Blue Nile: Ethiopia's River of Magic and Mystery (Adventure Press) [Hardcover]

Virginia Morell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Adventure Press | Publication Date: June 1, 2001

Acclaimed writer and journalist Virginia Morell joins adventurer Nevada Weir on a rafting expedition to run the entire length of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, from its head-waters in Lake Tana to the Sudanese border, a distance of 850 miles. The two women will be the first to travel the daunting and little-explored river in one unbroken journey.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is a delightful and well-paced account of a National Geographic team's successful 1999 journey by raft down the length of the Blue Nile one of the two rivers of the upper Nile River from its source in Ethiopia to the Sudan border. Science magazine correspondent Morell (Ancestral Passions), whose crew was the first to descend the Nile in a single, unbroken trip, had taught school in Ethiopia during the 1970s, and she combines her love of the country with a remarkably balanced account of the Blue Nile's history. She perceptively probes the intricacies of Ethiopian culture ("Secrets, intrigues, plots and counterplots riddle every social circle, and you soon learn to not necessarily believe everything you are told"), ancient history ("For their part, the Ethiopian emperors weren't above using the Blue Nile as a weapon to turn Egypt into a desert") and politics. But Morell is most sensitive, and enlightening, on matters of race and gender. As she observes, race "was just something you had to accept: as a white person in Ethiopia, you were and are a spectacle." But she also acknowledges "how ill-prepared we were for meeting men of progress along the Blue Nile," expecting "bandits and spear-throwers, not paramedics who listened to the Ethiopian equivalent of the BBC." This is a loving and insightful description of a culture and region that has been mostly off-limits to Westerners. 16 pages of color photos. (Aug.)Forecast: Morell's previous book was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, so this one may get review attention. Boosted by advertising in National Geographic and National Geographic Adventure magazines, this book could provoke new interest in Ethiopian life and culture.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Morell, a Science magazine correspondent and author of the highly acclaimed Ancestral Passions, here documents the only expedition to travel the entire length of the Blue Nile in an unbroken journey. While she reports no groundbreaking discoveries and uncovers no new facts during this National Geographic expedition, Morell does exhibit an endearing love for the people she encounters and observes their environment and way of life with a keen eye and an open mind. She also cleverly mingles the narratives of earlier Blue Nile explorers with her own findings. This synthesis is useful, as is the author's description of Ethiopia's current political conditions. But it is Morell's portrayal of the indigenous folk, and their relationship with the river they both worship and fear that makes this book so captivating. And while there are other, more authoritative works on the subject (consider, for instance, Major Cheesman's pioneering Lake Tana and the Blue Nile or Alan Moorehead's instructive The Blue Nile, HarperPerennial, 2000), this one nevertheless deserves attention. Recommended for all public libraries. Edward K. Owusu-Ansah, Murray State Univ. Lib., KY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792279514
• ISBN-13: 978-0792279518
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,849,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I agree with A Reader, August 29, 2004

By 

Showme (Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Nile: Ethiopia's River of Magic and Mystery (Adventure Press) (Paperback)

... when he expressed disappointment about Morrell's constant complaints about the tour guide, Mike Speakes. The book-long litany of criticism for Speakes is what stands out for me - more than the scenery, the people, the history, etc. Morrell suggests that she chose not to address her concerns with Speakes directly out of deference to others in her group. Instead, with the exception of one instance late in the game, she saved all of her venom to share with thousands of readers. I don't know Speakes; I never heard of him before reading this book. I don't know Morrell; I never heard of her before reading her book. I did not read any of the Amazon reviews of the book until after I read the book. What I do know is that Morrell's mean-spirited jibes at Speakes so permeated the story that my opinion of Morrell's character is perhaps as low as she wanted the reader's opinion to be of Speakes.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Virginia Morrell is Full of herself, September 3, 2007

By 

James Ellsworth - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Nile : Ethiopia's River of Magic and Mystery (Adventure Press) (Paperback)

Virginia is a nice person indeed, as I met her one time in person, but her book is not full of passion for Ethiopia but rather a bashing of the trip leaders, Mike Speaks and Mike Borcik. I know them both as well, and know them to be truly professional boatmen who took it upon themselves to pull this expedition off themselves (with the help of Maurizio Melloni for logistics) and run a safe trip on a river that had nver been run successfully before.

I know this because I am mentioned in the book, as I worked for MTSobek at the time and was the Director of International River Trips during this project. Should Virginia had wanted to run this trip without any liabilities, she should have run the trip herself in innertubes! She was truly a poor sport and completley ungracious for all the effort and work we put into the expedition. She was willing to take unecessary risks and when she could not because of smart and prudent decisions by Speaks, she crie like a baby and turne her disgust into a book that is less than marginal, except for the beautiful photographs which she did not take.

As I mentioned at the beginnins of the review, Virginia is a wonderful person, she just missed the target on this book as well as the expedition.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An opportunity lost, July 2, 2008

By 

Readerbuff - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Nile: Ethiopia's River of Magic and Mystery (Adventure Press) (Paperback)

I have been interested in the River Nile, and particularly the Blue Nile for many years. The history of the Nile, the natural dynamics of the rivers pulses, and the exotic setting of the Blue and White Nile Rivers, are custom made for daydreamers and armchair adventurors. I was excited to find, and then to read Morell's book when I found it through a web search.

The descriptions of the countryside, and the natural resources of the country of Ethiopia are very good, but too limited for one like me who wants to know so much more about the geology, the soils, and the vegetation of the country. This is perhaps understandable, given the author's greater interest in anthropological resources as opposed to natural resources.

The photos accompanying the text, mostly if not all by Nevada Wier, are excellent, and help place the reader in the context of the arduous journey.

Descriptions by the author of the interactions with many groups and individuals along the 500 mile + trek are most interesting. These descriptions extend to the reader a very good mental picture of the sounds, sights, and smells of rural Ethiopia.

Unfortunatley, the author injected personal opinion and personality bias concerning the leader of the expedition, Mike Speaks. Having done so, the author, perhaps unwittingly, significantly dimishied the quality of her own accomplishments.