Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart, by Tim Butcher

A STONKING Congo adventure in which Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher endeavours to follow in the footsteps of Henry Stanley on his famous expedition to map the 1,800 mile river. But much has changed since the 1870s. There are few roads and no more railways, boats, brass bands or hippos ("everything edible had long since been shot"). Fighting rages, disease is rampant; the daily death toll tops 1,200. Butcher starts off stubborn, blithely defiant to his colleagues' doomy warnings. He winds up sad and chastened: "The Congo stands as a totem for the failed continent of Africa."

Synopsis from Foyles.co.uk

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.