Customer Reviews

Lost in Mongolia: Rafting the World's Last Unchallenged River

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While Colin Angus is hardly Shakespeare in the writing department, and the voyage he describes was spotted with ineptitude and a lot of luck, this has to be one of the most exciting and hair-raising adventure diaries of recent years. Note that the title is not really representative of the book, as "Lost in Mongolia" merely describes one aspect of the journey. Only the upper headwaters are in Mongolia, while the expedition down the Yenisey River mostly takes place in Siberia.

Regardless, Angus and his mates had a perilous adventure through unforgiving landscapes with friendly people, surrounded by corrupt government officials and the depressing leftovers of Stalinism. The voyagers made some unbelievably stupid decisions along the way, like rafting the river at flood stage, which got them shipwrecked in a forest. Angus then went off on his own in a kayak in search of a lost camera bag, with no supplies and wearing nothing but a pair of pants. He presently got "Lost in Mongolia" for several days, and without the help of some friendly locals and a huge amount of luck, it's amazing that he lived to tell the tale. After the team reunited, more ineptitude ensued when they bought a small rowboat to traverse down the now large and tumultuous Yenisey, dealing with supertankers, dams, and disgustingly cramped living quarters.

In Siberia, they met many interesting people who really make this book a great read, from mafia dons who offered huge amounts of assistance and supplies in return for a little intelligent conversation, to friendly and helpful villagers who gave from their hearts and asked nothing in return. The human side of this adventure is the most revealing, as Angus and the team would have surely been unable to complete the voyage without help from the people of Mongolia and Siberia, assuming that they would even get out alive. This book is both an exciting tale of a real seat-of-the-pants expedition, and an enjoyable showcase of interesting cultures and landscapes hidden behind the decayed Iron Curtain. [~doomsdayer520~]

I received this book on Christmas day and, much to the dismay of the rellies, I finished it on the same day. As the miserable weather outside lashed at the windows and my Aunt Jennifer babbled about napkin handling etiquette, I was far removed to another world; a land of gushing rivers, Russian mafia, indigenous people, and non-stop action. "Lost in Mongolia" is a true modern-day adventure and Angus vividly details the trials and tribulations that he and his team encounter as they attempt to become the first to fully navigate the length of the world's fifth longest river. It is obvious that the quest to be "first" comes secondary to the team's desire to simply get out and explore the most remote regions of our planet from a unique perspective. Angus' strongest writing comes through as he describes the varied characters that they enounter the whole way down the river. For me, the most haunting moment came near the end where, at 71 degrees lattitude in the perpetual grey twilight of the tundra, they come across a scattering of human bones, remnants of Stalin's period of terror. And amongst the bones a small rotted leather shoe is found, obviously from a little girl. It is a mystery that leaves the reader feeling uncomfortable, juxtaposed near the team's triumphant ending at the Arctic Ocean.

This adventure is definitely worth reading about. It is an insightful and difficult journey through one of the last regions on the planet untouched by tourism.

As an explorer, Collin Angus has a deep respect for the natural wonders of earth. In "Lost in Mongolia," he makes an attempt to give readers a sense of what it is to travel down a river at the mercy of nature and he provides an excellent description of how the river acts like a living being with a personality of its own. Through the discoveries readers make about the process of moving from source to mouth, as well as how the water affects surrounding life, he establishes for others the same appreciation that he has for the Yenisey River. The book also doubles as a documentary of the full length of the waterway that is as unique and surprising as the river itself.

Collin has traveled the world on various expeditions since the age of nineteen and ever since has built up a thirst for exploration and adventure. He has rafted all of the world's major rivers including the Nile, Amazon, and Yangtze, with more adrenaline and fervor each time. Soon, adventure became a regular part of his life and would often turn out to be a priority. The Yenisey was the only major river that had not been fully explored by then, and Collin had become set on changing that fact. Angus has written books on most of his trips, and each one reveals more about his double life as a normal human being and an adventurer.

Though his writing does not use spectacular literary techniques to form a connection with the reader, the amazing detail with which he describes each activity and event of almost every day of his voyage is what captures readers. It successfully reels the reader in, slowly but surely and with increasing intensity, by starting with the everyday and at times, escalating to points of rare or special encounters and events. Though some of the curiosities are rather small and may seem unimportant in the grand scheme of things, by the time the reader reaches the middle of the book, all the little foreign wonders of the journey start to break through and impact the reader with a whole new sense of culture and living in a region unfamiliar to the West.

"Lost in Mongolia" is a relatively simple read for any teen or adult. Through simple writing and connections that are easily made, yet with more than enough individuality and detail to seem as if the memory of the expedition is just as much the reader's as it is Collin's, the documentary successfully leaves the reader with some sort of newfound knowledge of the region. Whether it is appreciation, thrill, or cultural wisdom, it will strike readers on a powerful, personal level that is definitely capable of providing insight much later in life.

Not knowing anything about Colin Angus and his past heroics, I picked up this book based on a personal interest in Mongolia and the paucity of travel literature on the region. About seventy pages in, I was utterly exasperated by the author's gloating about his impending accomplishment of being with the first documented group of travelers to run the fifth longest river in the world. There's one stretch where he makes no fewer than five comments over a five page span about how he'd be with the "first Westerners to lay eyes on the landscape." In the opening pages, he shows exruciating attention to detail that is irrelevant to the larger story. What's more, he makes a point of documenting instances where he makes his friends laugh, and points out a friend's failed attempt at making him laugh.

And then... his raft flips over, he loses track of his friends for a couple weeks, and as he slips out of self-absorption we actually see a remarkably humanistic portrayal of people in Mongolia and Siberia. There are some really colorful scenes... for example, playing charades and drawing pictures with rural Mongolians to explain his plight when he is lost; hearing about a doctor prescribing vodka for a leg wound; putting up with a babbling stranger who watches them repair a boat and warning them that they would never succeed. Ultimately, this is a heartwarming story, showing remarkable hospitality- warm meals and warm receptions in a cold climate. At one point a Russian sailor stalks him in his cabin as he is trying to write: "Write later. Drink now!" he insists. Angus embraces this hospitality, and as a result the strangers he encounters come to life in the book.

The river journey itself is thrilling- at times the only way I could assure myself that the travelers would survive was the fact that I was holding a finished book in my hands. And it's clear from the reactions the group receives from the locals that their journey is a remarkable feat, and the travelers are goal-driven achievers.

This is actually a very well-written book, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. You just have to be patient at the start, and the story may win you over just as they were won over by the east Asian hospitality- and the river itself.

I read Colin's first book, Amazon Extreme, and felt compelled to read up on his follow-up adventure. Although I was interested to learn about Siberia and Mongolia, I felt there was no way that Lost in Mongolia would be as exciting as Amazon Extreme. Well I was wrong! Although they weren't shot at by guerrillas or lost in a desert this time around, a whole set of new, and even more intriguing, setbacks plague this intrepid team. Colin is separated from his colleagues for 12 days with nothing more than a pair of pants and a kayak - no food, no money, no shoes, and not even a blanket to keep him warm through the sub-zero nights. This is probably the most interesting part of the book. In the lower Yenisey, the adventurers are almost hit by large ships in the fog and are bombarded by freezing Arctic storms. This was one hell of an adventure!

The thing that impresses me most about Colin's expeditions is that they are fueled by hardly anything more than the sheer determination of following a dream. Coming from a working-class background, Colin never allowed finances to get in the way of his ambitions. As is chronicled in Amazon Extreme his adventure in South America was completely self-financed - money earned from his firewood business. I'm glad to see in Lost in Mongolia that the team was finally able to get some assistance from sponsors.

I would definitely recommend this book for people looking for an adventure read different than the usual run of the mill. The writing isn't quite the style of Thubron, but the story will keep you hooked from beginning to end

The best way to summarize the way I felt after reading this book is jealous! The concept seemed so simple: to voyage the complete length of the world's fifth longest river, yet it is unbelievable that in the 21st century no one had done it before them. I thought all the firsts had been done! This book isn't just about rapids, waterfalls, and man against the elements, it is also very insightful and Angus does a wonderful job of portraying the varied characters that the team encounters in remotest Mongolia and Siberia. This book is a Bryson meets Hyerdhal: it is humorous, interesting and very exciting. Definite thumbs up!

I don't regret reading this book, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to very many others. If you really, really want to read about areas of Mongolia and Russia that most of us will never see, then read the book. If you are just looking for a new travel adventure book, keep searching so you can find a better one.

The book is about Colin Angus and his trip from one end of the Yenisey River to its end at the Arctic Ocean. Colin made the trip with 3 other men from May to September of 2001.

One problem I have with the book is that it is not very well written. It seems to me like this guy needed a better editor. Many times, I had to turn back to figure out exactly where the travelers were and where they were headed on the river. Essentially, some aspects of the narrative were confusing and could have been written better. The book is written in a journal entry style, and some entries were seemingly made just to mark the passing of time.

Another difficulty I have with this book is its basic claim that the author and his co-travels were the very first to travel the length of the river. This is a bold claim to make, and I can't agree that it's true just because others haven't written about their experience traveling the river's length. This bold claim and the very clearly Western attitudes of Colin and his co-travelers left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

I am giving it 3 stars here because I can't give it 2.5, which is how I feel about it: I am not sorry I read it, but I did not think it was very good either.

Angus' straightforward and readable tale of daring adventure and relentless stamina is a refreshing insight into one of the least documented regions of earth.

Although not as well written as the version penned by his expedition team-mate Ben Kozel, "Five Months in a Leaky Boat", it is nonetheless a most enjoyable read and highly recommended to anyone with a spirit of adventure.

I suggest readers ignore Bozeman's review of this book on this page, as it looks suspiciously like a bad case of sour grapes from someone who didn't have the skills and perseverence to get his own dream expedition up and running.

I received this book on Christmas day and, much to the dismay of the rellies, I finished it on the same day. As the miserable weather outside lashed at the windows and my Aunt Jennifer babbled about napkin handling etiquette, I was far removed to another world; a land of gushing rivers, Russian mafia, indigenous people, and non-stop action. "Lost in Mongolia" is a true modern-day adventure and Angus vividly details the trials and tribulations that he and his team encounter as they attempt to become the first to fully navigate the length of the world's fifth longest river. It is obvious that the quest to be "first" comes secondary to the team's desire to simply get out and explore the most remote regions of our planet from a unique perspective. Angus' strongest writing comes through as he describes the varied characters that they enounter the whole way down the river. For me, the most haunting moment came near the end where, at 71 degrees lattitude in the perpetual grey twilight of the tundra, they come across a scattering of human bones, remnants of Stalin's period of terror. And amongst the bones a small rotted leather shoe is found, obviously from a little girl. It is a mystery that leaves the reader feeling uncomfortable, juxtaposed near the team's triumphant ending at the Arctic Ocean.

This adventure is definitely worth reading about. It is an insightful and difficult journey through one of the few-remaining regions on the planet untouched by tourism. And lastly, although it's not clear by the cover, these extraordinarily tough guys are Canadian. Good on ya Canucks!

I bought this book for my brother's Christmas present. Having some spare time on my hands, I thought I'd read a few pages... Three days later I finished the book and loved it. I haven't read any other adventure books so I have nothing similar to compare it to, but it sure kept me hooked. Colin turns a journey of chaos and uncertainty into silky prose that will satisfy the non-adventurers. It's an entertaining way to learn about Mongolia and Siberia.