"For millennia the location of the Nile River's headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, ... European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe-- and extend their colonial empires. Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier ... Speke was a young aristocrat...

After more than a decade exploring Central Africa, Hendri Coetzee is a modern legend in the annals of African exploration. He walked nearly a thousand miles of Tanzanian coastline and led the first team down the entire length of the Nile through war-torn Sudan all the way to the Mediterranean. He returned to kayak solo the most difficult section of the river through the densest populations of hippos and crocodiles found anywhere on the planet. Calling...

Grant has plunged with his trademark recklessness, wit, and curiosity into East Africa. Setting out to make the first descent of an unexplored river in Tanzania, he gets waylaid in Zanzibar by thieves, whores, and a charismatic former golf pro before crossing the Indian Ocean in a rickety cargo boat. And then the real adventure begins. Known to local tribes as “the river of bad spirits,” the Malagarasi River is a daunting adversary even with a...