When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa in
2000 he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H.M. Stanley's
famous expedition - but travelling alone. Despite warnings that his plan
was 'suicidal', Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a
rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in
an assortment of vessels including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped
along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a campaigning pygmy,
he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. Butcher's
journey was a remarkable feat, but the story of the Congo, told expertly
and vividly in this book, is more remarkable still.