title: At the Mercy of the River: An Exploration of the Last African Wilderness
author:  Peter Stark 
description: Stark was a happily married, 48-year-old father of two when he answered a crew call for "the first descent" of northern Mozambique's Lugenda River. The hazardsman-eating crocodiles, unknown rapidsworried him, but the thought of being able to immerse himself in a true wilderness was just too tempting. As the group of five made their way down this obscure and unyielding river, they learned to depend one another's strengths and ignore irritating differences. Stark, an experienced kayaker and the expedition recorder (he contributes to <i>Outside</i>), would read aloud the occasional bedtime story from an anthology of memoirs of past African explorers, accounts that raised key questions: What is the meaning of wilderness places? What motivates explorers? What keeps diehards pushing ahead even when their expeditions are doomed? Stark's musings are often more diverting than his account of the group's daily progress through the whitewater. He's aware of the ironies of their own journey: cruising in their high-tech plastic kayaks, munching imported energy bars, how could they tell "these people in dugout canoes and with vine-woven nets not to hunt, not to cut trees, not to touch <i>anything</i> because we <i>need</i> that wilderness?" This report, a nice mix of thoughtful and sweaty, is perfect for history-minded armchair adventurers. Photos. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Hendricks the Hunter
  
  
    
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER ONE. THE TRADER IN ZULULAND.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER TWO. THE FOUNDLING OF THE KRAAL.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER THREE. LOST AND FOUND.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER FOUR. A JOURNEY NORTHWARD.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER FIVE. CROSSING THE TUGELA.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER SIX. A HUNTING EXPEDITION.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER SEVEN. IN THE HANDS OF THE ZULUS.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER EIGHT. THE ESCAPE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER NINE. KING PANDA.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER TEN. A BATTLE IN ZULULAND.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER ELEVEN. A SUCCESSION OF DISASTERS.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER TWELVE. IN SEARCH OF WATER.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER THIRTEEN. THE JOURNEY CONTINUED.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER FOURTEEN. THE FIRST THREATENINGS OF DANGER.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER FIFTEEN. UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOURS.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER SIXTEEN. AN IMPORTANT EXPEDITION.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. THE MASTER ABSENT.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. PREPARATIONS FOR THE DEFENCE.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER NINETEEN. THE ATTACK.  
  
  
    
  [CHAPTER TWENTY. THE RELIEF.
  
  
  
  
  
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