BookwormBy John Andrews
Often, at this time of the year, I gaze over the well-tended fields of The Lee and offer a small prayer of thanks for my good fortune in living in such a very special part of this green and pleasant land.
During the last week, however, my prayers have had to be diverted to those poor people caught up in the tribal struggles of the Congo, as I have been reading a remarkable and fascinating book: Blood River. A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart, by Tim Butcher.
Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in 2000 by the Daily Telegraph, and in no time became obsessed with the history and mystique of the legendary Congo River. In particular, Butcher had the idea of recreating Henry Morton Stanley’s epic journey down the Congo between 1874 and 1877, when he solved the continent’s last great geographical mystery, by mapping the Congo from Lake Tanganyika to Boma where it drains into the Atlantic Ocean.
The main difference between Stanley’s expedition and Butcher’s was that, whereas Stanley had 354 bearers to carry his kit, provisions, stores and surveying equipment, Butcher would go alone into dangerous territory with just a wad of dollar notes stuffed into the sole of his boots.
What follows is an extraordinary, audacious and completely compelling piece of story-telling. 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 pygmies, Butcher’s journey is a remarkable feat – but the story of the Congo, told vividly, well-researched and with a lot of compassion is more remarkable still.