From Publishers Weekly
Stark was a happily married, 48-year-old father of two when he answered a crew call for "the first descent" of northern Mozambique's Lugenda River. The hazards—man-eating crocodiles, unknown rapids—worried him, but the thought of being able to immerse himself in a true wilderness was just too tempting. As the group of five made their way down this obscure and unyielding river, they learned to depend one another's strengths and ignore irritating differences. Stark, an experienced kayaker and the expedition recorder (he contributes to
Outside), would read aloud the occasional bedtime story from an anthology of memoirs of past African explorers, accounts that raised key questions: What is the meaning of wilderness places? What motivates explorers? What keeps diehards pushing ahead even when their expeditions are doomed? Stark's musings are often more diverting than his account of the group's daily progress through the whitewater. He's aware of the ironies of their own journey: cruising in their high-tech plastic kayaks, munching imported energy bars, how could they tell "these people in dugout canoes and with vine-woven nets not to hunt, not to cut trees, not to touch
anything because we
need that wilderness?" This report, a nice mix of thoughtful and sweaty, is perfect for history-minded armchair adventurers. Photos.
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From Booklist
^BOne of the last African wildernesses is the Lugenda River in Mozambique. Stark, along with four other Americans and two African guides, made a 15-day trip, in three kayaks, down the river's course. Relying on diaries, letters, and historical accounts, Stark intertwines the stories of early explorers with the record of his trip, telling of spotting crocodiles and hippos in the water, monkeys and baboons along the shore, and eagles, herons, skimmers, plovers, and vultures flying high above the river. The adventurers meet villagers, drink beer and whiskey, gaze at the Milky Way overhead, and eat peanut-butter energy bars, meat jerky, and sweet potatoes. An eight-page color photo insert, and a series of black-and-white photos throughout the text, augments the reading experience. Less invented dialogue would have been advisable, but the wilderness journey nevertheless proves a fascinating one to realize secondhand.
George CohenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
