BOOK The Lost River: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Transformation on Wild Water by Richard Bangs

(Paperback)

In the early 1970s, in a quest to run the last unexplored rivers of Africa, two young men drowned: one a client on his first river expedition; the other, author Richard Bangs's rafting partner and best friend, Lew Greenwald. Bangs and Greenwald, who had pioneered several wild rivers in Africa, shared a goal to raft Ethiopia's unrun Tekeze, but Greenwald's death and political turmoil made the dream impossible.

Twenty-three years later, Bangs returned with survivors of the earlier expeditions to complete what was left undone - to run the Tekeze. The Lost River is the story of Bangs's mission to fulfill a promise, to close a circle, and to face the ghosts of tragedy. It is also a deeply personal story as Bangs recounts his beginnings on wild rivers, the relationships forged in pursuit of adventure, and the primal joys that come from exploring uncharted territory.

288 pages, 15 black-and-white photographs, copyright 1999, publisher Sierra Club Books.
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