When Ben Kozel finished rafting the Amazon from source to sea (as described in his bestselling Three Men in a Raft), the question uppermost in his mind was 'where to next?'. He found the answer in the Yenisey. From its headwaters in Mongolia all the way to the Arctic Circle, the Yenisey is Asia's second longest river, and the fifth longest in the world, yet remains one of the world's least-known river systems.
With three other companions, including fellow Australian Tim Cope, Ben embarked on an extraordinary river journey, taking him through the Mongolian Steppe and crossing the whole of Siberia from south to North, rowing a leaking and formerly-derelict wooden dory, painstakingly rebuilt by them on a shoe-string budget.
Risking rivers in flood, the treacherous and mysterious Lake Baikal, deadly tick-born diseases, Siberian mobsters, radioactive contamination and the onset of the Arctic winter in a five-month, 5650 kilometre odyssey, Ben has confirmed his place as one of Australia's most gifted and intrepid travel writers.
Five Months in a Leaky Boat is a brilliant adventure story, and a travel narrative that illuminates the beauty and complexity of an almost unknown part of the world.
