Customer Reviews

To Timbuktu: A Journey Down the Niger

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

 

 

I found this book describing a kayaking journey down the Niger river generally well-written, but not what I was hoping for. My interest is more about African history and exploration. This books seems more about the authors and the adventure of the trip (they smuggle handguns into Africa to protect themselves from crocs/hippos) rather than the history, culture, and experiences associated with the trip. I found three elements unappealing. First, the book tries to interweave three semi-connected components: the current trip by the authors, a previous trip to Morocco by two of the authors, and the history of Saharan exploration or at least the search for Timbuktu and the Niger (Park, Laing, Caillié). This seriously disrupts the flow in my opinion as it jumps around rather abruptly. The second aspect is the author's style of writing where he includes occasional words that seem unnecessary. For example, in one case he is describing an African man with normal language then throws in the fact that he has a "cicatrice" on his face. Why not just say a scar? The third element I found unappealing is that the author and one of his colleagues quit the river trip prematurely. The author did continue to Timbuktu by motorcycle overland, one companion returned home to Wyoming, and the remaining two continued to the Niger's Atlantic terminus. I will admit that the authors search for the "source" of the Niger and adventures in Guinea were something that is generally not included in similar travels. Overall it was an interesting book, but did not contribute substantially to my interest in Africa.

A generally well-written travelogue of a trip down the Niger River, with periodic digressions into the history of African exploration and the author's personal life and history. Unlike a previous reviewer, I did not find these separate aspects of the story and the transitions between them to be distracting--in fact I found them some of the most compelling aspects of the book.

My biggest gripe was that the book really is not about a trip to Timbuktu, which was what I was looking for when I bought it. The book is about the trip down the Niger, and the author's relationship with his friend, much more than it is about Timbuktu or even really Africa, in more than a broad sense. The final trip to Timbuktu, made after the main journey, seems almost completely superfluous and disappointing. It's basically the story of a trip down the Niger, followed by "Oh, yeah, and I went to Timbuktu". It didn't make me like the rest of it less, but it didn't really add anything, and it left me on a note of disappointment, since Timbuktu was really my reason for reading.

I read this book by Mark Jenkins first and was so impressed with his writing that I immediately bought his book on Bicycling to Siberia. This was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone at all interested in adventurous and unusual travel.

This is a wonderful adventure narrative written by a white American from Wyoming about an adventure (undertaken sometime in the early 1990s) kayaking West Africa's Niger River with his best friend. Along the way Jenkins (the author) & company locate the source of the Niger (with help from an African guide, of course), are swarmed by bees, upended by crocodiles, and charged by hippopottami. Some of my favorite passages are Jenkins' descriptions of his encounters with Africans and African culture. In this regard, in Guinea, where Jenkins &Co reach the literal end of the road, and in order to continue their journey, find it neccesary to hire local porters. There being an insufficient number of willing men available to accomodate Jenkins' request in the village where they've landed, the method by which members of this village communicate Jenkins' need to the next village miles away is, in my mind, worth the price of the book.

Jenkins' writing is sometimes uneccesarily flowery, at least to my taste. But that criticism in no way takes away from the book's beauty and the strength of its storytelling.

Just by coincidence, after reading this, my next book was Mary Kingsley's 'Travels in West Africa' also non-fiction written by a woman who traveled alone through west Africa during the 1890s, staying with tribes, dealing with headhunters, alligators, also traveling on uncharted rivers (even finding a severed hand hanging in the hut she spent the night in - alone - during her journey - now one can only imagine the high drama that this author would write about such an event) and all the other dangers that these guys did - except she did it in a long dress and wrote about it with aplomb and calm, making these four guys seem like wusses.

That may seem a little harsh but I find it annoying when someone purposely puts themselves in danger and then is so dramatic about the danger they are in. I mean, if you have the need to risk your life to fulfill some adrenaline need, then please have the wit to be funny about it and not take the situation you have found yourself in, created by yourself, so seriously.

But I gave it 3 stars because despite my annoyance at the high-drama, I got sucked in somewhat.

Mark is a fantastic writer! I'd read anything written by him. This book is an absolute page turner. I felt like I was there! Besides being extremely entertaining, it's also insightful, educational, and incredibly poignant. If you like adventure travel books, you will love this. Highly recommended!!