Crossing the Congo
Over Land and Water in a Hard Place
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $20.99
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
In 2013, three friends set off on a journey that they had been told was impossible: the north-south crossing of the Congo River Basin, from Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Juba, in South Sudan.
Traversing 2,500 miles of the toughest terrain on the planet in a twenty-five year-old Land Rover, they faced repeated challenges, from kleptocracy and fire ants to non-existent roads and intense suspicion from local people. Through imagination and teamwork -- including building rafts and bridges, conducting makeshift surgery in the jungle and playing tribal politics -- they got through. But the Congo is raw, and the journey took an unexpected psychological toll on them all.
Crossing the Congo is an offbeat travelogue, a story of friendship and what it takes to complete a great journey against tremendous odds, and an intimate look into one of the world's least-developed and most fragile states, told with humor and sensitivity.
Customer Reviews
All About 9Bob
The premise was great and I was so excited to read this book, so I hate saying it was a letdown, but it really was. Unless you're a Land Rover mechanic who is obsessed with endless talk about break-downs, then this book is for you! It should have been called; "All About 9Bob."
This book tedious, stilted read....all about the literal road and its condition. It lacked any introspection. I came away with the feeling that the author was really ignorant about where he was, and the desperate, impoverished people that lived there. He was arrogant and seems to have a nasty temper; luckily he didn't get his poor ex girlfriend and their other pal killed with one of his tantrums.