Mystery of the Nile - Hardcover

Bangs, Richard; Scaturro, Pasquale

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399152628 ISBN 13: 9780399152627

Publisher: Putnam Adult, 2005

Synopsis

An account of the first successful complete descent of the Nile River, made by renowned adventurer Pasquale Scaturro in 2004, traces his 3,250-mile kayak journey between Ethiopia and Alexandria, a geographical expedition that was marked by dangerous animals, bandits, militia, sandstorms, and other violent elements. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Bangs is the author of The Lost River, for which he was awarded the National Outdoor Book Award. The founder of Mountain Travel Sobek, an adventure-travel firm, he has written more than five hundred magazine articles and eleven books.

Pasquale Scaturro is a renowned geophysicist and adventurer. In 2001 he led the successful Mount Everest expedition that broke four Everest climbing records. In 2004 he became the first person to complete a successful descent of the Nile. Scaturro lives in Colorado, where he heads Exploration Specialists International, which leads expeditions around the globe.

From School Library Journal:

Adult/High School–In a beautifully integrated confluence of story lines, Bangs combines a historian's reflections on the passing terrain and its ancient civilizations with a contemporary adventurer's riveting account of transiting one of the planet's most extreme environments. From a small sacred pool in the Ethiopian highlands to where the river flows into the Mediterranean over 3200 miles away, the water-borne expedition not only had to navigate Class IV to VI rapids, but also to overcome tropical disease and encounters with armed guerrillas, man-eating crocodiles, sandstorms, and political barriers. The expedition's initial stage involved an ambitious IMAX filming project, which was followed by a core team's effort to complete the record-setting descent of the Blue Nile, traveling past Khartoum, through Sudan, and ultimately to Egypt in 114 days. Scaturro, geophysicist and experienced mountaineer/river explorer who led the venture, kept a journal that forms the basis for the book, and Brown, world-class kayaker, served also as cameraman. With telling detail, this book captures many levels of drama, conveying with insight and a sense of immediacy leadership challenges, logistical crises, and split-second decision-making, as well as reflections on large-scale issues such as environmental consequences of redirecting the flow of the Nile for power-generation schemes. The volume contains two black-and-white maps and a 16-page insert of color photographs, which are key to illuminating the sheer enormity of the undertaking.–Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0399152628
• ISBN 13: 9780399152627
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304