Great travelogue! This author knows some amazing words (that I don't!) Intriguing. Beautiful memorial to friendship. Exciting.

It is an enjoyable read but as I scratched the surface I realize that there are certain aspects that plagued me.
On the face of it, it seems like an enjoyable adventure, to find the source of the Niger then kayak down it.
However the author seems bored with the river and tires of his travelling companions.
The book becomes less of a travelogue and more of an internal struggle. Its seems as if this is one last fling before fatherhood, during which he tries to recreate his youth.
I wish there was more about the people of the river, instead they are treated with contempt, derision and mistrust.
If you want a book about adventure, this is it. If you want a book about the river Niger or Africa, this is not it.

at times breathless, at times sensual, the lure of places unexplored draws reader as they drew the author. you want to go too....

adventure story about Africa. enjoyed it.

I liked the journey but grew irritated with the narrator. Mr. Jenkins had such contempt for two other fellow travelers because they didn't want to participate in the sophomoric highjinks that he and his best friend pulled. It seemed that Jenkins and his friend were either thinking about their pregnant wives or trying to get themselves killed so that they could not return. He puts himself in the foreground while other travel writers put themselves mostly in the background and let the places and people they are writing about be the story.

Read this to meet Sori, Kourou and Fali and the little girl who rides in his kayak.

Amazing. It's kinda cliche, but it's all about the journey, not the destination. Jenkins devoted roughly two pages to the destination , but the entire book about the joyrney. Basically, he decided to lead the team to be the first to run from the headwaters of the Niger all the way to Tibuktu. Crazy rebels, crocodiles, hippos, nasty diseases, and all sorts of stuff stood in their way but they made it though and learned a lot about themselves along the way. As I've written before, I can't get enough of Jenkin's books and this one was spectacular.

A very good read from one of my favorite authors. Short book really holds your attention although not a page burner. Four guys kayak to the head of the Niger in Africa, then they split up and do seperate adventures. An interesting travel book with some detours into other adventures these young men did, and detours into trips by famous explorers. I am tempted to give it 5 stars.