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No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo
Lit with humor, full of African birdsong and told with great narrative force, No Mercy is the magnum opus of "probably the finest writer of travel books in the English language," as Bill Bryson wrote in Outside, "and certainly the most daring."
Redmond O'Hanlon has journeyed among headhunters in deepest Borneo with the poet James Fenton, and amid the most reticent, imperilled and violent tribe in the Amazon Basin with a night-club manager. This, however, is his boldest journey yet. Accompanied by Lary Shaffer--an American friend and animal behaviorist, a man of imperfect health and brave decency--he enters the unmapped swamp-forests of the People's Republic of the Congo, in search of a dinosaur rumored to have survived in a remote prehistoric lake.
The flora and fauna of the Congo are unrivalled, and with matchless passion O'Hanlon describes scores of rare and fascinating eagles and parrots, gorillas and chimpanzees, swamp antelope and forest elephants. But as he was repeatedly warned, the night belongs to Africa, and threats both natural (cobras, crocodiles, lethal insects) and supernatural (from all-powerful sorcerers to Samalé, a beast whose three-clawed hands rip you across the back) make this a saga of much fear and trembling. Omnipresent too are ecological depredations, political and tribal brutality, terrible illness and unnecessary suffering among the forest pygmies, and an appalling waste of human life throughout this little-explored region.
An elegant, disturbing and deeply compassionate evocation of a vanishing world, extraordinary in its depth, scope and range of characters, No Mercy is destined to become a landmark work of travel, adventure and natural history. A quest for the meaning of magic and the purpose of religion, and a celebration of the comforts and mysteries of science, it is also--and above all--a powerful guide to the humanity that prevails even in the very heart of darkness.
Redmond O'Hanlon has journeyed among headhunters in deepest Borneo with the poet James Fenton, and amid the most reticent, imperilled and violent tribe in the Amazon Basin with a night-club manager. This, however, is his boldest journey yet. Accompanied by Lary Shaffer--an American friend and animal behaviorist, a man of imperfect health and brave decency--he enters the unmapped swamp-forests of the People's Republic of the Congo, in search of a dinosaur rumored to have survived in a remote prehistoric lake.
The flora and fauna of the Congo are unrivalled, and with matchless passion O'Hanlon describes scores of rare and fascinating eagles and parrots, gorillas and chimpanzees, swamp antelope and forest elephants. But as he was repeatedly warned, the night belongs to Africa, and threats both natural (cobras, crocodiles, lethal insects) and supernatural (from all-powerful sorcerers to Samalé, a beast whose three-clawed hands rip you across the back) make this a saga of much fear and trembling. Omnipresent too are ecological depredations, political and tribal brutality, terrible illness and unnecessary suffering among the forest pygmies, and an appalling waste of human life throughout this little-explored region.
An elegant, disturbing and deeply compassionate evocation of a vanishing world, extraordinary in its depth, scope and range of characters, No Mercy is destined to become a landmark work of travel, adventure and natural history. A quest for the meaning of magic and the purpose of religion, and a celebration of the comforts and mysteries of science, it is also--and above all--a powerful guide to the humanity that prevails even in the very heart of darkness.
480 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1996
About the author
Redmond O'Hanlon
34 books106 followersRedmond O'Hanlon is a British author, born in 1947. Mr. O'Hanlon has become known for his journeys into some of the most remote jungles of the world, in Borneo, the Amazon basin and Congo. He has also written a harrowing account of a trip to the North Atlantic on a trawler.
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August 28, 2011
This is a erudite, funny and wise travel book. Redmond O’Hanlon travels into the heart of the Congo on an expedition that lasts for months and is full of challenges, mishaps and danger. His travel companions are Marcellin Agnagna, a Congolese scientist and head of a ministry department in charge of environmental protection; two young men, Nzé and Manou, Marcellin’s relatives; and for the first part of the trip, Prof. Lary Schaffer from SUNY Plattsburgh. Their goal is to find Mokélé-Mbembé, a prehistoric monster (perhaps a small dinosaur) rumored to live in Lake Télé. O’Hanlon writes with a virtuoso flair, with an amazing eye for detail, for human character and, especially, the tropical nature. And he has a wonderful sense of humor that allows him to laugh at himself and human foibles in general. The book contrasts African and Western cultures using the seeming differences to point out the universal nature of our needs, desires and fears. The “civilized” people consider African beliefs in the power of ancestors and fetishes as primitive superstition, but what is the difference with the beliefs embedded in Christianity or Islam; Catholics in ceremonies consuming the flesh and blood of their god? Life in Africa is hard, with poverty and disease. The book describes the myriad ailments they encounter along the way—from tropical ulcers to elephantiasis—and the endless number of bugs and critters that transmit them. The expedition travels by river boat, by canoe and on foot through the dense jungle, wading across crocodile and python infected swamps. Temporary respite is provided by stops in larger villages and towns where the young men immediately set out seeking local women to spend the night with (in every village, they are available). Beer and whisky are luxuries reserved for larger centers, but local palm wine flows everywhere. In one village, Nzé manages to buy extraordinarily strong ganja, which leads O’Hanlon to dream a hallucinatory dream about Samalé, an animal-man spirit from the forest that possesses him.
Marcellin is a non-corrupt officer whose job protecting wildlife in remote corners of the country is both unpopular and at times dangerous. Poachers hunt down quickly dwindling hordes of elephants and sell the ivory to foreign traders. One of his own uncles, a notorious elephant hunter, thinks Marcellin has sold out to even richer poachers, as he tries to stop his uncle from poaching. In African tradition, Marcellin is seen as a Big Man, because he works for the government in the capital and has been abroad to study. Therefore, he is supposed to take care of some hundred relatives who expect him to support them and share his house for indefinite times whenever anyone shows up. Yet Marcellin himself is poor. Trying to complete his doctorate, he only has two issues of a scientific journal in his office. Manou, too, would like to study and Lary would be willing to teach him, but there is no chance he would ever be able to finance this (furthermore, People’s Republic of Congo is “communist” and thus an enemy of America).
Nature and its protection play a big role in the book. O’Hanlon is an accomplished natural historian and feels deeply about the plants and the animals—and especially the birds—in the forest. Although he writes beautifully, the lengthy and detailed descriptions and discussions about the birds and the vegetation can be a bit tedious for someone who doesn’t share his knowledge of each of the species and their habitats. These extensive segments, combined with occasionally excessive and slightly repetitive detail describing life in the villages, however witty, render the book a bit too long (the reason for the missing star in my rating). Nevertheless, one of the sweetest passages in the book follows when a villager gives O’Hanlon a gorillon—a baby gorilla whose mother the locals have killed and eaten. O’Hanlon spends six days in the village never separating from the little ape that hangs around his neck and sleeps in his bed, before they can catch a boat to a larger town where the gorilla can be sent to an orphanage. O’Hanlon’s tale of selflessly and lovingly taking care of this little relative is very tender and moving (and baffling to the Africans who cannot understand why the white man talks to the animal, until they figure he must be a sorcerer). All in all, this is a lovely book; the second I’ve read by O’Hanlon, and certainly not the last.
Marcellin is a non-corrupt officer whose job protecting wildlife in remote corners of the country is both unpopular and at times dangerous. Poachers hunt down quickly dwindling hordes of elephants and sell the ivory to foreign traders. One of his own uncles, a notorious elephant hunter, thinks Marcellin has sold out to even richer poachers, as he tries to stop his uncle from poaching. In African tradition, Marcellin is seen as a Big Man, because he works for the government in the capital and has been abroad to study. Therefore, he is supposed to take care of some hundred relatives who expect him to support them and share his house for indefinite times whenever anyone shows up. Yet Marcellin himself is poor. Trying to complete his doctorate, he only has two issues of a scientific journal in his office. Manou, too, would like to study and Lary would be willing to teach him, but there is no chance he would ever be able to finance this (furthermore, People’s Republic of Congo is “communist” and thus an enemy of America).
Nature and its protection play a big role in the book. O’Hanlon is an accomplished natural historian and feels deeply about the plants and the animals—and especially the birds—in the forest. Although he writes beautifully, the lengthy and detailed descriptions and discussions about the birds and the vegetation can be a bit tedious for someone who doesn’t share his knowledge of each of the species and their habitats. These extensive segments, combined with occasionally excessive and slightly repetitive detail describing life in the villages, however witty, render the book a bit too long (the reason for the missing star in my rating). Nevertheless, one of the sweetest passages in the book follows when a villager gives O’Hanlon a gorillon—a baby gorilla whose mother the locals have killed and eaten. O’Hanlon spends six days in the village never separating from the little ape that hangs around his neck and sleeps in his bed, before they can catch a boat to a larger town where the gorilla can be sent to an orphanage. O’Hanlon’s tale of selflessly and lovingly taking care of this little relative is very tender and moving (and baffling to the Africans who cannot understand why the white man talks to the animal, until they figure he must be a sorcerer). All in all, this is a lovely book; the second I’ve read by O’Hanlon, and certainly not the last.
February 10, 2008
This book begins with O'Hanlon's trademark self-deprecatory wry comments as he and his traveling companion, Larry, prepare to travel to the Congo in search of a mythical dinosaur-like beast, the Mokele-mbembe. Gradually, as the author goes deeper into the Congo, the book describes a descent into an almost hallucinatory, nightmarish world of superstition, corruption, slavery, sexual depravity, murder, and disease. It is, in short, not the entertaining book that perhaps many armchair travelers might expect it to be.
However, I found O'Hanlon's account riveting in its almost painful honesty. It must have been an extraordinarily difficult book to write, for he delves deep into the psyches of his greedy guides, the people he encounters, the many corrupt bureaucrats he must bribe to continue his journey, and, ultimately, into his own fears and weaknesses. O'Hanlon describes Congolese beliefs in fetishes, spirits, sorcerers and magic quite vividly. There's an almost mesmeric quality to these passages as the reader vicariously enters this strange realm, like O'Hanlon, as an outsider at the complete mercy of the locals.
But, as the title of the book suggests, there is "No Mercy." It's a descent into hell.
However, I found O'Hanlon's account riveting in its almost painful honesty. It must have been an extraordinarily difficult book to write, for he delves deep into the psyches of his greedy guides, the people he encounters, the many corrupt bureaucrats he must bribe to continue his journey, and, ultimately, into his own fears and weaknesses. O'Hanlon describes Congolese beliefs in fetishes, spirits, sorcerers and magic quite vividly. There's an almost mesmeric quality to these passages as the reader vicariously enters this strange realm, like O'Hanlon, as an outsider at the complete mercy of the locals.
But, as the title of the book suggests, there is "No Mercy." It's a descent into hell.
November 2, 2017
Congo Journey is the Kindle name for Redmond O'Hanlon's book No Mercey: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo which was first published in 1996.
I read this as part of a quartet of Congo River books I'd bought with a view to deciding which book was the best Congo River journey of them all. Part way through the book, however, I realised that Congo Journey was quite different from the others, in that the travelogue mostly occurred on land away from the Congo River and secondarily it takes place in the People's Republic of the Congo. The other three books almost entirely take place on the Congo River and within the Republic of Congo (previously known as the Democratic Republic of Congo or more well known as Zaire). So, a fail on my behalf before I really got started!
Ostensibly, Congo Journey is a story about O'Hanlon's search through the unmapped forests of the People's Republic of the Congo, in search of a living dinosaur, the Mokélé-Mbembé. Previously sighted in the remote Lake Télé, in its most basic form, it's sort of like an African exploration for Big Foot.
All of this, however, belies the rich tapestry of the book. At a deeper level it provides an expose of the Central-Congo Bantu peoples and Congo Pygmies who live on the land and waterways, their interaction with the wildlife and spiritual customs and beliefs.
Written with a diary format feel, the book centres as much on the interactions with and between his travel companions as the surrounding jungle, with each providing their own layer to this complex book. The Congolese scientist Marcellin Agnagna, all authority, emotion and loose (Western) morals is a great contrast to O'Hanlon's American friend, the rational Professor of Psychology, Lary Shaffer. Making up this disparate group are two of Agnagna's relatives, the fun loving, cross-eyed Nzé and Manou, the more tragic and put-upon lost cause (of Africa?).
With other hazardous journeys under his belt through Borneo, the Amazon jungle and on board a trawler in the North Atlantic, O'Hanlon is in a league of his own as a gonzo travel writer. A Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society of Literature, he is able to write with extreme authority, however it is his off-the-wall humour that best resonates.
O'Hanlon's overarching knowledge of wildlife, and birds in particular, unfortunately also ends up being part reason for why I couldn't fully get into this book. Although written beautifully, the length at which he describes the flora and fauna of the Congolese jungle, whilst initially painting a wonderful picture of the steaming jungle, over time becomes repetitive and boring. Adding little to the overall story, I felt no guilt in skim reading portions of the book which became overly detailed.
Be prepared, also, for what I would call "other-worldly reading". At various points, O'Hanlon writes as if in a hallucinatory state, due to being afflicted by malaria, narcotics or bone-tired weariness from his arduous journey. To me, these philosophical interludes, coupled with flashbacks and random meanderings through other topics were overtures to the madness themes inherent within Conrad's The Heart of Darkness.
All told, this is an enjoyable read of an amazing journey. Congo Journey provides a multi-layered telling of O'Hanlon's expedition that illustrates the difficulties for the people of the region and its wildlife whilst downplaying the extreme nature of his own journey. It is not an easy read and at times is overly detailed but truly rewards the reader for the effort, not least by avoiding the usual African tropes. If you're looking for a thought-provoking, well written, alternative travel-lit book heavy on wildlife descriptions, then this definitely is the journey for you.
I read this as part of a quartet of Congo River books I'd bought with a view to deciding which book was the best Congo River journey of them all. Part way through the book, however, I realised that Congo Journey was quite different from the others, in that the travelogue mostly occurred on land away from the Congo River and secondarily it takes place in the People's Republic of the Congo. The other three books almost entirely take place on the Congo River and within the Republic of Congo (previously known as the Democratic Republic of Congo or more well known as Zaire). So, a fail on my behalf before I really got started!
Ostensibly, Congo Journey is a story about O'Hanlon's search through the unmapped forests of the People's Republic of the Congo, in search of a living dinosaur, the Mokélé-Mbembé. Previously sighted in the remote Lake Télé, in its most basic form, it's sort of like an African exploration for Big Foot.
All of this, however, belies the rich tapestry of the book. At a deeper level it provides an expose of the Central-Congo Bantu peoples and Congo Pygmies who live on the land and waterways, their interaction with the wildlife and spiritual customs and beliefs.
Written with a diary format feel, the book centres as much on the interactions with and between his travel companions as the surrounding jungle, with each providing their own layer to this complex book. The Congolese scientist Marcellin Agnagna, all authority, emotion and loose (Western) morals is a great contrast to O'Hanlon's American friend, the rational Professor of Psychology, Lary Shaffer. Making up this disparate group are two of Agnagna's relatives, the fun loving, cross-eyed Nzé and Manou, the more tragic and put-upon lost cause (of Africa?).
With other hazardous journeys under his belt through Borneo, the Amazon jungle and on board a trawler in the North Atlantic, O'Hanlon is in a league of his own as a gonzo travel writer. A Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society of Literature, he is able to write with extreme authority, however it is his off-the-wall humour that best resonates.
O'Hanlon's overarching knowledge of wildlife, and birds in particular, unfortunately also ends up being part reason for why I couldn't fully get into this book. Although written beautifully, the length at which he describes the flora and fauna of the Congolese jungle, whilst initially painting a wonderful picture of the steaming jungle, over time becomes repetitive and boring. Adding little to the overall story, I felt no guilt in skim reading portions of the book which became overly detailed.
Be prepared, also, for what I would call "other-worldly reading". At various points, O'Hanlon writes as if in a hallucinatory state, due to being afflicted by malaria, narcotics or bone-tired weariness from his arduous journey. To me, these philosophical interludes, coupled with flashbacks and random meanderings through other topics were overtures to the madness themes inherent within Conrad's The Heart of Darkness.
All told, this is an enjoyable read of an amazing journey. Congo Journey provides a multi-layered telling of O'Hanlon's expedition that illustrates the difficulties for the people of the region and its wildlife whilst downplaying the extreme nature of his own journey. It is not an easy read and at times is overly detailed but truly rewards the reader for the effort, not least by avoiding the usual African tropes. If you're looking for a thought-provoking, well written, alternative travel-lit book heavy on wildlife descriptions, then this definitely is the journey for you.
December 23, 2011
The author travels to the Congo, down tributaries of the Ubangi, to Lake Télé in search of Mokélé-Mbebé, possibly a living sauropod atavism. Accompanied by pragmatic, homesick Lary, an American; educated Marcellin, a government employee, torn between his Western education and the supernatural spirit world of Africa whose power he fears; gentle Manou; and wild-eyed, hard-drinking Nzé, he chronicles all he sees. This allows for observations of much flora and fauna, especially birds and apes, as well as meditations on human behavior.
The Africa O’Hanlon “discovers” is a world of sorcerers, fetishes and tribal rivalries, where slavery exists in fact, diseases ravage whole tribes, and pragmatic Western ideas like gutters and medicines are absurdities rather than possibilities. It’s a great book, full of humor and learning, equal parts natural history and the kind of insight into the foreign mind that the best travel writing can offer. It’s a bit grim to think how mired in ignorance and the supernatural Africa still is, but funny scenes like one with a clingy baby gorilla keep the reader entertained.
The Africa O’Hanlon “discovers” is a world of sorcerers, fetishes and tribal rivalries, where slavery exists in fact, diseases ravage whole tribes, and pragmatic Western ideas like gutters and medicines are absurdities rather than possibilities. It’s a great book, full of humor and learning, equal parts natural history and the kind of insight into the foreign mind that the best travel writing can offer. It’s a bit grim to think how mired in ignorance and the supernatural Africa still is, but funny scenes like one with a clingy baby gorilla keep the reader entertained.
July 22, 2014
Interestingly my version of this book is called Congo Journey, but it appears to be the same book. It is a well written, thought provoking and, at times, hilarious account of Redmond and his colleague, Lary's travels through the Congo. En route they encounter sorcerers, pygmies, tsetse flies, drunk soldiers with large guns and more manioc than either of them ever want to eat again. The humour diminishes somewhat once Lary decides he has had enough and returns home, but it remains a fascinating account of life in the Congo, the relationship the Congolese have with their environment and each other and how they view Christian superstitions compared with their own. It seems they take a dim view of the cannibal Christians who regularly eat the body of their god.
February 7, 2019
I've never read anything like this book. I was riveted by it and learned so much about R of Congo, birds and other creatures, the horrors of disease and epidemiology, and psychology and culture. IT was hilarious and brutal. The voice is remarkable, unflinching, realistic and self deprecating, with the attention to detail of Chatwin, respect of Sebald, and gonzo spirit of Hunter S Thompson. It is written with a light touch but the ending goes to some dark places which I'm not sure I really even understood. I'm looking forward to reading more of this author, and I wonder what happened to Lary and Manou and Marcellin.
September 18, 2016
_No Mercy_ by Redmond O'Hanlon is an interesting, at times quite good, but for me ultimately frustrating travelogue of the author's journey into the deep interior of The People's Republic of the Congo (not to be confused with Zaire).
The book started out very strongly, recounting the vivid first impressions of O'Hanlon and his travel companion Dr. Lary Shaffer in Brazzaville, consulting a feticheuse (a type of fortune teller), negotiating the complex and tangled government bureaucracy, and trying to arrange an expedition into the deep interior. Why go into the jungles of the country, far up the Congo River one may reasonably ask? O'Hanlon wanted to journey to the remote northern forests of the country, meet the Pygmies, journey by dugout boat to the headwaters of the Motaba River, abandon the boats, walk east through a vast and poorly known swamp jungle, and eventually make his way to a very remote lake, Lake Télé, reported home of Mokele-mbembe, a dinosaur reported to be alive today in the Congo. That's all. Well O'Hanlon did at any rate, Shaffer had evidently planned to leave the expedition before O'Hanlon and his future companions set out for Lake Télé. Shaffer, continually reminded O'Hanlon he couldn't believe he was in the Congo to begin with, let alone heading up the Congo and proceeding on foot through a portion of its dense tropical forest.
His expedition plan sounded quite adventurous to me, if not always accepted by government bureaucrats; one asked, "his voice full of hostility, "you have come to investigate some kind of dinosaur? To make fun of us? To mock the African?" Eventually though permission was granted and O'Hanlon, Shaffer, and several other locals set on their way.
Much of the expedition, particularly early on, was quite interesting, if merely just describing what the author saw. His account of traveling on a virtual floating city, the steamer _Impfondo_ with its attached barges was quite vivid, a town that slowly made its way upriver, different areas of the steamer and the attached barges inhabited by different social strata, of men, women, children, people fishing, selling things, trading with people in dugouts that met the boat from various villages along the shore, sometimes trading for a time, other times tying up and journeying with the entire configuration for some ways. People were born on the boat-barge combination, and unfortunately people died as well.
Unlike many travel writers, O'Hanlon was evidently keenly interested in natural history, particularly birds, and never failed to point out fascinating animals he saw and more interestingly provide good descriptions of them and many times some facts about them. He saw hammerkops for instance, "[a] bird with a genus all its own, its place in science almost as mysterious as its role in myth," at one time thought to be related to herons, flamingos, or storks. Many in Africa leave the hammerkop alone, its very name often taboo, believed to be a sorcerer among birds, able to compel birds of other species to come and build its massive nest. He spied the Congo blue-breasted kingfisher, a "freak of a kingfisher," a species that never goes fishing but rather lives in the forest and makes meals of insects, spiders, toads, and millipedes. A huge rodent, an enormous, white-bellied, grey-backed Giant Gambian rat nearly gave him a heart attack one night as it accidentally made his way into his sleeping chambers one night before bounding out in a panic. He was driven out of another hut by a huge mass of driver ants, moving colonies of ants that according to Shaffer can travel in groups twenty-two million strong, much larger than the "mere two million" that number South American army ant swarms. The author also noted interesting plants from time to time, such as the oil-palm, so vital to many in the Congo region, as oil can be obtained from both the flesh of the nut and the seeds, its oil being used for cooking and in making soap and margarine, its sap collected to make ready-made palm wine.
The book's first half was riveting to me and I looked forward to what new sights would greet the expedition as they went further upriver, leaving the _Impfondo_, proceeding on much smaller boats, and eventually on foot. However, at some point, the book really started to bog down for me. More and more the narrative related the sometimes funny, often just tedious fights, complaints, and bickering of his three local companions, which by the end of the book the reader becomes pretty well familiar with. There is Marcellin, educated overseas, a scientist, but clearly frustrated by many aspects of life in Africa, by the burdens of being a "big man," of out of work relatives feeling that the success of one of their own is their success and Marcellin obligated by societal mores to lets his relatives move in, eat his food, and just make themselves at home. He also seemed frustrated by his African companions, complaining that they were clearly uneducated men, but Marcellin by his words and deeds showing that he was very much a part of that culture as well, as like the others he was continually seeking female companionship every night in every village they visited and while scoffing at some supernatural beliefs, such as fetishes, seemed to accept others (when one friend asked how a local sorcerer who could shapechange into an elephant every night might affect his elephant studies, Marcellin appeared to seriously consider the problem). Manou, another companion, was a much more gentle soul, not as brash or as sex-crazed as Marcellin, but even more frustrated as he would never get the education that Marcellin had and anything he owned was taken outright from him by his elders. While these portraits were interesting they tended to take up too much of the book as it neared its end, overshadowing more interesting aspects of the expedition and were sometimes just plain annoying.
The book started out very strongly, recounting the vivid first impressions of O'Hanlon and his travel companion Dr. Lary Shaffer in Brazzaville, consulting a feticheuse (a type of fortune teller), negotiating the complex and tangled government bureaucracy, and trying to arrange an expedition into the deep interior. Why go into the jungles of the country, far up the Congo River one may reasonably ask? O'Hanlon wanted to journey to the remote northern forests of the country, meet the Pygmies, journey by dugout boat to the headwaters of the Motaba River, abandon the boats, walk east through a vast and poorly known swamp jungle, and eventually make his way to a very remote lake, Lake Télé, reported home of Mokele-mbembe, a dinosaur reported to be alive today in the Congo. That's all. Well O'Hanlon did at any rate, Shaffer had evidently planned to leave the expedition before O'Hanlon and his future companions set out for Lake Télé. Shaffer, continually reminded O'Hanlon he couldn't believe he was in the Congo to begin with, let alone heading up the Congo and proceeding on foot through a portion of its dense tropical forest.
His expedition plan sounded quite adventurous to me, if not always accepted by government bureaucrats; one asked, "his voice full of hostility, "you have come to investigate some kind of dinosaur? To make fun of us? To mock the African?" Eventually though permission was granted and O'Hanlon, Shaffer, and several other locals set on their way.
Much of the expedition, particularly early on, was quite interesting, if merely just describing what the author saw. His account of traveling on a virtual floating city, the steamer _Impfondo_ with its attached barges was quite vivid, a town that slowly made its way upriver, different areas of the steamer and the attached barges inhabited by different social strata, of men, women, children, people fishing, selling things, trading with people in dugouts that met the boat from various villages along the shore, sometimes trading for a time, other times tying up and journeying with the entire configuration for some ways. People were born on the boat-barge combination, and unfortunately people died as well.
Unlike many travel writers, O'Hanlon was evidently keenly interested in natural history, particularly birds, and never failed to point out fascinating animals he saw and more interestingly provide good descriptions of them and many times some facts about them. He saw hammerkops for instance, "[a] bird with a genus all its own, its place in science almost as mysterious as its role in myth," at one time thought to be related to herons, flamingos, or storks. Many in Africa leave the hammerkop alone, its very name often taboo, believed to be a sorcerer among birds, able to compel birds of other species to come and build its massive nest. He spied the Congo blue-breasted kingfisher, a "freak of a kingfisher," a species that never goes fishing but rather lives in the forest and makes meals of insects, spiders, toads, and millipedes. A huge rodent, an enormous, white-bellied, grey-backed Giant Gambian rat nearly gave him a heart attack one night as it accidentally made his way into his sleeping chambers one night before bounding out in a panic. He was driven out of another hut by a huge mass of driver ants, moving colonies of ants that according to Shaffer can travel in groups twenty-two million strong, much larger than the "mere two million" that number South American army ant swarms. The author also noted interesting plants from time to time, such as the oil-palm, so vital to many in the Congo region, as oil can be obtained from both the flesh of the nut and the seeds, its oil being used for cooking and in making soap and margarine, its sap collected to make ready-made palm wine.
The book's first half was riveting to me and I looked forward to what new sights would greet the expedition as they went further upriver, leaving the _Impfondo_, proceeding on much smaller boats, and eventually on foot. However, at some point, the book really started to bog down for me. More and more the narrative related the sometimes funny, often just tedious fights, complaints, and bickering of his three local companions, which by the end of the book the reader becomes pretty well familiar with. There is Marcellin, educated overseas, a scientist, but clearly frustrated by many aspects of life in Africa, by the burdens of being a "big man," of out of work relatives feeling that the success of one of their own is their success and Marcellin obligated by societal mores to lets his relatives move in, eat his food, and just make themselves at home. He also seemed frustrated by his African companions, complaining that they were clearly uneducated men, but Marcellin by his words and deeds showing that he was very much a part of that culture as well, as like the others he was continually seeking female companionship every night in every village they visited and while scoffing at some supernatural beliefs, such as fetishes, seemed to accept others (when one friend asked how a local sorcerer who could shapechange into an elephant every night might affect his elephant studies, Marcellin appeared to seriously consider the problem). Manou, another companion, was a much more gentle soul, not as brash or as sex-crazed as Marcellin, but even more frustrated as he would never get the education that Marcellin had and anything he owned was taken outright from him by his elders. While these portraits were interesting they tended to take up too much of the book as it neared its end, overshadowing more interesting aspects of the expedition and were sometimes just plain annoying.
January 21, 2022
A journey into the deepest, darkest reaches of the Congo can’t be anything other than fascinating although this book tries its hardest not to be at times. Incredibly dialogue-heavy compared to other travel books, the author must have the memory of a (Congo forest) elephant. But ultimately an enlightening glimpse into a seldom seen part of the world - I would love to see the natural wonders the Congo has to offer but couldn’t stomach the hardships involved in travelling through the region!
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December 13, 2022lights up a lotta the same pleasure centers as vollmann; never quite recaptures the spark after lary goes home tho.
November 12, 2017
Good story, although not quite as enjoyable as Into the Heart of Borneo, written some dozen years earlier. But still highly enjoyable armchair travelogue, focusing on O'Hanlon's search for the mythical (or is it?) mokele-mbembe. Plus, I got my copy autographed by Jane Goodall! (Not that she's mentioned in the book; I just didn't have any of her own books for her to sign when I saw her speak in Taiwan, and this was the closest thing I had which dealt with the Congo and great apes; and yes, she had never heard of the book and was not particularly impressed. But in any case, enough to justify inclusion in my "signed copy" shelf - even if signed by someone other than the author!)
February 17, 2017
A very fun read. I'd like to find more like it.
March 26, 2016
Redmond O'Hanlon takes adventure travel to an extreme level. Traveling deep into the People's Republic of the Congo by dugout canoe and by foot, he encounters giant cockroaches, flesh-eating ants, and decidedly unfriendly tribesmen. At times he and his American companion feared they would not survive to tell anyone about their adventure. Lives of the African bushmen are profoundly influenced by their belief in the spirit world. In one memorable scene, the author's guide, a representative of the Congo government, berates O'Hanlon as a non believer in African spirits. "What are rosaries and crucifixes, if not fetishes? What is communion, sharing the body of Christ, if not symbolic cannibalism?" he asks. Provocative questions, to be sure. The depths of the Congo jungle and its inhabitants are as little known to me as the dark side of the moon. Being able to visit vicariously while reading this book, was an intimate experience.
March 19, 2012
It's a rare writer who can pull off a detailed description of a river-journey through the Republic of Congo, ostensibly in search of a mythological dinosaurian atavism lost in a remote lake in deep swamp forest, without ploughing unfortunate territory that bad writers and breathless expats have been mired in since Conrad. O'Hanlon, however, does a great job. This is funny, terrifying, tender, and self-deprecating in equal measure, and does a capital job of holding up a variety of belief systems to the light of harsh scrutiny and seeing exactly how much distance there really is between scientific and non-scientific worldviews, dependent on context. In addition, a wholly unexpected and wonderful eulogy for Bruce Chatwin appears in the middle of the book. Great descriptions of wildlife and wild-lands as well.
July 10, 2022
Ein autobiographischer Reise-Roman. Die Nachricht von einem saurierartigen Tier, das in einem See im Kongo existieren sollte, dient dem Erzähler als Grund für dieses aberwitzige Unternehmen. Oder besser die Reise entpuutpt sich als aberwiztiges und sehr strapaziöses Unternehmen. Sehr anschaulich wird Natur und Menschen, Reisegefährten wie Einheimische, geschildert. Der Wahnsinnstrip ist niemals langweilig. Das Ziel wird erreicht, aber es war klar, dass der Weg das Ziel war. Irritiert hat mich allerdings, dass der Ich-Erzähler nie davon erzählt was in ihm vorgeht. Das ist natürlich erzählerische Absicht. So als wollte er dadurch implizit zum Ausdruck bringen, dass das unbekannte Land, der weiße Fleck, der Mensch selbst ist.
May 14, 2009
Enjoyed this book about a team that struggles to get into the heart of the Congo with hopes of finding an ancient dinosaur-like creature believed to exist there. Lots of crazy characters, mishaps, bugs, and culture clashes. Sometimes it seemed like this went a bit off in odd directions, like describing all the malaria hallucination dreams a little detailed for my taste. It's also a very condensed story, not a quick or easy read. A great taste of what traveling there must be like though, and I really enjoyed the author's take on all that he was seeing and experiencing!
August 20, 2007
Folks raved about how funny this author can be, but I guess I don't "get" his sense of humor. The first 2/3 is the story of his travels with an American colleague; the author himself more in the role of narrator. Said colleague has returned home by the final section, leaving an anti-climax featuring O'Hanlon's ramblings and the natives' squabbling. I might read another by him, but not soon, and would recommend not starting with this book as I did.
June 23, 2008
yet another twisted trip from Redmond O'Hanlon. This time he's off to the heart of the congo to search for what might be a still living dinosaur. his adventures include nearly getting killed by angry tribesmen, getting a fetish from a sorcerer, getting sky high and meeting a forest spirit, elephant poachers, a flotilla attached to a river steam boat, the idiocy of joined bureaucracy, communism, and tribalism
June 10, 2019
This book was one that was somewhat disappointing to me. A great deal of that springs from the worldview of the author himself, who went on a trip to the Republic of Congo in search of natural beauty and an investigation into lakes with mysterious reports of cryptids (namely a sauropod of some kind) and found himself involved in a great deal of shamanistic superstition, to which he himself added his own hostility to Christianity and biblical religion and his own evolutionary superstition. Throughout this book I had the distinct and not very positive impression that the author was largely unaware of the fact that he was an immense hypocrite, looking down on the obvious problems that were faced by the people around him but unable and unwilling to get to the root causes of their failures in spiritual bondage as well as political oppression under communist rule. Apparently the author had to feign (or may have actually possessed) some sort of leftist perspective, since he acquired the not altogether flattering nickname of Redso from one of the Americans who traveled with him for part of the way, but it did not make for enjoyable reading.
The book itself is divided into four parts that show the author's travels throughout various parts of Africa. First the author and a group of associates acquires through bribery various necessary visas and paperwork to leave Brazzaville and travel up the Congo to a regional city that appears to be mainly a boat town. After that the author makes a detour to the northwestern part of Congo as far as he can go, finding a great deal of superstitious belief not dissimilar from the animism explored in Liberia by Graham Greene and others. After being somewhat stranded the author and his party make their way to a dangerous lake whose inhabitants have a murderous hostility to one of the people with the author because he had reported their tribal chief to the capital authorities for his demands for bribes from him on a previous trip to the area. After a dramatic rescue of a baby gorilla the author makes his way back from Congo, poorer and in his own mind wiser and compassionate for his efforts, after having suffered much and seen much in the way of life in the obscure and remote Republic of Congo.
As someone who is unfamiliar with the area, I am not sure about what led the author to write the book he did. He sees no cryptids, sadly, and though he sees lots of birds and plants he does not add anything to the knowledge of life in the Congo. Throughout his journey he witnesses slavery and problems of identity and sees the frustrating way that even along the river one can go two or three villages upstream or downstream and find tribes with mutually unintelligible languages from one's own, a fact which dramatically hinders the unity of the area or its ability to think on a larger scale than one's own personal problems and one's own narrow mindset. The author, of course, fancies himself to be a broad-minded person, and is certainly observant even where he is not insightful. If the author is aiming at people who think like he does, he will probably find a lot more support for his views, but as for me, I found this book deeply and sadly disappointing because the author's worldview blinded him to the reality of what he was seeing and reporting on, and left him able only to think as a materialist rather than someone with an understanding of the deeper aspects and layers of reality.
The book itself is divided into four parts that show the author's travels throughout various parts of Africa. First the author and a group of associates acquires through bribery various necessary visas and paperwork to leave Brazzaville and travel up the Congo to a regional city that appears to be mainly a boat town. After that the author makes a detour to the northwestern part of Congo as far as he can go, finding a great deal of superstitious belief not dissimilar from the animism explored in Liberia by Graham Greene and others. After being somewhat stranded the author and his party make their way to a dangerous lake whose inhabitants have a murderous hostility to one of the people with the author because he had reported their tribal chief to the capital authorities for his demands for bribes from him on a previous trip to the area. After a dramatic rescue of a baby gorilla the author makes his way back from Congo, poorer and in his own mind wiser and compassionate for his efforts, after having suffered much and seen much in the way of life in the obscure and remote Republic of Congo.
As someone who is unfamiliar with the area, I am not sure about what led the author to write the book he did. He sees no cryptids, sadly, and though he sees lots of birds and plants he does not add anything to the knowledge of life in the Congo. Throughout his journey he witnesses slavery and problems of identity and sees the frustrating way that even along the river one can go two or three villages upstream or downstream and find tribes with mutually unintelligible languages from one's own, a fact which dramatically hinders the unity of the area or its ability to think on a larger scale than one's own personal problems and one's own narrow mindset. The author, of course, fancies himself to be a broad-minded person, and is certainly observant even where he is not insightful. If the author is aiming at people who think like he does, he will probably find a lot more support for his views, but as for me, I found this book deeply and sadly disappointing because the author's worldview blinded him to the reality of what he was seeing and reporting on, and left him able only to think as a materialist rather than someone with an understanding of the deeper aspects and layers of reality.
March 13, 2022
'Human desires are as natural as a gasping last breath, its just that some appear to live in a permanent vacuum '
That's what I was left felt like after reading this masterpiece.
It feels like an allegory for something we've all lost deep within inside us ....
The book is a Kafesque/ Proustian beautiful journey into an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole the congo. But with the cold naked truth of human desire.
It's more about the characters for me , they are heart renderingly shown as they are with no right or wrong prejudice.
Besides all this the book is immensely funny in places and contains so much that will make your life better for it being written.
I'm so pleased I discovered this book and thank the author for going there so I don't have too.
That's what I was left felt like after reading this masterpiece.
It feels like an allegory for something we've all lost deep within inside us ....
The book is a Kafesque/ Proustian beautiful journey into an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole the congo. But with the cold naked truth of human desire.
It's more about the characters for me , they are heart renderingly shown as they are with no right or wrong prejudice.
Besides all this the book is immensely funny in places and contains so much that will make your life better for it being written.
I'm so pleased I discovered this book and thank the author for going there so I don't have too.
March 5, 2020
The UK title for this is Congo Journey, far more relevant in my view than the American name!
Redmond O'Hanlon is a unique voice in travel writing, combining hilarious observational humour, generally at his own expense, with a naturalist's eye for detailed reportage of flora and fauna. The descriptive narrative contains beautiful moments as he spots unusual birds, butterflies, etc, while also learnng more about his travel companions, the local people, and their histories. Fascinating, entertaining and fun, I'd thoroughly recommend it as a crowd-pleaser!
Redmond O'Hanlon is a unique voice in travel writing, combining hilarious observational humour, generally at his own expense, with a naturalist's eye for detailed reportage of flora and fauna. The descriptive narrative contains beautiful moments as he spots unusual birds, butterflies, etc, while also learnng more about his travel companions, the local people, and their histories. Fascinating, entertaining and fun, I'd thoroughly recommend it as a crowd-pleaser!
February 1, 2024
This is a near-classic African travelogue of the down-and-dirty-but-fun variety, the hook a search for a mythical reptilian beast in the Congo, but it becomes not really about that, and is so much deeper and twistier and more fun than you think. It's well-written, too. Particularly interesting are O'Hanlon's accounts of superstition and fetishes and magic, which he treats with respect, not contempt.
February 18, 2018
Redmond hits it out of the park again, firmly placing himself in my top ten favourite authors. Taking risks far beyond those even considered by today's travellers, you are there with Redmond for every misstep.
June 11, 2019
Wow, I guess I will never understand Africa. I more then 'just liked it' but some passages were over my head, too much sorcery. Very much 'as it really happened' direct eye witness writing, which is really the style logically fitting a travel story (do not know why they called it a novel).
June 8, 2020
Perfect reading to take your mind off the Covid-19 era. Mr. O'Hanlon survived the Congo in the 90's. What a journey to have survived! I loved his descriptions of his childhood best. And his love of birds. Many hair-raising turns in this tale.
September 23, 2017
Approximate dates
March 30, 2018
I just can't get enough travelogues
May 29, 2018
By far the most boring travel book I have ever read. By the end I did not care at all about any of the people in it or indeed the land they were traveling in.
March 31, 2020
Very odd....
February 21, 2021
Funny and briliant at the same level!
June 11, 2022
I like his Borneo book better
Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews