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17 March 2007
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
(formerly known as Zaire)
In the 1870s the Explorer Henry Morton Stanley made two epic journeys through Africa – on one he famously found Dr Livingstone and on the other he became the first man to cross central Africa, discovering the upper reaches of the mighty River Congo. Stanley has been criticised for opening up the continent and exposing it to the brutalities of the subsequent colonial regimes; but are his exploratory achievements underestimated and what's the Congo like now for those intrepid enough to travel its length?
Sandi Toksvig is joined by Tim Jeal author of Stanley,The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer and Michel Van Roten an organiser of Congo riverboat journeys.
CRICKET
With the start of the Cricket World Cup earlier this week, fans of the game have been taking the opportunity to travel to the West Indies on the strict understanding that it is not a holiday but a tour of duty to support their national teams. With cricketing nations spread out all over the world this duty can be a time consuming and expensive business to carry out.
Soumya Bhattacharya discusses the pleasures and frustrations of following his national team India in his book entitled You must like Cricket - Memoirs of an Indian Cricket fan.
Presented by Sandi Toksvig
Photo: Congo - Fishermen in a boat
This week's guests:
Tim Jeal Is a British novelist, and biographer and the author of a new biography on the life of the 19th-century Welsh-born journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley.
Stanley, the impossible life of Africa’s greatest explorer
Publisher: Faber and Faber
ISBN-10: 0571221033
ISBN-13: 978-0571221035
Livingstone
Publisher: Yale University Press; New Ed edition
ISBN-10: 0300091028
ISBN-13: 978-0300091021
Michel Van Roten is Belgian and lives in Kinshasa the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He Is the General Manager of Go Congo a company which operates tours to the interior and up the Congo River (nearly 3,000 miles long) for tourists. The experience is advertised for ”The active, adventurous traveller who respects nature and has a desire to immerse themselves in the local culture.”
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office's (FCO)
Travel Advice Notices aim to ensure that British travellers are well prepared before departure
Soumya Bhattacharya is an editor on the Hindustan Times in Mumbai but was brought up in Kolkata. Soumya lived in London until the age of 6 when his family returned to India.
He has just published a book called You must like cricket? about his devotion of the Indian national team over a period of several years.
Soumya has seen cricket in India, especially his home ground of Eden Gardens in Kalkata, United Kingdom, Bangladesh and Australia. He has yet to go to the West Indies but that might just happen if India gets past the opening rounds in the current World Cup.
You Must Like Cricket?: Memoirs of an Indian Cricket Fan
Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
ISBN-10: 0224075217
ISBN-13: 978-0224075213
ICC World Cup 2007The BBC cannot be held responsible for
the content of external sites | | | | | | PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES | | | | |  Sandi Toksvig:
The daughter of a foreign correspondent, Sandi has been travelling all her life more info | |
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