Blood Rive. A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart: Tim Butcher

A compulsively readable account of an African country now virtually inaccessible to the outside world and one journalist`s daring and adventurous journey.

When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa 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.

Vintage Voyages: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind