinating, educational and a great adventure. I love to read about treks in jungles and danger lurking and basically about anywhere I do not know about. Read more
Published 5 months ago by sunshine sw
4.0 out of 5 stars
slave trade
A present for my husband, not quite as informative as "Red Rubber" but still an excellent read if you want to learn about the slave trade.
Published 6 months ago by bony
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blood River
This e-book was purchased for our A-level students to study as part of their exam. It is very useful to have this book to have on the Kindles we have in school.
Published 7 months ago by Sam
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