Rowing to Baikal is a contemplative study of the Selenge River and the people and species living along its waters and banks.
Verdict: This overflowing travelogue may appeal to readers of National Geographic, fishing enthusiasts, and others willing to take this highly detailed journey.
Editor’s note: Peter W. Fong’s Rowing to Baikal, an account of a thousand-mile journey by horse, camel, kayak, and drift boat, is forthcoming from Latah Books. Here are excerpts from three chapters.
“Rowing to Baikal” will be available for purchase December 5, 2023 with 50 percent of royalties allocated to the Wild Salmon Center’s International Taimen Initiative. Excerpt printed with permission from author Peter W. Fong and publisher Latah Books.
As the 2018 Baikal Headwaters Expedition neared the Russian border, we began to receive anxious messages from our contacts in Buryatia. One dated September 14 contained the following warnings: 1) “The temperatures are starting to drop really fast over here”; 2) “if you come to Russia, it’s better to leave your boat in Mongolia”; 3) “if you come and try to perform scientific research here, you guys and people who work with you will most likely get into big trouble”; and 4) “As far as getting the permission to float the river, it also doesn’t seem to be possible.”
