« An inexpensive book that is worth its weight in gold… »
Jean-Claude Charazin (M.R.B.)
"...A very deep book, moving and fascinating... The kind of book we would like to come across more often..."
Michel Balieu (Yachting Sud) |
Free download
Excerpts from "From the Orinoco to the Amazon"" |
Taking advantage of a five-year sabbatical, Jean-François Diné and his wife Claudette, accompanied by their dog Michka, set our for the craziest journey one could possibly imagine: to link two of the largest rivers of Amazonia, the Orinoco and the Amazon.
Leaving France with basically no sailing experience and a total budget of £6500, the couple heads to Africa before leaving for South America. It is there, while looking at a large-scuale map, that they become intrigued by a very thin blue line between the Orinoco and the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon. The seed has been planted. They will embark on what was considered, until then, an impossible adventure: To link up the Orinoco to the Amazon on a sailboat, thus realizing what would be the first complete tour of Amazonia in the history of boating.
It’s all there: rapids and waterfalls; an overland crossing in the middle of the forest so as to get beyond an otherwise insurmountable obstacle; the crossing of immense territories normally forbidden to tourists; life among the Yanomami Indians; navigation in the endless labyrinth of sand and rocks that is the Rio Negro… Welcome to a travel story of surprising richness and intensity, written in a warm and charming style. |
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