BOOK REVIEW

The Kon-Tiki Expedition – Thor Heyerdahl

Unthinkable and awe-striking account of a raft’s odyssey across the Pacific Ocean  

      Though I had heard of the eponymously named travel agency, I was fully oblivious to the Kon-Tiki story until a brief visit to Oslo with two work colleagues. We had deduced that the Viking museums were a must-see and quite fortuitously happened to stumble across the actual Kon-Tiki museum, which located itself in the same area. Deciding to stroll through, it wasn’t long before our jaws dropped as we read the placards depicting the incredible story of Thor Heyerdahl, whose adventure now lives in my mind amongst the most daring and crazed of the 20th century. Such was my fascination that I immediately purchased his book, as much a tribute of my respect as a desire to learn more.  

       Heyerdahl, a Norwegian ethnographer who had conducted research on Easter Island, had hypothesized that Polynesia – the large area containing hundreds of islands to South America’s west – had been peopled by Peruvian migrants over a thousand years ago. Upon presentation of this theory to various museums and leading anthropologists in the 1940s, his thinking was firmly and impatiently rejected on the basic premise that South Americans of the time did not have the means by which to carry themselves so far across the ferocious Pacific Ocean.

       Heyerdahl’s otherworldly response was to prove his point by demonstration: he constructed a raft in the same vein as the Peruvians would have, employing balsa tree trunks lashed together with hemp ropes. The final product was on display in the museum and featured a tall mast and tiny rear cabin, its presence emphasizing the madness of Heyerdahl’s feat. By square footage the raft would have been large enough for no more than three or four large cars. Its deck floated just a couple of feet above water level and I was perplexed in visualizing how this pile of assembled driftwood could have possibly survived the notoriously capricious ocean currents.

       The book chronicles the six-man crew’s expedition across 7000km of largely unknown waters over 101 days. The anecdotes are barely imaginable: as if feeding off caught sharks wasn’t enough, Heyerdahl recounts whales so large that their noses and tails would both be simultaneously above water on either side of the raft, meaning an arched back would have crushed the entire vessel. My astonishment was amplified tenfold when I learnt that Heyerdahl himself didn’t even know how to swim and was also afraid of deep water. Reeling from this man’s unparalleled courage, I had to remind myself that this was all set in motion not to prove the Peruvian’s movements beyond dispute, but to simply indicate it was possible that they traveled westward.

      As a read, I’d suggest there were some slow-moving passages as Heyerdahl’s writing is more suited to a scientific report than the storytelling this venture demands. Certainly some focus could be lent to the sailors’ emotional toil as they faced the extent of nature’s apathy towards their voyage. In particular moments however, the narrative comes alive and leaves the reader breathless following another wild encounter with flying fish or a giant squid. This story truly embodies science’s investment in exploration and is a rousing reminder of its impact. Long may it continue.

-NP, April 2015