The Mystery of the Nile: The Epic Story of the First Descent of the World’s Deadliest River. By Richard Bangs and Pasquale Scaturro. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005. In memory of William Bouton Dixon, Class of 1915. [Dixon Collection]

Journal Day 1

There are two very small girls sleeping on the ground next to the campfire. Apparently they were told to stay with us and keep the fire burning all night so we wouldn't get cold. Can you imagine leaving two of your young daughters to stay with strangers to keep a fire burning? What innocence and politeness.

—Scaturro (p. 64)

Mr. Scaturro opened this exhibition on 15 April 2007 with an illustrated lecture titled "The Exploration of the Great Rivers of Africa." Co-sponsored by the Public Lecture Series and the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, the talk was videotaped and is now available online:

http://realserver.princeton.edu:8080/ramgen/lectures/20070415scaturroVN350K.rm

or

http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/20070415scaturroVN350K.asx

A geophysicist and adventurer, Scaturro is one of the most successful and accomplished mountain and river expedition leaders in the world and has been exploring the far reaches of the planet for over 25 years. He is founder and president of Exploration Specialists, an international geophysical and exploration company. For the last 26 years he has managed geophysical oil and gas exploration and development projects in many of the most remote, dangerous, and politically and technically challenging areas on earth, and has explored throughout North and South America, Africa, and the former Soviet Union. For over 20 years Scaturro has been extremely active in high altitude mountaineering and has been the leader of numerous expeditions to major mountains worldwide including three expeditions to Everest. In 1998 he summited Mt. Everest and in 2001 he conceived, organized, and led the National Federation of the Blind NFB 2001 Everest Expedition, in which blind climber Erik Weihenmayer reached the summit. Pasquale has multiple descents of major world‑class rivers including the Bio Bio in Chile, rivers throughout North America, and the Omo and Zambezi in Africa. From November 2003 to April 2004 he organized and led the historic 114‑day Nile First Descent Expedition, the first complete descent of the Blue Nile and Nile River from its source high in the mountains of Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea, a distance of 3,260 miles. He has filmed rafting and mountaineering projects for ESPN, PBS, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, and OrbitaMax.