The Lost River: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Transformation on Wild Water - Softcover

Bangs, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578050634 ISBN 13: 9781578050635

Publisher: Sierra Club Books, 2001

Synopsis

In the early 1970s, in a quest to run the last unexplored rivers of Africa, two young men drowned: one a client on his first river expedition; the other, author Richard Bangs's rafting partner and best friend, Lew Greenwald. Bangs and Greenwald, who had pioneered several wild rivers in Africa, shared a goal to raft Ethiopia's unrun Tekeze, but Greenwald's death and political turmoil made the dream impossible.
Twenty-three years later, Bangs returned with survivors of the earlier expeditions to complete what was left undone - to run the Tekeze. The Lost River is the story of Bangs's mission to fulfill a promise, to close a circle, and to face the ghosts of tragedy. It is also a deeply personal story as Bangs recounts his beginnings on wild rivers, the relationships forged in pursuit of adventure, and the primal joys that come from exploring uncharted territory.

About this title

Review:

It's tempting to write off The Lost River as just another adventure story. It certainly has all the trappings of a formulaic action blockbuster--raging rapids, hungry crocodiles, mysterious natives, even the lost Ark of the Covenant. But as veteran river-runner Richard Bangs chronicles his lifelong pursuit of "aqua incognita," he proves a refreshingly introspective adventurer, a thinking man's Indiana Jones. Not content to justify his risky forays onto earth's wildest water with a glib "because it's there," he crafts an intimate journal of his astounding trips and scrutinizes the adventure travel industry he helped create.

With a ragtag band of friends and smuggled equipment, Bangs sets out in 1973 to run Ethiopia's untried rivers. But revolution and the tragic death of a friend cause him to quit the country without running the Tekeze, one of Africa's most fearsome tributaries. When he returns to run the virgin river in 1996, the Internet revolution is dawning, and Microsoft (via satellite uplink) and the Turner Corporation (via a ride-along film crew) are among his travel companions. Such fascinating historical contexts might easily have been reduced to Forrest Gump-ish window dressing for Bangs's journeys. Instead, he makes them integral to his story, using anecdotal encounters with Candice Bergen, Haile Selassie, and even Richard (Shaft) Roundtree to gently steep readers in the history of Ethiopia.

As they encounter ecosystems and peoples making first contact with Westerners, Bangs and his companions also explore the ethical and ecological ramifications of adventure travel. But rather than preach a certain course of action, he judiciously presents the various arguments for "conservation" and "progress" and lets readers draw their own conclusions. Though lacking the stylistic verve that Mark Twain or Joseph Conrad bring to the river story, Bangs is clearly a kindred spirit, with lessons well worth pondering and incredible stories to tell. --Andrew Nieland

From the Inside Flap:

g as Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, this harrowing story of river rafting examines the high risk and high adventure at the heart of modern-day explorations.  In the early 1970s, in a quest to run the last unexplored rivers of Africa, two young men drowned: one a client on his first river expedition; the other Richard Bangs' rafting partner and best friend, Lew Greenwald. Bangs and Greenwald, who had pioneered several wild rivers in Africa, shared a goal to raft Ethiopia's unrun Tekeze, but Greenwald's death and the country's political turmoil made the dream impossible.  Twenty-three years later, Bangs returned with survivors of the earlier expeditions to complete what was left undone--to run the Tekeze.  The Lost River is Bangs' story of his mission to fulfill a promise, to close a circle, and to face the ghosts of tragedy.  It is also a deeply personal story, as Bangs recounts his beginnings on wild rivers, the relat

About this edition

• Publisher: Sierra Club Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1578050634
• ISBN 13: 9781578050635
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 284