In the Naga's Wake

A professional kayak guide from Western Australia who discovers that the Mekong has never been followed from source-to-sea does just that. He hikes in Tibet to the recognised source, then follows it until becomes of paddle-able size.
The upper Mekong is coming into flood, so a number of weeks delay while his ‘team' all try to renegotiate for higher fees with less risk endanger the prospects of success. In the end he walks away losing all the money already invested in them, and a heap of gear they refuse to return. O'Shea blames himself for rushing in his team section and taking people who meet criteria, but aren't invested in the journey, or a good match with him.
As a consequence, he is kayaking in flood, which adds an element of risk, and he very nearly comes unstuck a number of times, especially kayaking some dangerous areas without any support team. The book provides good descriptions of the white water, including simple descriptions for those of us who aren't familiar with the jargon.
After the Mekong Gorges of Tibet, it in on to the wild water of Yunnan in China. Here he is joined by a new support crew who are more invested in the journey, and who work well with O'Shea. As part of the Yunnan stretch, come the dams and the ongoing construction of other dams - seven planned at the time. From now on, the book considers the effects these Chinese dams have, and will continue to have on the downstream people. The most shocking (but unfortunately not surprising) thing is that the Chinese have undertaken no assessment of the downstream effects of the dams (ecologically, culturally and for horticulture etc). Unsurprisingly they don't care about the ecosystem or the peoples lives effected by the limitation on natural cycles of the river.
Through the remaining countries which border the Mekong (Laos and Myanmar, then Laos and Thailand, then into Thailand, into Cambodia, then the Vietnamese delta) there is limited whitewater, but more contact with the local people. O'Shea is very good at communicating with these river people, and his love of the river is evident in his ability to communicate with them, earning their trust and therefore their assistance when required. He includes plenty of stories of their hardships and then confusion about the river cycles changing - as many are unaware of the Chinese dams and their effecting the flow levels.
His journey finishes after 141 days, and he is recorded as the first person to traverse the river from source-to-sea.

I enjoyed this a lot (as a book I read on holiday, it broke up a string of fiction books I wasn't exactly enjoying as much as my usual fare), and though the balance of technical kayaking stuff, journey preparation/admin, history and cultural interaction was pretty much right.

4.5 stars, rounded down.