Along the River
that Flows Uphill -
from the Orinoco
to the Amazon
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Richard Starks
Miriam Murcutt
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Lost in Tibet
Along
the
River that Flows Uphill - from the Orinoco to the Amazon
by Richard Starks and
Miriam Murcutt
The Casiquiare
The Casiquiare - a strange river in Venezuela - is like no other on the face of the planet.
As described in the book, Along the River that Flows Uphill, the Casiquiare “somehow manages to unite two distinct river systems that should be entirely separate. The two river systems are the Orinoco and the Amazon, and by joining them together, the Casiquiare appears to perform the remarkable feat of flowing up and over the watershed that divides them.”
Rivers should not be able to do that.
The Casiquiare first came to Western attention in the 17th century, but few then were willing to believe that such a river could possibly exist. For years, says Along the River that Flows Uphill, the Casiquiare was “like the source of the Nile or the exact location of Timbuktu; it created so much controversy that the mere mention of its name was enough to spark physical fights among geographers in Europe.”
Near the end of the 18th century, the Casiquiare was still being described by French cartographers as “a monstrous error of geography.” Not until the early 19th century - when the river was explored by the Prussian naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt - was its unique character finally accepted.
Today, the Casiquiare is largely
forgotten. Only a few travelers make
the arduous journey to see it. So now it’s the preserve of illegal
miners searching for gold, and indigenous people like the Yanomami
Indians who fight for survival along it.Along the River that Flows Uphill tells the story of the two authors' journey along it. But the book also explores thoughts and ideas that relate to the risk that's inherent in adventure travel - and, perhaps, in life.
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�
Richard Starks
and Miriam Murcutt
"Humboldt hated the Casiquiare, calling it 'the most painful part of my travels in America', but he paddled the river from one end to the other and proved that it did indeed unite the Orinoco and Amazon basins." - From Along the River that Flows Uphill