Tim Butcher's Blood River: A Harrowing Expedition Through the Most Perilous Nation on Earth

Dr. M. J. Parry: A tale of determination but also a rare insight into the huge country of the Congo. Well worth reading and a great story

United Kingdom on May 27, 2023

CharliM: I was born in the Congo and grew up there. There's so much history in this book that I was never aware of. After 2 years in the US, we returned to Elizabethville (Lubumbashi) in 1963, shortly after the UN/Katanga war. (My grandparents had escaped to Northern Rhodesia during the war after enduring a couple of days sheltering in an office building on a mission compound in Elizabethville, caught in crossfire between UN and Katangese troups.) I remember after that being aware that there was rebel activity in eastern Congo and we needed to be ready to leave, but then I remember hearing that the rebels had been forced back and we didn't have to leave. Throughout my childhood we tried to be out of the country on June 30, as there was always unrest over that time. Mobutu came to power when I was a child, and he remained in power until long after I had left to live in Zimbabwe and then South Africa, until finally he was no longer president, after I had moved to Canada with my husband and children. Ever since I can remember there's been civil war in the Congo. After reading this book I understand why the Congo was always such a mess. This book is very informative, very readable. I recommend...

Canada on Jul 19, 2022

Fuchs Joan: Ich weiss gar nicht, wie lange das Buch schon in meinem Regal steht, aber nun war der richtige Moment dafür gekommen. Was für eine spannende Erzählung, sicher nicht mehr up to date, da 17 Jahre alt, aber dennoch eine faszinierende Reise. Würde mich interessieren, ob sich seither viel geändert hat. Ich fand die Mischung mit den geschichtlichen Hintergründen extrem wichtig, wir sollten uns unserer Verantwortung bewusst sein. Der Schluss war mir etwas zu knapp, aber so ist es. Kaufempfehlung.

Germany on Nov 20, 2021

Edge: I'd seen this book in airport bookshops throughout my travels for years, and it always sounded compelling enough that I knew I'd read it someday. Once I started, I could hardly put it down.

From the first page, it made me recall my own trip in the safer countries of southern Africa just a couple years ago, setting up and taking down my own tent repeatedly while moving about amidst a group of intrepid campers riding a commercial truck outfitted with a bare passenger cabin: the dusty, gravel roads all over, with only a few city streets being paved; sleeping under mosquito nets; carrying all belongings in but a single carry-on bag; pre-dawn chills that gave way to unrelenting tropical heat like I've never felt in my life.

From his opening paragraphs, I could envision my own African experiences of enthusiasm and disappointments that he would face on such an unbelievable journey overland from Lake Tanganyika to the Congo River: that part of the trip alone consumes the entire first half of the whole book! Unlike my own African adventure, he must navigate through the territory of marauding rebel militias, going by motorbike through rainforests that consumed the train tracks...

United States on Feb 12, 2021

Wiwy: Compelling story into one of the largest country of the African continent. I liked it because of its mix of adventure and recall of modern history. The author, through his ordeal along the Congo River, explains how the retreat of colonialism left this huge region in the hands of a brutal dictatorship.

Italy on Apr 07, 2019

John A Marr: This is one of those books that makes Africa seem both fascinating and appalling - a brave and even reckless journey to the heart of a continent that has so much potential that is being wasted and frittered away by corrupt politicians

France on Jun 10, 2018

Seth: Simply reading the plot was shocking because if you’re familiar with sub-Saharan Africa you know that it’s a pretty rough place. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is arguably the most dangerous of all sub-Sarahan countries. It is also one of the most, if not the most impoverished and unstable country in Africa, if not the world. Despite all that, Butcher sets out to navigate the Congo river from end to end.

As many of is friends told him, it was the definition of a suicide mission. If he wasn’t executed by bloodthirsty rebels, he would be taken down by disease or starvation.

Butcher begins his memoir by giving the reason (if that’s possible) about undergoing such a journey. He spent quite a bit of time in Africa working for international organizations and media outlets, and ever since the Congo River had gripped him.

He gives an extensive amount of history about how the modern Congo came to be. I found it to be a bit overdone, and somewhat detracting from his adventure, but maybe that’s just because I had already read King Leopolds Ghost, so I was familiar with the Congo’s tragic past.

“The old man might have been drunk, but he was...

United States on Nov 06, 2014