the explorers journal the global adventure issue - The Explorers Club

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eviewsedited by Milbry C. Polka magnificent tribute to thespirit of eastern Africa. Herblack-and-white images of individualsat play, hunting, andperforming rituals reflect thecultural and geographic diversityof the 19 tribal groupsshe profiles. The book offers aclose look at a facet of humanexpression that will probablyvanish in our own lifetime.T r i b e s o f t h eGreat Rift Valleyby Elizabeth L. Gilbertdown the nileby Rosemary Mahoney288 pp • Boston: Little Brown& Company, 2007 • ISBN:978-0-316-10745-7 • $23.99272 pp • New York: Harry N. Abrams,2007 • ISBN-10: 0810994119, ISBN-13:978-0810994119 • $75The Great Rift Valley touchesnearly a dozen countries ineastern Africa—from Eritrea,Ethiopia, and Somaliland on58the Red Sea through thehighlands of Kenya to itssouthern edge in Malawi—andencompasses deserts, plains,and forests. In her latest book,Tribes of the Great Rift Valley,former war-correspondentElizabeth L. Gilbert offersWhat possessed RosemaryMahoney to embark alone,rowing a two-meter-long skiffhugging the shores of the Nilefor weeks on end soon becomesapparent in the awardwinningauthor’s latest book,Down the Nile. For many,rowing is an obsession that
seizes the spirit like a drug,and has led a few individualsinto unlikely challenges.For Mahoney, simply gettingon the water proves difficultbecause being a womanmade it nearly impossible forher to buy a boat in Egypt.Egypt being Egypt, there isalways a way and an understandingsoul to make theimpossible possible.Throughout her trials, sheruminates on adventures ofearlier Nile river travelers suchas Florence Nightingale,Gustave Flaubert, AmeilaEdwards, and the terrifyingstories of crocodiles byPaul Potous. In the end, sheachieves what so many adventurersstrive for—momentsof real happiness when allthat you worked for finallycomes together, making thewhole thing worth it.life in thevalley of deathby Alan Rabinowitz256 pp • Washington, DC: IslandPress, 2007 • ISBN-978-1-59726-129-60• $25.95 • Reviewed by Jeff StolzerREVIEWSThis engaging book documentsthe decade-longstruggle of Alan Rabinowitz,executive director of the scienceand exploration programat the Wildlife ConservationSociety, to establish theworld’s largest tiger preservedeep in the Hukawng Valleyof Myanmar. The obstaclesfacing Rabinowitz are formidable:a military dictatorshipthat is suspicious of the outsideworld, an insurgent armythat controls a sizeable portionof the Hukawng, rampantpoaching, and an influx of goldprospectors whose use ofmercury threatens to destroythe food chain. And in themidst of all this, Rabinowitzis faced with a diagnosis ofleukemia, which is probablythe greatest obstacle of all.Rabinowitz meets these challengeswith unwavering focus,determination, and passion.He manages to endear himselfand his passion for tigersto nearly everyone that heencounters. He is a man on amission and we are not reallysurprised when that missionultimately proves successful.Where the book deliverssurprises is in the chaptersthat deal with his leukemiadiagnosis, a development thatturns his world upside down.Normally a fearless fighter,Rabinowitz retreats into adark world of depression anddespair, cutting himself offfrom his work and his family.He writes about this in a mannerthat is brutally honest, andhis self-portrait is less thanflattering. The hero of Life inthe Valley of Death turns outto be human like the rest ofus, which makes his accomplishmentsin Myanmar all themore remarkable.The Terrorby Dan Simmons769 pp • New York: Little, Brownand Company, 2007 • ISBN-10:0316017442, • $25.99 • Reviewed byJohn GeigerThe doomed 1845–1848British Arctic Expedition commandedby Sir John Franklinhas inspired its own literarysubgenre, from Lord Tennysonand Margaret Atwood, toSten Nadolny, MordecaiRichler, Sheenagh Pugh, andWilliam T. Vollmann. Nowbest-selling American novelistDan Simmons has produceda haunting, masterful, andultimately poignant narrativeof the expedition. The result—drawn from the real-life minutiaeof the disaster, includingthe “poisons in the Goldnertins”—is, as was once written ofthe Franklin expedition itself, afate as terrible as the mind canconceive. Of all the terrors ofthe labyrinthine archipelagothe explorers journal
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the explorers journalWinter 2007/20
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THE EXPLORERS CLUB TRAVELERSA World
Page 7 and 8: The 6th AnnualExplorers ClubFilm Fe
Page 10 and 11: fields and rugged icepackin unchart
Page 12 and 13: 12Fossett Searchcontinuesmissing pl
Page 14 and 15: Oceans 8around the worldby kayakby
Page 16 and 17: in croatiaWe paddle beneath a 12-me
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Page 20 and 21: shore by two-meter seas, first one,
Page 22 and 23: sir WallyHerbertmaster of the icete
Page 25 and 26: polar bear on the icethe explorers
Page 27 and 28: a pioneering journey: Sir wally her
Page 29 and 30: An Illustration from Frank Leslie
Page 31 and 32: fiction than a factual account. Dur
Page 33 and 34: Geoffrey E. Clark, third from left,
Page 35 and 36: A dani war leader exhorts his men P
Page 38: Coming HomeA wounded warrior is bro
Page 43: Preparing a FeastDani villagers pre
Page 46 and 47: Secret Lifeoficebergstext by Kennet
Page 48: Iceberg W-86Researchers found abund
Page 51 and 52: Iceberg A-52Swarms of krill and oth
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Page 57: monterey nachosJamaican Jerk Chicke
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