And then he reached the legendary Congo River, making his way down it in an assortment of vessels including a dugout canoe. As he drove through the most dangerous areas, he stopped only to sleep – biking through the bush for hours and speeding up every time he passed a soldier. He travelled for hundreds of kilometers on a motorbike, dogged by punctured tyres, broken bridges and dehydration. Before long he became obsessed with the idea of recreating Stanley’s original expedition – but travelling alone.ĭespite warnings from old Africa hands that his plan was 'suicidal’, Butcher spent years poring over colonial-era maps and wooing rebel leaders before making his will and venturing to the Congo’s eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. He remembered his mother’s stories of her own genteel river journey there in the 1950s and his connection deepened when he discovered that Stanley’s expedition was funded by the Telegraph. However, its troubles only served to increase the interest of Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher, who was sent to cover Africa in 2000. Ever since Stanley first charted its mighty river in the 1870s, the Congo has epitomised the dark and turbulent history of a failed continent – from colonial cruelty under the Belgians to the kleptocratic chaos of Mobutu Sese Seko and the current post-apocalyptic riot of robber-baron politicians.
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