This is a complex and rich book: it takes the form of a diary of an intrepid tropical journey, but at a deeper level it is an observant and challenging look at the people (predominantly men in greater depth) whom O'Hanlon travels with and meets. These people's manners and moods run the gamut of responses to their circumstances as more or less marginal residents of Congo-Brazzaville: chiefly Marcellin, his main guide, a highly educated man of some authority whose resentment at his lack of opportunity to express his talents seems to have twisted his character into domineering, nymphomania and deviousness. He also encounters Marcellin's subordinate nephews, bothersome government officials and soldiers (in a wonderful opening section dealing with his efforts to obtain the right visa), tyrannical local bosses, feuding villagers, exotic pygmies, and many women who in each location gravitate to Marcellin. There are shocking scenes, as on the river convoy, a malaria fever-dream, and untold wildlife sightings and disease reports. O'Hanlon is by turns adventurous, fearful, anxious, and curious, not to mention subject to drug-induced hallucinations and self-doubt, while fellow traveller Larry's reservations and homesickness serve as a foil to his romantic ideas. There is loads here for the nature and adventure reader, but even more for the reader interested in getting an unvarnished, unexpurgatedly realistic view of the relations between people of differing levels of power and opportunity in a modern post-colonial society, one where Euro-Americans are not much esteemed but still vastly wealthier in money and life-chances: the academic adventurers with money and daring, reduced to dependence and ignorance in their strange surroundings; the thwarted local 'big man'; the hangers-on doing the best they can without much hope for the future; the traditional pygmies hoping to keep out from under the thumb of the region's Bantu colonists; a country of meaningless official ideology, corruption, unsatisfying liaisons, callous bargaining and everybody trying to make the best of a losing hand. There is very little explicit authorial editorialising, and there is so much going on in this book that it can be hard to get a mental handle on it, but this is also what makes it so richly thought-provoking. This is a reality presented with very little censorship or opinionation; it is in many ways saddening and startling. It is not necessarily a hugely enjoyable book, or one that is easy to read, but it is a strange travel book of rare human depth. ( )

I've now completed the three O'Hanlon jungle books: Into the Heart of Borneo (1984), In Trouble Again (1988) and Congo Journey (1996) - they are best read in that order as they grow increasingly longer and complex. Congo has been called his magnus opus. I found it the least enjoyable. It's a hot mess, reflecting the place. As another reviewer pointed out, this is not an easy read with a lot going on, many characters who are mostly distasteful, an aura of magical realism, drugs and alcohol, death and sex, fear, disease, painful insects, claustrophobia. It deserves multiple closer readings, I'm not sure I could take it. ( )

Zeer goed reisverhaal waaruit blijkt dat overleven in de natuur geen lachertje is, voor mens noch dier. Geen haar op mijn hoofd om daar zelfs maar één dag door te brengen.
Men moet over een grote dosis doodsverachting beschikken om zulk een reis te ondernemen. Zpuden velen - alleen al door de angst (om de volgende morgen niet te halen)- hun verstand niet verliezen in deze jungle? Wanneer we ons afvragen waarom afrikanen leven van dag tot dag; dit boek levert vrijwel zeker het antwoord.
Lees misschien ook eens "Congo" van David van Reybrouck. ( )

This is a complex and rich book: it takes the form of a diary of an intrepid tropical journey, but at a deeper level it is an observant and challenging look at the people (predominantly men in greater depth) whom O'Hanlon travels with and meets. These people's manners and moods run the gamut of responses to their circumstances as more or less marginal residents of Congo-Brazzaville: chiefly Marcellin, his main guide, a highly educated man of some authority whose resentment at his lack of opportunity to express his talents seems to have twisted his character into domineering, nymphomania and deviousness. He also encounters Marcellin's subordinate nephews, bothersome government officials and soldiers (in a wonderful opening section dealing with his efforts to obtain the right visa), tyrannical local bosses, feuding villagers, exotic pygmies, and many women who in each location gravitate to Marcellin. There are shocking scenes, as on the river convoy, a malaria fever-dream, and untold wildlife sightings and disease reports. O'Hanlon is by turns adventurous, fearful, anxious, and curious, not to mention subject to drug-induced hallucinations and self-doubt, while fellow traveller Lary's reservations and homesickness serve as a foil to his romantic ideas. There is loads here for the nature and adventure reader, but even more for the reader interested in getting an unvarnished, unexpurgatedly realistic view of the relations between people of differing levels of power and opportunity in a modern post-colonial society, one where Euro-Americans are not much esteemed but still vastly wealthier in money and life-chances: the academic adventurers with money and daring, reduced to dependence and ignorance in their strange surroundings; the thwarted local 'big man'; the hangers-on doing the best they can without much hope for the future; the traditional pygmies hoping to keep out from under the thumb of the region's Bantu colonists; a country of meaningless official ideology, corruption, unsatisfying liaisons, callous bargaining and everybody trying to make the best of a losing hand. There is very little explicit authorial editorialising, and there is so much going on in this book that it can be hard to get a mental handle on it, but this is also what makes it so richly thought-provoking. This is a reality presented with very little censorship or opinionation; it is in many ways saddening and startling. It is not necessarily a hugely enjoyable book, or one that is easy to read, but it is a strange travel book of rare human depth. ( )

I was fascinated by this tale of Redmond O'Hanlon's treck through the Congo in search of a prehistoric beast purported to be still living deep in the jungle. ( )