African Explorer Books

The African explorer books includes the works of all the great explorers and other members of their expeditions, with books and biographies about these men, their lives and travels.

Boyd Alexander

Boyd Francis Alexander (1873 - 1910) was a British Army officer, explorer and ornithologist.

After travelling for months through African country never before traversed by a white woman, Miss Olive MacLeod has returned to England from the perilous region where a year ago her affianced husband, Captain Boyd Alexander, was killed by savages, and where, five years before, he had buried his brother, Captain Claud Alexander. Read the true story in the 1911 NY Times Archives

There is an interesting observation by W D M Bell in 'Bell Of Africa' about Boyd's skill at presenting a tranquil outward appearance when facing potentially dangerous and murderous natives. Being perfectly cool and preferably, unarmed apparently rather flummoxes them and defuses the situation. Bell put this into practice himself on many occasions but the strategy ultimately failed with Boyd Alexander.

From The Niger To The Nile by Boyd Alexander (1907). Two volumes providing great detail on the people, places and game encountered. Starting in West Africa (Chad and Niger River area) he endeavored to find a way east to the Nile River. He bagged a lion, had many adventures with elephants, rhino, buffalo and plains game. A really exciting as well as respected work of exploration and hunting.

Boyd Alexander's Last Journey by Boyd Alexander (1912) with a memoir by Herbert Alexander. Alexander was exploring in Cameroons, he climbed Mount Kamerun and journeyed on into French Central Africa where he was killed during the wars between the French and the Moslem rulers.

C J Andersson

Charles John Andersson (1827 - 1867) was a Swedish explorer, hunter and trader as well as an amateur naturalist and ornithologist.

Lake Ngami Or Explorations And Discovery During Four Years Of Wanderings In the Wilds Of South West Africa by C J Andersson (1856) describes two expeditions, one in which the author was accompanied by Francis Galton in the Ovampo country and the other when he travelled by himself to Lake Ngami.

The Okavango River: A Narrative Of Travel, Exploration And Adventure by C J Andersson (1861)

The Lion And The Elephant by C J Andersson (1873)

Explorations In South Africa With Route From Walfisch Bay To Lake Ngamia And Ascent Of The Tioge River by C J Andersson (1854) is a bound extract from the Royal Geographical Society Journal.

Books About Charles Andersson

J P R Wallis

Fortune My Foe: The Story Of Charles John Andersson, African Explorer 1827-1867 by J P R Wallis (1936)

Thomas Baines

John Thomas Baines (1820 - 1875) was an English artist and explorer of British colonial southern Africa and Australia. In 1858 he accompanied David Livingstone along the Zambezi and was one of the first white men to view Victoria Falls. From 1861 to 1862 Baines and James Chapman undertook an expedition to South West Africa which made extensive use of both photography and painting.

Explorations In South West Africa: Being An Account Of A Journey In The Years 1861 And 1862 From Walvisch Bay, On The Western Coast, To Lake Ngami And The Victoria Falls by Thomas Baines (1864)

The Gold Regions Of South Eastern Africa by Thomas Baines (1877) was published posthumously. It contains full information on the gold discoveries in Matabeleland and Mashonaland, with much knowledge of the inhabitants. The book also contains an account of the gold discoveries in the Transvaal and gives details of no less than nineteen routes from the various places in South Africa to the newly discovered goldfields.

Shifts And Expedients Of Camp Life, Travel And Exploration by Thomas Baines (1876) was intende as a guide for the use of travellers, settlers and explorers in Africa, Australia and other parts of the world.

Books About Thomas Baines

J P R Wallis

The Northern Goldfields Diaries Of Thomas Baines edited by J P R Wallis (1946) is the early narrative of two journeys set during the opening of the great goldfields of South Africa written by an artist and explorer. (Three volumes)

Thomas Baines: His Life And Explorations In South Africa, Rhodesia And Australia 1820-1875 by J P R Wallis (1976)

Fay Jaff

They Came To South Africa by Fay Jaff (1963) contains biographies of people who have played their part in the development of South Africa, including Thomas Baines.

Jane Carruthers & Marion Arnold

The Life And Work Of Thomas Baines by Jane Carruthers and Marion Arnold (1995) is the first comprehensive survey of the life and art of Thomas Baines. It demonstrates how a Victorian artist, conditioned by his British heritage, was influenced by the African continent in which he had travelled extensively.

Alfred Bertrand

Alfred Bertrand was a Swiss army officer who joined an expedition headed by Alfred St.Hill Gibbons to the interior of Barotseland.

The Kingdom of the Barotsi, Upper Zambezia: A Voyage Of Exploration In Africa, Returning By The Victoria Falls, Matabeleland, the Transvaal, Natal And The Cape by Alfred Bertrand (1898) are detailed accounts of the journey taken from the author's diary, with special attention paid to the terrain and natives of the region. Nearing the rivers Machila and Zambesi, the author bagged buffalo, wildebeest and lion.

Charles Bruce

Stirring Adventures In African Travel by Charles Bruce (1890) includes chapters on famous explorers, such as Livingstone, Du Chaillu and Captain Speke. Also chapters on hunting elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros and a chapter describing the shipwreck and captivity of past sailors.

William J Burchell

William John Burchell (1781 - 1863) was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist and author. Burchell travelled in South Africa between 1810 and 1815 and his collection of plants, skins, skeletons, insects, seeds, bulbs and fish is considered to be the most extensive ever made in Africa, before or since. After his death by suicide, the bulk of his plant specimens went to Kew and the insects to Oxford University Museum. He is known for the copious and accurate notes he made to accompany every collected specimen, detailing habit and habitat, as well as the numerous drawings and paintings of landscapes, portraits, costumes, people, animals and plants. He was the first to describe the white rhinoceros and several birds are named after him but he is best known for Burchell's zebra, Equus quagga burchelli.

Travels In The Interior Of Southern Africa by William J Burchell (1822-1824). 2 Volumes. This is an account of Burchell's travels in South Africa between 1810 and 1815 making one of the greatest scientific explorations of his day. He collected over 50,000 specimens and covered over 7000 km, much of which was over completely unexplored terrain.

James Chapman

James Chapman (1831 - 1872) was a South African explorer, hunter, trader and photographer. In 1853 he explored the Zambezi river and almost beat David Livingstone to the Victoria Falls. Chapman was going to accompany Livingstone as a photographer but they had a disagreement and he did not go. By 1854 he had teamed up with Samuel H Edwards and launched an expedition to Lake Ngami. From 1860 to he set out on an expedition with his brother Henry and Thomas Baines to explore the Zambezi from the Victoria Falls down to its delta, to test its navigability. They did reach the Zambesi but did not get to explore the mouth of the river. Chapman's zebra, Equus quagga chapmanni, found south of the Zambezi in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, was named after him. In Botswana is a very large tree that goes by the name 'Chapman's Baobab' which he named after himself. It is reputed that other explorers including Selous and Livingstone have camped under this very tree. It is also reputed to be the largest tree in Africa, 25m in girth and between 4000 and 6000 years old.

Travels In The Interior Of South Africa: Comprising Fifteen Years' Hunting And Trading With Journeys Across The Continent From Natal To Walvish Bay, And Visits To Lake Ngami And The Victoria Falls by James Chapman (1868) These volumes embody the results of observations in regions seldom visited.

Robert E Cheesman

Robert Ernest Cheesman (1878 - 1962) was HM Consul in North-West Abyssinia from 1925 to 1934 and led a surveying expedition that finally fixed the source and course of the Blue Nile from Lake Tana.

Lake Tana And The Blue Nile: An Abyssinian Quest by Robert E Cheesman (1936) is an account of his expedition to Lake Tana in the course of which he became the first European to visit all the islands on Lake Tana. He also made the first journey from the Lake down the Blue Nile through entirely unexplored country to the furthest point reached by expeditions which had entered Abyssinia from the Sudan.

Gaetano Casati

Gaetano Casati (1838 - 1902) was an Italian explorer of Africa. Casati arrived in Africa in 1880 and was the first European to see the Ruwenzori Mountains. He was with Emin Pasha when Stanley arrived in 1888.

Ten Years In Equatoria And The Return With Emin Pasha by Gaetano Casati (1898) is a detailed 2 volume narrative, complete with plates and maps.

Norman J Davidson

Modern Exploration, Sport And Travel: A Record Of Adventure, Exploration & Sport In All Parts Of The World, Derived From Personal Accounts By The Exploreres, Travellers & Sportsmen by Norman J Davidson (1921)

The Romance Of Missionary Pioneers by Norman J Davidson (1900)

The Romance Of Modern Pathfinders by Norman J Davidson (1925). Interesting descriptions of exploration, adventure & sport in all parts of the world from accounts by the pioneers themselves.

Moffat Of Africa: A Zealous Missionary And A Brave Pioneer by Norman J Davidson (1926) is an account of the life of Robert Moffat (1795 - 1883) who was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa and father-in-law of David Livingstone.

Arthur Donaldson-Smith

Dr Arthur Donaldson-Smith (1866 - 1939) was an American explorer of Africa in addition to being a medical doctor, naturalist and diplomat. In the 1890s he made a geological expedition to Lake Rudolph (today, Lake Turkana), passing through southern Ethiopia and Kenya. The East African bird, Donaldson-Smith's sparrow-weaver, Plocepasser donaldsoni, was named after him.

Through Unknown African Countries: The First Expedition From Somaliland To Lake Lamu by Arthur Donaldson-Smith (1897) is an account of his explorations of the headwaters of the Shabeelle in Ethiopia to Lake Rudolf.

Books About Arthur Donaldson-Smith

Pascal James Imperato

Arthur Donaldson Smith And The Exploration Of Lake Rudolf by Pascal James Imperato (1987)

I N Dracopoli

Ignatius Nicolas Dracopoli (1887 - 1923) was born in France of Italian extraction, educated in England, became a cowboy in Arizona and then set out in 1910 with his brother for his first big game hunting safari in British East Africa.

He had always wanted to be an explorer and on subsequent expeditions to BEA, he mapped the Lorian Swamp region. His expedition met and passed the Edward Bennet safari on the way from Kismayu.

Through Jubaland To The Lorian Swamp: An Adventurous Journey Of Exploration & Sport In The Unknown African Forests & Deserts Of Jubaland To The Unexplored Lorian Swamp by I N Dracopoli (1914)

British Sports And Sportsmen: Big Game Hunting And Angling (1914) is a sumptuous compendium of articles which include 'Big Game Hunting in Africa' by F C Selous, 'Elephant Hunting in German East Africa' by James Sutherland. Ignatius Dracopoli contributed Chapter 7 on Sonoran Big Horn and Hunter's Hartebeest.

Filippo De Filippi

Ruwenzori: An Account Of The Expedition Of HRH Prince Luigi Amedeo Of Savoy Duke Of The Abruzzi by Filippo De Filippi (1908). The mountain range of Ruwenzori is believed to be the mythical mountains of the Moon referred to by Ptolemy. Located in central Africa, these snowy mountains drain into the lakes that feed the Nile making them the true source of the great river. Perpetually shrouded in mists, Stanley and other explorers thought, upon first sight of the mountains, that they were simply a trick of the eye. Many explorers had tried to ascend these peaks but had never succeeded. The Duke's expedition was the first to truly explore and document the range after nearly half a century of speculation, setting in place the final piece of the Nile puzzle. This successful expedition climbed all the major mountain peaks.

Sir Francis Galton

Sir Francis Galton (1822 - 1911) was an English tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist amongst many other talents. In 1845 and 1846 he went to Egypt and travelled down the Nile to Khartoum in the Sudan, and from there to Beirut, Damascus and down the Jordan. In 1850 he joined the Royal Geographical Society, and over the next two years mounted a long and difficult expedition into then little-known South West Africa (now Namibia). He probably is best known for devising a method for classifying fingerprints that proved useful in forensic science.

Narrative Of An Explorer In Tropical South Africa by Sir Francis Galton (1856) is an account of a his expedition to Damaraland in 1851.

The Art Of Travel: Or Shifts And Contrivances Available In Wild Countries by Sir Francis Galton (1893) is his bestselling handbook of practical advice for the Victorian on the move.

Major Alfred St.Hill Gibbons

Major Alfred St.Hill Gibbons (1858 - 1916) was an explorer, naturalist and big game hunter. He is best known for his expeditions in the upper Zambezi region and was reputed to be the second person to cross Africa from the Cape to Cairo.

A Record Journey In Savage Africa by Alfred St.Hill Gibbons (1901) is a three part article of an account of a journey from the North to the South and the East to the West of Africa in more than 2 years and 20,000 miles.

Africa: From South To North Through Marotseland by Alfred St.Hill Gibbons (1904). Captain Gibbons hunted in Barotseland for about ten months and he gives a full description of the regions of the Upper Zambesi, together with an account of the Marotse, Matoka and Mashikolumbwe people. The volume contains many views of the country and of the Victoria Falls, together with illustrations of many hunting scenes.

Exploration And Hunting In Central Africa 1895-96 by Alfred St.Hill Gibbons (1898) is an account of the author's journey up the Zambesi into Barotseland and into the country of the Marotse. He describes the region, with attention paid to the area around Lake Victoria, Gibbons relates episodes of hunting buffalo, lion, roan, eland, hartebeest and wildebeest in the region.

British East African Plateau: Land And Its Economic Conditions by Alfred St.Hill Gibbons (1906) is a Royal Geographic Journal article.

A Journey In The Marotse And Mashikolumbwe Countries by Alfred St.Hill Gibbons (1897) is a Royal Geographic Journal article.

J A Grant

James Augustus Grant (1827 - 1892) was a Scottish explorer of eastern equatorial Africa. In 1860 he joined John Speke in the expedition which solved the problem of the Nile source. Speke was the leader, but Grant carried out several investigations independently and made valuable botanical collections.

A Walk Across Africa by J A Grant (1864) was published, as supplementary to Speke's account of their journey. Grant deals particularly with "the ordinary life and pursuits, the habits and feelings of the natives" and the economic value of the countries traversed.

J W Gregory

John Walter Gregory (1864 - 1932) was a British geologist and explorer, known principally for his work on geology of Australia and East Africa. In 1887 he became an assistant in the geological department of the Natural History Museum, London.

The Foundation Of British East Africa by J W Gregory (1901)

The Great Rift Valley: Being The Narrative Of A Journey To Mount Kenya And Lake Baringo by J W Gregory (1896) is an account of an expedition undertaken in 1892-93 into the eastern part of what was then known as British East Africa and a comprehehsive natural history of the area, written when very little was known about the area.

Ewart S Grogan

Ewart Scott Grogan (1874 - 1967) was a British explorer, politician, entrepreneur and the first person to walk the length of Africa from Cape Town to Cairo in 1899. His brother Quentin, was Roosevelt's white hunter on the Lado Enclave leg of the safari.

Grogan's own interesting account of the trip is to be found in the New York Times

From The Cape To Cairo: The First Traverse Of Africa From South To North by Ewart Grogan (1900) is a highly regarded and important work of travel and adventure throughout Africa. The men trekked on foot from the Cape to Cairo in order to prove that Africa could be traversed by rail.

Ewart S Grogan's Holland & Holland 4 Bore

Gianni Guadalupi

The Discovery Of The Nile by Gianni Guadalupi (1997). It was not until the middle of the 19th century, after centuries of being the world's greatest geographic enigma, that the mystery of the Nile was solved through the efforts of British explorers Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, James Augustus Grant and Samuel Baker White. This lavish volume tells their stories and those of other adventurers.

Captain C Wightwick Haywood

Captain Cecil Wightwick Haywood was the district commissioner of Jubaland (at the time part of BEA, now Somalia) and was asked to undertake an expedition from Kismayu to the Lorian Swamp to find a route to link to the Nyeri-Nairobi route in 1912.

To The Mysterious Lorian Swamp: An Adventurous & Arduous Journey Of Exploration Through The Vast Waterless Tracts Of Unknown Jubaland by C Wightwick Haywood (1927) is a exciting account of his journey which included being charged by lion. Ignatius Dracopoli's expedition followed Haywood's from Jubaland to Lorian Swamp keeping on the bank of Laka Dera.

The Bajun Islands And Birikau: A Visit By The Then British Political Officer Responsible For The Administration Of Jubaland by C Wightwick Haywood (1935) is a Royal Goegraphical Society Journal article.

Arthur J M Jephson

Arthur Jeremy Mounteney Jephson (1859 - 1908) was a young adventurer and African explorer, who accompanied Stanley on the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in 1887 to 1889.

The Diary of A J Mounteney Jephson: Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1887-1889 by Arthur J M Jephson (Edited by Dorothy Middleton) (1969) is a transcript of Jephson's diary from the expedition and was published half a century after his death. It provides a valuable and disturbing record of the late Victorian African expeditions, of which this expedition was to be the last.

Richard Jobson

Richard Jobson was a 17th century English explorer who in 1620 sailed to Guinea, west Africa and travelled 400 miles up the Gambia River to trade for gold.

The Golden Trade Or A Discovery Of The River Gambra, And The Golden Trade Of The Aethiopians by Richard Jobson (1623) (First reprint edition 1904). It is one of the earliest English protests against the African slave trade. Jobson provides a fascinating description of the life and manners of the West African native peoples. He relates the story of the second voyage to the Gambia undertaken for 'The Company of Adventurers of Africa Trading into Africa', under a charter granted by King James I in 1618. It is a remarkably detailed description of African culture, living conditions and rituals at a time when the interior was largely unknown. This is probably the first separate English account of a travel to the interior of Africa.

Dr Wilhelm Junker

Dr Wilhem Junker (1840 - 1892) charted the course of the Congo and its tributaries during his decade in Central Africa. Born of German parents in Moscow, he was influenced in his desire to explore Africa by Schweinfurth who drew his attention to the lands south of the Libyan desert, still shrouded in the veil of mystery. His fascination with the region led him to make three expeditions over a period of eleven years and he is recognised as one of the great African explorers. Junker remained almost continuously in eastern Equatorial Africa from 1875 to 1886, making first Khartum and afterwards Lado the base of his expeditions. Junker was a leisurely traveller and a careful observer; his main object was the study the peoples with whom he came into contact and to collect specimens of plants and animals. Perhaps the greatest service he rendered to geographical science was his investigation of the Nile-Congo watershed, when he successfully debunked Georg Schweinfurth's hydrographical theories and established the identity of the Welle and Ubangi rivers.

Travels In Africa During The Years 1875-1878 [And] 1879-1883 [and] 1882-1886 by Dr Wilhelm Junker (1890 to 1892)

Edward Mohr

Edward Mohr was the first German explorer to reach the Victoria Falls, in 1870, 15 years after Livingstone. A competent botanist, entomologist, zoologist and mapmaker, his book is a classic of Victorian travel in Southern Africa. As a sportsman, Mohr travelled to the Victoria Falls partly for the sake of hunting, partly in the hope of making geographical discoveries.

To The Victoria Falls Of The Zambesi by Edward Mohr (1876) As a sportsman, Mohr travelled to the Victoria Falls partly for the sake of hunting, partly in the hope of making geographical discoveries. After landing at Cape Town, he and his companions ventured into the interior, crossing the Tugela River and enjoying a wide variety of sport. Recent Addition

Paolo Novaresio

The Explorers: From The Ancient World Until The Present by Paolo Novaresio (1996) includes numerous stories of amazing explorers and their extraordinary voyages of discovery - from Alexander the Great to the Apollo Moon landings.

Mungo Park

Mungo Park (1771 - 1806) was a Scottish surgeon and explorer of the African continent. He was credited as being the first European to encounter the Niger River. The African Association of London's previous four expeditions to explore the Niger river had failed by the time they gave Park the commission to explore the Gambia, Senegal and Niger rivers in 1795. He covered well over 100 miles before he fell ill in 1797 and returned back to England. He returned to Africa in 1805 to search for the source of the Niger in a canoe and met great hardships both on the river and with the natives that eventually cost him his own life and the lives of his men.

Travels In The Interior Of Africa by Mungo Park (1816). His unaffected style and natural sense of storytelling in this publication of his adventures makes this one of the most popular accounts of African exploration.
Volume 1 - Free Project Gutenberg Ebook
Volume 2 - Free Project Gutenberg Ebook

The Journal Of A Mission To The Interior Of Africa, In The Year 1805 by Mungo Park. Free Project Gutenberg Ebook

Life And Travels Of Mungo Park In Central Africa by Mungo Park. Free Project Gutenberg Ebook

Books About Mungo Park

Joseph Thomson

Mungo Park And The Niger by Joseph Thomson (1890) is a volume in the series 'The World's Great Explorers and Explorations' about Mungo Park and his West African travels.

T Banks Maclachlan

Mungo Park by T Banks Maclachlan (1898) is a biography of the adventurer who was a contemporary of Sir Walter Scott.

Kenneth Lupton

Mungo Park The African Traveler by Kenneth Lupton (1979) is the story of the first British explorer to journey deep into west Africa.

Kira Salak

The Cruelest Journey: 600 Miles To Timbuktu by Kira Salak (2004) re-creates the expedition made more than two centuries ago by Mungo Park, who perished in his attempt to run west Africa's remote and torturous Niger River. Salak prevails in the face of every earthly and social challenge, including that of writing a literate adventure tale.

Thomas H Parke

Surgeon-Major Thomas Heazle Parke (1857 - 1893) was an Irish surgeon and author. He served in Africa in the Royal Army Medical Corps and went on the Nile expedition to rescue Gordon in 1884. In 1887 he became the Chief Medical Officer on the Stanley expedition to relieve Emin Pasha. He was actually proven to be the first European to see the Mountains of the Moon even though Stanley claimed the honour.

My Personal Experiences In Equatorial Africa As Medical Officer For The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition by Thomas H Parke (1891). Stanley asserted that without Parke the expedition would have been a failure. He ministered to the needs of the Zanzibari porters and locally recruited Africans, as well as to the eleven Europeans who accompanied the expedition. He attended Stanley in two bouts of severe illness, almost certainly saving his life in April 1889.

Books About Thomas H Parke

J B Lyons

Surgeon-Major Parke's African Journey 1887-89 by J B Lyons (1994) is an account of the nightmarish three-year journey took them from Banana Point to Zanzibar, crossing the Congo, up-river to Yambuya and through the unknown Ituri rainforests to Lake Albert in Equatoria, where Emin Pasha was found, distantly menaced by dervishes. J B Lyons suspects that Thomas H Parke's book was ghost-written.

Dr Carl Peters

Dr Carl Peters (1856 - 1918) was a German explorer, journalist and philosopher. He was instrumental in the founding of German East Africa and helped create the European "Scramble for Africa".

New Light On Dark Africa by Carl Peters (1891) is the German counterpart to Stanley's 'In Darkest Africa' - a German Emin Pasha expedition. This represents Peter's journey to find Emin Pasha on the Upper Nile, but approaching from Africa's east coast. Peters followed Pigott in exploring the Tana river and gained notoriety by his political activities to secure influence in the interior. This roused the British, in an effort to counteract his activities, to explore both Kenya Colony and Uganda.

Robert I Rotberg

Robert I Rotberg is President of the World Peace Foundation and academic in political science and history. Among the many books he wrote are some about African exploration.

Joseph Thomson And The Exploration Of Africa by Robert I Rotberg (1971) is the first full biography about Joseph Thomson. Towards the end of the era of African exploration Joseph Thomson was active in a surprising number of geographical areas such Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and the Congo. He opened trade routes, made maps and wrote books but died at the age of 37. The appendices show Thomson's outfit and expenses, a list of all the porters and copies of the original treaties made by Thomson on behalf of the British South Africa Company. Thompson's articles and books are listed.

Africa And It's Explorers: Motives, Methods And Impact by Robert I Rotberg (1970) follows the careers of Heinrich Barth, David Livingstone, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel White Baker, Gerhard Rohlfs, Henry Morton Stanley, Verney Loveltt Cameron and Joseph Thomson.

Dr G Schweinfurth

Dr Georg August Schweinfurth (1836 - 1925) was born in Latvia of German parentage. He was a distinguished botanist, scholar and African explorer. He made three journeys in the Sudan to collect plant specimens.

The Heart Of Africa: Three Years Travels And Adventures In The Unexplored Regions Of Central Africa From 1868 To 1871 by Dr G Schweinfurth (1873) is an account of his second expedition when he explored the hydrology of the Bhar el Ghazal and the forests of the Nile - Congo area. A true classic of African exploration in two volumes.

Timothy Severin

The African Adventure: Four Hundred Years Of Exploration In The Dangerous Continent by Timothy Severin (1973) is a comprehensive and entertaining survey of the exploration of Africa from its earliest days to the heyday of Livingstone, Burton et al.

J H Speke

John Hannington Speke (1827 - 1864) was an officer in the British Indian army, who made three voyages of exploration to Africa and who is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile. The Speke's gazelle, Gazella spekei and sitatunga, Tragelaphus spekii, are named after him.

Journal Of The Discovery Of The Source Of The Nile by J H Speke (1863). The appendix contains a list of the plants collected by Captain Grant between Zanzibar and Cairo, also a list of men, their duties and pay during the expedition.

Kindle Version

Books About John H Speke

Alexander Maitland

Speke by Alexander Maitland (1971) is a biography about J H Speke. Speke's great achievement was the discovery in 1862 of the main source of the White Nile in Lake Victoria, Nyanza. He also was a member of Sir Richard Burton's abortive expedition to Somaliland.

William Harrison

Burton And Speke by William Harrison (1982) is a historical novel based on the lives of Victorian explorers Sir Richard Burton and John Speke and their search for the source of the Nile in Africa.

Clare Lloyd

The Travelling Naturalists by Clare Lloyd (1985) is a study of the lives and adventures of eight of the nineteenth century's travelling naturalists including Charles Waterton, John Hannington Speke, Henry Seebohm and Mary Kingsley.

James K Tuckey

Captain James Kingston Tuckey (1776 - 1816) was an Irish-born British explorer and a captain in the Royal Navy. He led an official British expedition to explore the Congo river in 1816. Voyaging in his specially designed ship 'Congo', together with its supply vessel the 'Dorothy', Tuckey travelled deep into unexplored central Africa, until a combination of impassable cataracts and fever in him and his crew forced him to turn back. He died soon afterwards from hepatitis and general exhaustion.

Narrative Of An Expedition To Explore The River Zaire, Usually Called The Congo, In 1816 by James K Tuckey (1918) is composed of Tuckey's expedition journal, together with notes on the people they encountered and on the flora and fauna of the regions they traversed made by Professor Smith, the expedition's scientific advisor. The notes include observations on tribal customs, the slave trade and a vocabulary of the languages of the Malemba and Embomma tribes.

Ludwig Von Hohnel

Ludwig Von Hohnel (1857 - 1942) was an Austrian naval officer and explorer. He was part of the Count Teleki expedition to Northern Kenya in 1887-1888 and were the first Europeans to see Lake Turkana, which they named Lake Rudolf. Von Hohnel also explored the area around Mount Kilimanjaro in 1892 with American magnate William Astor Chanler. They also explored the north-eastern part of the Mount Kenya massif and the Guasso Nyiro river where he was gored by a rhinoceros.

Discovery Of Lakes Rudolph And Stefanie by Ludwig von Hohnel (1888). Adventures of this important expedition are interesting not only because Teleki discovered two new major African lakes but also to sportsmen because the purpose of this trip was also to hunt for African big game. His favourites were elephant and black rhinoceros. He endeavored to find new haunts for game in previously unexplored areas. An African classic.

Herbert Ward

Herbert Ward (1863 - 1919) was one of Henry Morton Stanley's aides and a member of the Emin Pasha expedition. He went to the Congo in 1884 to organise a transport service from the interior. When he heard about Stanley's relief of Emin Pasha expedition, he volunteered his services and those of his 400 native carriers and was enrolled as a voluntary officer on the expedition. He was killed in France at the end of WWI.

A Voice From The Congo: Comprising Stories, Anecdotes And Descriptive Notes by Herbert Ward (1910) contains some elephant hunting.

Five Years With The Congo Cannibals by Herbert Ward (1890). During his time in the Congo, Ward learnt the native language so could personally converse with the people, thereby obtaining accurate imformation of the region.

My Life With Stanley's Rear-Guard by Herbert Ward (1891) is the story of his life as an officer in the rear-guard party of the expedition mounted by Stanley to rescue Emin Pasha from thje Mahdi. This venture, together with the associated rear-guard, was something of a fiasco, with considerable bloodshed as well as much bungling. As a consequence, Ward and others, felt they had been maligned for their part in the episode. In his introduction to his book Ward said, "Much against my will I have been dragged into the dispute" and had decided to publish what he knew about the rear-guard, so that "fair and impartial judgement can be made". Here then is a book written with the aim of "putting the other side of the story" while adding to the history of European intervention in "Darkest Africa".

Stanislaus Laurello And Hans Downe In Roughest Africa 1923

Two African explorers, Stanislaus Laurello and Hans Downe, travel round Africa, on a detour from Los Angeles to Hollywood, trying to capture and photograph animals, but have more encounters than they had hoped for. Some animals encountered are bears, emu's, an elephant and a family of lions. Directed by Ralph Ceder and starring Stan Laurel, James Finlayson and Katherine Grant. Silent film with musical sound track.