Africana Books

The Africana books are a great mixture of works on African topics that may be of interest to any Africanophile. There are many safari tales and travelogues which, though they may not include hunting stories, are fascinating reads.

Cynthia Salvadori

Slaves and Ivory Continued: Letters of R C R Whalley British Consul, Maji, SW Ethiopia 1930-1935 by Cynthia Salvadori (2010) contains the letters (directed to his superiors) of the last British consul in the remote border town of Maji in the south-west of Ethiopia. The letters detail the consular life in this region and the of life of the indigenous local populations. The title is based on the 1926 book 'Slaves And Ivory' by Major Henry Darley, who was an elephant hunter and a British frontier agent in Maji in 1909 and later, in 1919-20. Whalley and the previous consuls were assigned there to report on problems in frontier regions, such as livestock raiding, slave trading, gun-running, border incursions and to mediate and negotiate solutions to local conflict. However, the letters are a detailed illustration of how difficult these tasks were in such a volatile frontier area ruled by exploitative, autonomous rulers who lived off the land and suppressed the local populations.

Edgar Sanderson

Africa In The Nineteenth Century by Edgar Sanderson (1898) is a history of African events of the 19th century from a primarily British point of view. It includes accounts of British Rule at the Cape, the great "trekking" of the Boers and the rise of Natal and much more. Free eBook

Ivan Sanderson

Ivan Terence Sanderson (1911 – 1973) was a British born American biologist and prolific writer with a special interest in crytozoology. Sanderson conducted a number of expeditions as a young man into tropical areas in the 1920s and 1930s, gaining fame for his animal collecting as well as his popular writings on nature and travel.

Ivan Sanderson's Book Of Great Jungles by Ivan Sanderson (1965) details the author's travels throughout the jungles of the world in search of exotic plants, geographic features, obscure peoples and unknown animals. He visited the jungles of Ceylon, the Congo, New Guinea and the Amazon from 1928 to the 1960s. He tells intriguing stories about botanical giants, deadly plants that emit poison to the touch, great flying continents that float two hundred feet in the air and support a multitude of living creatures, witch-men, fetishes, jungle legends and the fascinating customs of many tribes.

The Dynasty Of Abu: A History And Natural History Of The Elephants And Their Relatives Past And Present by Ivan Sanderson (1962) offers a world history through the lens of the 'Abu', which is the author's collective term for the distinct African and Asian elephants, and their relationship with mankind.

Leslie C Sayre

Africans On Safari by Leslie C Sayre (1952) is a book about missionary work in Africa. The use of the Swahili word 'safari' in the title, which usually refers to a journey or expedition, is used in the context of native Africans making a journey or pilgrimage to understanding Christianity.

Catherine Scheybeler

Africana: A Distant Journey Into Unknown Lands (2014) is the Paolo Bianchi collection of works on the exploration of Africa up to the year 1900. It offers a fascinating insight into the rich and diverse history of the African continent as seen through western eyes. The emphasis of the collection is on illustrated books and is a valuable addition to works on the subject. Paolo Bianchi began as a collector of stamps which then led to the research of the history of Italian colonisation of Africa. This then inspired him to become a passionate bibliophile and start a collection of antiquarian books. He soon expanded his collection to cover the whole of Africa and the history of African exploration. This book includes nearly 400 items.

William B Seabrook

William Buehler Seabrook (1884 – 1945) was an American occultist, explorer, traveller, journalist and writer. He wrote about his experience of cannibalism in the book 'Jungle Ways', but he later admitted that the tribe had not allowed him to join in the ritualistic cannibalism.

Jungle Ways by William B Seabrook (1931) is an account of the author's journey through French West Africa in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He travelled through countries which were then French West Africa. Now they are Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea, Male, Bukina Faso, Niger and Togo. He wrote about witnessing witchcraft, cannibalism and possibly human sacrifice - he came back with pictures to prove it. Free eBook

John Cormac Seekings

Rudd: The Search For A Cape Merchant by John Cormac Seekings (2009). During his life-time Charles Rudd was a well-known and controversial figure in Britain and in South Africa. His involvement in the creation and development of De Beers, of Gold Fields of South Africa and its successor Consolidated Goldfields, and of the British South Africa Company, brought great personal wealth and power. But since his death in 1916 he has been forgotten. During his life-time he was overshadowed by his close friend and business partner, Cecil John Rhodes. Unlike Rhodes, Rudd shunned publicity. Unlike Rhodes, Rudd left few personal records. Although remembered by historians, Charles Dunell Rudd has been ignored by biographers. His interests ranged from the collecting of exotic ferns to the hunting of big game. In retirement he played major but forgotten roles as a kindly Scottish laird and as a generous benefactor.

Bettina Selby

Riding The Desert Trail: By Bicycle Up The Nile by Bettina Selby (1988). The author travelled the length of the Nile Valley, 4500 miles on a bicycle of her own design. She followed the course of the Nile from the delta on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, through the length of Egypt and Sudan to the Mountains of the Moon in Uganda.

Frail Dream Of Timbuktu by Bettina Selby (1991) is an account of the author's journey to explore the land of ancient African empires along the southern fringes of the Sahara. She followed the course of the Niger river, which flows deep into the Sahara Desert before turning back on itself through some of the poorest countries in West Africa.

Will Sellick

The Imperial African Cookery Book: Recipes From English-Speaking Africa by Will Sellick (2010) provides the first comprehensive overview of the extraordinary cookery traditions of British Africa which includes spices, Indian and Malaysian gastronomy, Khoesan preservation techniques, Victorian gentlemen’s club dinners and Boer survival rations.

John Seymour

One Man's Africa by John Seymour (1955) tells of the author's years in Africa which began in 1934 when he went as a trainee on a sheep farm. Subsequent jobs and experiences included another ranch job, some seasons as a pilchard fisherman at Walvis Bay, copper mining and the war in Abyssinia.

Sir Bryan Sharwood-Smith

Sir Bryan Evers Sharwood-Smith (1899 - 1983) first served in Northern Nigeria as Assistant District Officer and spent over thirty years there and it was after being the Governor of the Northern Region that he retired in 1957.

But Always Friends: Northern Nigeria and the Cameroons, 1921-57 by Sir Bryan Sharwood-Smith (1969) is his autobiographical account of his life and work as a colonial officer in the English Cameroons and northern Nigeria between 1921 and 1957. It includes details of his professional relationships and friendships with some prominent figures of pre- and post-independence northern Nigerian politics, long before they rose to regional and national prominence. Shwarwood-Smith was also responsible for hosting the Queen during her visit to northern Nigeria in 1956.

Frank Sheardown

A Man Of The Field by Frank Sheardown (1988) is the story of Sheardown's life in Kenya in the years following World War II, farming and some unorthodox hunting.

Eric Sherbrooke Walker

Major Eric George Sherbrooke Walker, MC (1887 - 1976) was a British military officer, hotelier and founder of the Outspan Hotel and Treetops Hotel in Kenya. Walker served on military duties during the Mau Mau Uprising in the early 1950s. Treetops was offered as a lookout point for the King's African Rifles, but in 1954 it was burned down by Mau Mau fighters.

Treetops Hotel by Eric Sherbrooke Walker (1963). Treetops, in forest about 100 miles from Nairobi, Kenya, acquired world fame in February 1952, when Princess Elizabeth became Queen on her father's death, while staying there. This a frank and amusing account of how Eric Sherbrooke Walker and his wife, Lady Bettie Walker, built the hotel in the trees and re-built it after it was burned down by the Mau Mau. The famous hunter Jim Corbett moved to Kenya after the independence of India, took up residence at the nearby Outspan Hotel and became the resident hunter at Treetops.

Jack Sholomir

Beachcombers Of The African Jungle by Jack Sholomir (1958) is the tale of the author's walk from Johannesburg to Egypt. On a stopover in South Africa he met Joy Koch who had decided to join him. Incidents encountered included travelling with a caravan, staying in a 'haunted castle', camping with with cannibals and pygmies and being deported from Uganda. They smuggled themselves across the border into Sudan, went by boat on the Nile and eventually escaped by ship from Alexandria.

Alex Shoumatoff

Alexander "Alex" Shoumatoff (b.1946) is an American journalist known for his nature and environmental writing.

African Madness by Alex Shoumatoff (1988) tells the stories of Dian Fossey, the murdered gorilla researcher, the Emperor Bokassa, life in modern Madagascar, and the search for the source of the AIDS virus.

In Southern Light: Trekking Through Zaire And The Amazon by Alex Shoumatoff (1986) is an account of the author's journeys in the Brazilian jungle searching for a legendary tribe of Amazon women and in the African rainforest with pygmies. Includes details about local flora and fauna, native people and the calamities that befall the intrepid author.

Anthony Smith

Anthony Smith (b.1926) is British author and former television presenter. In 1962, he led 'The Sunday Telegraph Balloon Safari' expedition, flying a helium balloon from Zanzibar to East Africa, and then across the Ngorongoro Crater.

Throw Out Two Hands: Balloon Safari Over Africa by Anthony Smith (1963). The goal in this particular adventure was to prove that the observation of animals in the wild without frightening and sending them running for miles was best done from a balloon. However, what seemed simple in concept became a complicated and major effort of organisation. By 1962, the expedition was eventually ready for Anthony Smith and his colleagues Douglas Botting and Alan Root to take their place in their tiny basket. Apart from many other things the plan, executed despite all the dangers and complexities of pursuing any plan in the gigantic world of Africa, was to make a number of captive and free flights from Zanzibar in the east to the Serengeti plains of Tanganyika in the west. Reading a book like this, it is difficult not to want to become a balloonist immediately.

C S Smith

Charles Spencer Smith (1852 - 1923) was an African American Methodist preacher who founded the Sunday School Union in Tennessee and later became a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, travelling through Africa and the rest of the world.

In 'Glimpses Of Africa' Smith says he wanted to see how the African-American might 'help' his African brother. He admits later in the book that there was really no need for help in any capacity. On the contrary, he comments, "I confess to a feeling of pleasurable disappointment when the fact dawned on me that West Africa could supply a greater number of skilled craftsmen than for whom places could be obtained."

Glimpses Of Africa: West And Southwest Coast by C S Smith (1895) containing the author's impressions and observations during a voyage of six thousand miles from Sierra Leone to St Paul de Loanda and return. Including the Rio del Ray and Cameroon Rivers, and the Congo River from its mouth to Matadi. Free eBook

John Smith

Vet In Africa: Life On The Zambezi 1913-1933 by John Smith (1997) is a memoir of the life of a veterinary surgeon largely in Northern Rhodesia, where he established the colony's main agricultural research station and became head of the veterinary service. He saw the end of company rule and the establishment of the crown colony in 1923 and served in the Legislative and Executive Councils.

Wilbur Smith

On Leopard Rock: A Life Of Adventures by Wilbur Smith (2019) is the author's memoir which tells the true stories of his life that have been the raw material for his novels. These tales include being attacked by lions, close encounters with sharks, getting lost in the African bush without water, crawling tunnels of gold mines, marlin fishing with Lee Marvin, the near death experience of crash-landing a Cessna aircraft and much more.

Keith Somerville

Ivory: Power And Poaching In Africa by Keith Somerville (2017) examines the history and politics of why much African elephant poaching happens due to corruption, crime and politics.

Alvan S Southworth

Alvan S Southworth (1845 - 1901) was an American travel writer, journalist and former secretary of the American Geographical Society for 2 years. Southworth's obituary in The New York Times described him as "a man of brilliant attainments and with acquaintances ranging from Princes to the habitues of lodging houses." It was the New York Herald that sent him on his expedition to Africa, after which he apparently turned in the largest expense bill ever submitted to a newspaper, reputedly between US$40,000 to US$50,000.

Four Thousand Miles Of African Travels: A Personal Record Of A Journey Up The Nile And Through The Soudan To The Confines Of Central Africa by Alvan S Southworth (1875) is a very opinionated tale of the author's travels in Eygpt and the Soudan during which he also observes..."Africa should be Americanized; the cruel wrongs suffered by her people should be atoned for by practical measures of relief, and a guardianship— not unlike that extended over India by Great Britain— should in all haste begin". There is also much about Sir Samuel Baker and how the author appears to have taken part in locating the explorer when rumours abounded in Cairo of him being missing or dead. Free eBook

Andrew (Anders) Sparrman

Anders Erikson Sparrman (1748 - 1820) was a Swedish physician and naturalist who arrived in the Cape in 1772. When the English exploring expedition under Captain Cook visited the Cape, Sparrman was invited to join and in 1772 he sailed on the 'Resolution'. In 1775 he was back at the Cape and with a friend he went on an expedition into the interior for almost a year.

A Voyage To The Cape Of Good Hope, Towards The Antarctic Polar Circle, And Round the World by Andrew Sparrman (1786). Sparrman's account of Cook's voyage, as well as his exploration in Africa, are described in this book. Free eBook

James W Stapleton

James Wallace Stapleton (1911 - 1958) was a British farmer, author and broadcaster.

The Gate Hangs Well: A Kenya Diary by James W Stapleton (1957) is an amusing and interesting account of the author's farming experiences in Kenya. After serving as an RAF pilot in the Second World War he sailed for East Africa with his wife and two young daughters. The title of the book may refer to an old British sign outside a pub familiar to the author ... "This gate hangs well and hinders none, refresh and pay and travel on".

Willem Steenkamp

Willem Petrus Steenkamp (b.1940) is a South African author, journalist, historian and military analyst who has published a large number of books.

Land Of The Thirst King by Willem Steenkamp (1975) is full of history and tales from Namaqualand in South Africa by an author whose family had lived there for 150 years.
Look for more books by Willem Steenkamp

Austin J Stevens

Austin Stevens (b.1950) is a South African-born Australian naturalist, herpetologist, wildlife photographer, documentarian, television personality and author.

The Last Snake Man by Austin J Stevens (2009) provides a semi-autobiographical insight into the world of dangerous reptiles and wild animals, but also a captivating history of the author's own life experiences. Beginning at the age of twelve, he had already gained extensive experience and knowledge in the field of herpetology, which included the keeping of a collection of both venomous and non-venomous reptiles. He was recruited into the South African Defence Force where his natural aptitude for capturing and relocating venomous snakes was put to good use in Angola where he was often called upon to remove snakes from tents, latrines, trenches and observation posts. He then worked in various snake parks in South Africa before going on to make television films and writing books.

Snakes In My Bed by Austin J Stevens (1992) is a collection of anecdotes by the South African herpetologist during his tenure at the Hartebeespoort Reptile Park.

Stuart Stevens

Stuart Stevens (b.1953) is an American travel writer and political consultant.

Malaria Dreams: An African Adventure by Stuart Stevens (1989) is a humorous tale about returning a friend's Landrover from the Central Africa Republic to Europe with close encounters with killer ants in Cameroon, revolutionary soldiers in the middle of Lake Chad and strangely frenzied Peace Corps parties in Niger. There's a long search for a functional set of springs in Timbuktu and near disastrous bouts with sickness and automotive malfunctions in the middle of the Sahara.

Dr William D Stewart

Dr William D Stewart (1936 - 2016) was an American business studies teacher who taught for 2 years in Uganda and a year in Ethiopia.

The story of Dr William D Stewart's experiences in Africa were related in a book of the same title written by J H McCown, published in 1974. James Hart McCown (1911 - 1991) was a Catholic priest who apparently recounted the African experiences from Dr Stewart's journal.

Elephants Have Right Of Way by Dr William D Stewart (2010) recalls a two-year stint in the late 1960s when he and his wife took their four small children to Uganda so he could teach at an African girls' school. He recounts the journey to a place full of deadly snakes, wild animals, diseases without modern medicine and a land where elephants literally did have the right of way on the roads.

See also...Elephants Have Right Of Way by J H McCown (1974)

Mark Strage

Cape To Cairo: Rape Of A Continent by Mark Strage (1973). "In 1870 nine-tenths of Africa still belonged to Africans. Thirty years later this proportion was reversed. Except for a few undesirable enclaves, the continent had been divided among the powers of Europe. That it could happen so quickly is testament to the white man's enterprise, his skill at organizing resources, his determination in the face of awesome adversity and his greed."

Olle Strandberg

Olof 'Olle' Georg Strandberg (1910 - 1956) was a Swedish journalist, author and literary scholar.

Jambo! by Olle Strandberg (1956)is about the author's 1952-1954 journey across the length and breadth of Africa (including the islands off Africa) in a Land Rover. He was accompanied by photographer Rune Hassner. Several editions of this book were published with different titles/subtitles such as 'Jambo Means Hello' and ' Jambo: A Book About Africa By Two Travelers Who Saw Everything But the Obvious'.

Robert P L Straughan

Jet Safari To Africa by Robert P L Straughan (1973) offers a glimpse of the African continent - Dakar, West Africa, South Africa, Rhodesia, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya.

Thomas Struhsaker

I Remember Africa: A Field Biologist's Half-Century Perspective by Thomas Struhsaker (2021 is a memoir based on the author's 56 years of wildlife research and conservation efforts in Africa. Most of this book is about the 18 years Struhsaker lived in the Kibale Forest of Uganda from 1970 to 1988. There he created a research station and initiated the movement leading to the creation of the Kibale National Park.

Eva Stuart-Watt

Eva Stuart-Watt (1891 - 1959) was born in Australia, spent her childhood in Africa with her missionary parents - the self-styled missionary, Stuart Watt and his Irish wife Rachel Watt who wrote an account of their lives in Africa titled 'In The Heart Of Savagedom'. In 1913, after school in Ireland, Eva returned to Africa to serve as a missionary with her parents. Her father and brother died of fever in 1914, leaving Eva, her mother and her sister to continue the work on their own.

Africa's Dome Of Mystery by Eva Stuart Watt (1930) recounts the author's experiences in Africa, notably her Mount Kilimanjaro climb - she was the fourth woman to reach the crater rim in 1926. She writes about spotting the famous leopard carcase which was found earlier that year by Dr Donald Latham whose wife, Gwynneth, and son Michael Latham, wrote a book 'Kilimanjaro Tales: The Saga Of A Medical Family In Africa' about their lives in Tanganyika as bush medics in the 1920s to 1930s.

Brian Stutchbury

Flying, Farming And Fencing: A Memoir Of A Kenya Life by Brian Stutchbury (2016) is the author's life story mostly in Africa when his father became secretary of the Muthaiga Club. He served as a pilot the RAF during World War II and when the war was over joined Ferguson tractors based in Nairobi. He then married and spent 10 years farming near Mount Elgon.After periods in Rhodesia, UAE and England, Stutchbury returned to Kenya to run a business in electric fencing solutions.

Hilary Sunman

A Very Different Land: Memories Of Empire From The Farmlands Of Kenya by Hilary Sunman (2014) is an account of the day-to-day experience of 'colonial service' and its challenges together with author's family story. The book concentrates on the author's father, William Owen Sunman (1908 - 1971) and his work as an agricultural officer in Kenya. The book examines the realities of life in Kenya for the wives and children of colonial officers, as well as for the officers themselves during the years after World War II, the move to independence and decolonisation and the early Mau Mau period.

Jason Swemmer

Elephant Man: The Great Ivory Hunters Of Days Past by Jason Swemmer (2022). As well as the author's observations on elephant management and conservation in modern Africa, the book also includes tales of an earlier time and the the legendary figures of the wilderness that was the old Africa.

No Covenant: Eaten By Lions - The Story Behind One Of Humankind's Greatest Fears by Jason Swemmer (2022)looks at the concept of humans being hunted and consumed by lions which has always morbidly fascinated people who are mostly quite safe from the danger. However, the shared proximity of lions with many people across Africa regularly exposes them to this primal danger and the book recounts some man-eating events from the past and some newer ones. It also suggests solutions to save people and conserve the lions of Africa.

H E Symons

Humfrey Ewan Symons (1899 - 1940) was a British motoring journalist who made 3 motor expeditions across Africa. During WW2 he served as a flight lieutenant in the RAF and was killed aboard the SS Abukir which was torpedoed and sunk while rescuing evacuees from Ostend in May 1940.

Two Roads To Africa by H E Symons (1939) is about the first attempt, in 1939, at driving non-stop across Africa from London to Cape Town. Humfrey Symons and his friend, Bertie Browning (Herbert Brooks Browning (1884 - 1959), borrowed a Wolseley 18/85 car and completed the run in 31 days and 22 hours despite crashing through the railings of a bridge in the Congo. The waterlogged car was retrieved, fixed up, and went on to claim the first world record. This book also includes Symons' 2 other car expeditions across Africa, one of which was in a Rolls-Royce.

P Amaury Talbot

Percy Amaury Talbot (1877 - 1945) was a British anthropologist, botanist and researcher as well as a serving colonial district officer in Nigeria.

In The Shadow Of The Bush by P Amaury Talbot (1912) recounts his travels, with his wife Dorothy Amaury Talbot (1871 - 1916), in southern Nigeria and the Cameroons to study the Ekoi people as well as the natural history of the area. Included are details about religion, position of women, birth customs, witchcraft, funeral ceremonies, war, government, folklore and more. Free eBook
For more anthropological books on Nigeria by Percy Amaury Talbot

Bayard Taylor

Bayard Taylor (1825 - 1878) was an American poet, diplomat and prolific travel author.

Journey To Central Africa: Or, Life And Landscapes From Egypt To The Negro Kingdoms Of The White Nile by Bayard Taylor (1854) records the author's travels in Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan during 1851 and early 1852. The book is filled with fascinating details of locales and peoples. Several years before the source of the White Nile had been established, Taylor travelled well south of Khartoum, as reflected in his account and its accompanying map. His objective, however, was to collect experiences rather than to help unravel what Harry Johnston called "the greatest geographical secret after the discovery of America". Free eBook

Orla B Taylor

Orla Benedict Taylor (1865 - 1945) was a Detroit lawyer and banker who travelled extensively in Europe and Africa after retiring.

Wandering in Africa: East And South Africa And The Sahara Desert by Orla B Taylor (1931) is the account of his African safari which he took with his wife, Dorothea, referred to as his "constant companion".

Brigadier-General Trevor Ternan

Trevor Patrick Breffney Ternan (1860 - 1949) served with the British army in the Afghan War and Egyptian War before joining the Egyptian Army and serving in the Mahdist War. Later, he served in the Expedition in Unyoro, 1895 and became Commandant, Uganda Rifles in 1896. He acted as Commissioner and Consul-General, Uganda Protectorate, in 1897.

Some Experiences Of An Old Bromsgrovian: Soldiering In Afghanistan, Egypt And Uganda by Brigadier-General Trevor Ternan (1930) is an account of the author's distinguished military career in Egypt and the Sudan. He joined the Uganda Rifles, becoming Commandant in 1896. After serving in the Bunyoro expedition and after further operations in Uganda, he became acting Commissioner and Consul-General of Uganda Protectorate. He went on to hold same post in British East Africa in 1900.

Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas

Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas (1879–1962), also known as Sir Shenton Thomas, was appointed as Assistant District Commissioner, East Africa Protectorate in 1909. There followed administrative posts in Uganda, Nigeria, the Gold Coast (Ghana) before he was appointed Governor of Nyasaland in 1929. In 1932 he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Gold Coast. He was best remembered as the Governor of the Straits Settlements at the time of the Japanese invasion during the Second World War.

Jubaland And The Northern Frontier District by Sir Thomas Shenton Whitelegge Thomas (1917) is an account of the administration of Jubaland and the Northern Frontier District which covers the region’s geography, population, transport and communications and diseases of animals. There are also 'route reports’ for travellers which advise on bad roads with blind corners, dangerous precipices, risks in wet weather and whether a guide should be taken.

George Thompson

George Thompson (1796 - 1889) was a Cape Town merchant who resided in South Africa for many years and travelled throughout the greater part of the Cape Colony and a considerable part of Bechuanaland. In 1823 and 1824 he proceeded to the Orange River and Bechuanaland and his account of these regions is recognized as the most important description of this part of the continent published in the early part of the nineteenth century.

Travels And Adventures In Southern Africa: Comprising A View Of The Present State Of The Cape Colony With Observations On The Progress And Prospects Of British Emigrants by George Thompson (1827) Vol I Free eBook Vol II Free eBook

David Thornycroft

Nigel And Corona: A Story Of Adventure, Sport, Wilderness And War From England To Africa by David Thornycroft (2009) is a vivid portrait of Nigel and Corona Thornycroft, born into privileged English backgrounds, who, following the Second World War, emigrated to pioneer a tobacco, cattle and game farm in Southern Rhodesia. The book is filled with stories, anecdotes and tales of spearfishing in the Zambezi valley, humorous and deadly adventures with Googly the hippo and a vengeful buffalo, discovering important archaeological remains and San rock paintings.

Nigel Thornycroft

Fowler's Moon by Nigel Thornycroft (1955) is a delightful book on wildfowling written and smuggled out by the author while he was in a POW camp, using an illegal pencil and scraps of toilet paper. 'Fowlers Moon' was originally published in 1955 and re-published in 2010 - was the book which established Nigel Thornycroft as an icon of English coastal wildfowlers.

David Thornycroft & Nigel Thornycroft

Fowler's Moon & Nigel And Corona by David Thornycroft & Nigel Thornycroft (2010) is a limited edition of the two volumes by the Thornycrofts together in one slip-case. 'Fowler's Moon'- a delightful and nostalgic book on wildfowling written. 'Nigel & Corona - A Story Of Adventure, Sport, Wilderness & War From England To Africa' - A family biography, recording the lives of Nigel and Corona Thornycroft which was initially put together by Corona, from Nigel's letters and war diaries, her own unpublished memoirs, her sister Rose's diary and memories and contributions of family and friends. Family members, Verity Thornycroft (in South Africa) and David Thornycroft (in Wales) edited and privately published this in a very limited edition, for members of the family. It includes 70 wildlife sketches from Corona's game book and 60 black and white photographs. The books make a handsome limited edition set, the two leather-backed volumes presented together in a cloth slip-case.

J K R Thorp

Sir John Kingsmill Robert Thorp (1912 - 1961) was an Irish-born cadet in the Colonial Administrative Service when he arrived in Kenya in 1935. He went on to become the District Officer in the Northern Frontier Province, then in Marsabit when it was in the front line of World WarII. He later became an administrator in St Lucia, followed by his appointment as Governor of the Seychelles in 1958, where he died while trying to save his son from drowning.

The Glittering Lake: Memoir Of A District Officer In Kenya by J K R Thorp (2019) is about the day-to-day life of a District Officer in the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya from 1937 to 1943. The author records with humour and insight, the difficult physical conditions and human problems encountered amongst the Turkana, Rendille, Boran, Gelubba (Merille) and other tribes. He was first based on the western side of Lake Rudolph, now Lake Turkana, where he was one of only four Europeans in a desolate, arid area of about 77000 square kilometres. He later transferred to Marsabit, east of the lake, during the early years of World War II when Kenya was threatened with invasion by the Italians from Abyssinia, now Ethiopia.

Harold William Tilman

Harold William Tilman CBE, DSO, MC and Bar (1898 - 1977) was an English mountaineer and explorer, renowned for his Himalayan climbs and sailing voyages.

Snow On The Equator by Harold William Tilman (1937). The author, after surviving in the Great War, found himself as a soldier-settler establishing a farm in Kenya. He later climbed Kilimanjaro, Mt. Kenya and Ruwenzori in the early 1930s. He finished off his 14 years in Africa by cycling from Kenya to Uganda, then to Stanleyville in the Belgian Congo, thence to Bangassa and Bangui in French Equatorial Africa and via the Cameroons, to the Atlantic Coast and a boat back to England. A great read!

Paul Tingay

Wildest Africa by Paul Tingay (1996) is a photographic record of the wild areas of Africa which include the Great Rift Valley of the east Africa, the desert of the southwest, the rain forest of the Congo River basin, the Zambezi River district, the velds of the south and the southern coast. The accompanying essays emphasize the vulnerability of this endangered continent where humanity competes with other animals for shrinking natural resources.

Derek Townsend

Safari: East Africa And Its National Parks by Derek Townsend (1973)

Wild Africa's Silent Call by Derek Townsend (1969) 'Here, after months of travel and research, is a powerful and thrilling story: Encounters with big game, intriguing animal observations, among spear carrying warriors, the facts behind Zanzibars revolution.'

A J N Tremearne

Major Arthur John Newman Tremearne (1877 - 1915) was born in Melbourne and served as an officer in the British army. He was an African ethnologist and credited with the invention of a head-measuring gadget.

The Tailed Head-Hunters Of Nigeria by A J N Tremearne (1912) is an account of his 7 years experiences in the northern Nigerian pagan belt with a description of the manners, habits and customs of the native tribes. Free eBook

The Ban Of The Bori: Demons And Demon Dancing In West And North Africa by A J N Tremearne (1914) is a study of popular religion and folklore in North Africa, particularly the regions around Tunis and Tripoli in the pre-First World War period. Free eBook

Hausa Superstitions And Customs: An Introduction To The Folk-lore And The Folk by A J N Tremearne (1913) Free eBook

Some Austral-African Notes And Anecdotes by A J N Tremearne (1913). The first three chapters deal with the Boer War and in particular the Australian contingents. The remainder of the book is about the author's experiences in West Africa.

Sir Frederick Treves

Sir Frederick Treves (1853 - 1923) was a prominent British surgeon and friend of Joseph Merrick, 'the Elephant Man'.

Uganda For A Holiday by Sir Frederick Treves (1910) chronicles his tourist travels throughout Uganda, camping in the Great Rift Valley and one of the first accounts of a circumnavigation of Victoria Nyanza. Free eBook

Major Tudor G Trevor

Tudor Gruffydd Trevor (1865 - 1958) was a Welsh-born South African geologist and mining inspector for the Pretoria District of South Africa. A rare nickel iron oxide mineral was first found near Barbeton, which was subsequently named Trevorite after him.

Forty Years In Africa by Tudor G Trevor (1932) are the highly observant tales of the author's forty years in Africa.

Edward Truter & Martin Rudman

Fishing Stories For Africa: Stories From The First Ten Years Of The Fishing & Hunting Journal edited by Edward Truter & Martin Rudman (2014) There are 40 stories, set mostly in Africa, from 21 authors who share their fishing dreams and adventures. The pages are filled with stories set to entertain anyone with an interest in fish, fishing or the outdoor lifestyle. The author's father is Bruce Truter who wrote 'How Not To Hunt Pigs And Other Cautionary Tales Of Gun & Rod' and who started 'The Fishing & Hunting Journal'

Owen Tweedy

Owen Meredith Tweedy (1888 - 1960) served in the British army in the Middle East during World War I. After the war, he became an official in the British administration in Cairo. In 1924, he became a freelance journalism, specializing in Middle Eastern affairs.

By Way Of The Sahara: The African Odyssey Of Three Men And A Grocer's Van by Owen Tweedy (1930) is the account of an adventurous journey from the Nile to the Niger and across the Sahara. It includes descriptions of the native people encountered in remote villages throughout the Belgian Congo, French Equatoria, the Lake Chad region, Northern Nigeria, the French Niger Province, and the Sahara and Algeria. He travelled across Africa with his friend, Captain Richard Crofton and a Swahili cook in a 10 cwt lorry which was a grocer's van.

Walter Tyndale

Walter Frederick Roope Tyndale (1855 – 1943) was a British watercolourist of landscapes, architecture and street scenes, book illustrator and travel writer. He spent much time travelling Italy, Egypt, the Middle East and Japan, painting landscapes, street scenes and architecture.

Below The Cataracts by Walter Tyndale (1907) is an account of his study and work in the Nile Valley. He painted the great Egyptian monuments to help others appreciate the wonder and mystery of the ancient civilisation and the picturesque life of modern (at the time) Egypt. Free eBook

Adrian Van Sinderen

Adrian Van Sinderen (1887 – 1963) was an American businessman who wrote 30 books, including several about his travels. He had been to six continents, all fifty United States and every American national park.

The Country Of The Mountains Of The Moon by Adrian Van Sinderen (1951) is an account of the author's journey by river steamer along the Congo River and by car through the Ruwenzori Mountains of the Belgian Congo. He describes the people, places, wildlife and history but there was no hunting.

Africa: Land Of Many Lands by Adrian Van Sinderen (1950) is a illustrated narrative of the author's travels to Bechuanaland, the Rhodesias, The Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sahara Desert, Victoria Falls, Cape of Good Hope and more.

Lilian Van Velden

The subject of this book, George Selby (1937 – 2006) was born in South Africa, but was to spend the best thirty years of his life in his adopted country, his beloved Rhodesia, before returning to the land of his birth where he died in 2006. George Selby died before his book was published. It was compiled and edited by Lillian van Velden who ensured his voice came through on every page.

From Safari Suit To Camouflage: The Memoirs Of George Selby by Lilian Van Velden (2015) is the story of one man's extraordinarily adventurous life that spanned the heydays of the 1950s through the 1960s, when the "winds of change" blew across Africa. Continuing through the 1970s and the Rhodesian War, during which the author served as a police reservist, then to the dying moments of Rhodesia, the country he called home. This book was first published in 2007 with the title, 'The Memoirs Of George Selby: A Journey Through Rhodesia To Zimbabwe' by Lilian Van Velden.

Henry Francis Varian

Henry Francis Varian (1876 - 1924) was a pioneer of the African railways. He spent 50 years on railway construction projects in Mozambique, Rhodesia, Angola and in East Africa.

Some African Milestones by Henry Francis Varian (1953) is a personal description of day-to-day business of building railways. It is a very readable tale of adventure and epic achievement. The foreword is by Ewart Grogan. Free eBook

John Varty

Nine Lives: Memoirs Of A Maverick Conservationist by John Varty (2010) is the tale of of the author's progression from hunter to filmmaker to conservationist. Varty narrates the adventures, trials, mishaps and triumphs of his extraordinary life, from hunting lions at the age of twelve and teaching the orphaned lion cub Shingalana how to hunt for food, to spending last moments with the badly mauled female leopard, whom he had been following and filming for years. He reveals the secrets behind his close relationships with certain big cats and invokes the terror of his own narrow escapes from death, including a dangerous encounter with crocodiles and a near-fatal helicopter crash.

Iris Vaughan

Iris Emily Henrietta Niland (nee Vaughan) (1890 - 1977) started writing as a young girl during the time of the Anglo-Boer War, in the Eastern Cape. Because she was very outspoken and often embarrassed her magistrate father, he gave her a diary so that she could write her thoughts down instead of speaking them. Later she also wrote novels, but it is her diary that is best known today.

The Diary Of Iris Vaughan by Iris Vaughan (1958) is a South African classic - the true diary of a young girl between the ages of about eight and twelve years at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is unintentionally hilarious and retains all the spelling errors of the original. Iris's father was a magistrate stationed in various small towns in the Eastern Cape and the diary gives an enchanting view of small-town life in the Cape Colony through the eyes of a perceptive young girl.

These Were My Yesterdays by Iris Vaughan (1966) is the author's autobiography. It is the story of South Africa and Rhodesia in the times not so long ago when life was not quite so hurried as it is today.

Robert Vavra

A Tent With A View: An intimate African Experience by Robert Vavra (1991) is the account of the author's experience when he set up a tent in Maasai country and the Kenyan highlands. For several weeks he lived alone with African wildlife and native people.

Remembering Africa by Robert Vavra (2011) subtitled...'At His Campfire With...Jane Goodall, Peter Beard, Peter Matthiessen, George Schaller, Patric Hemingway, Bunny Allen, Martha Gellhorn, Karen Blixen and over 20 other further voices in the African Darkness'. The book views the African continent through the eyes of 33 explorers, adventurers, rogues, raconteurs, literary giants, scientists, and historical figures.

Bernard Venables

Bernard Venables (1907 - 2001) was a British angler, artist and writer. He travelled the world relating his angling experiences on TV and in many books.

Coming Down The Zambezi by Bernard Venables (1974) is an account of the author's 1966 trip on behalf of the Zambian government to explore tourism possibilities. His expedition took him down the Zambezi from the border of Angola and Congo, through Zambia, along Rhodesia's northern border, Lake Kariba and ending at Feira on the frontier with Mozambique. He makes sharp observations of the countryside and people, shooting for the pot and quite a bit of fishing along the way.

Al J Venter

Gunship Ace: The Wars Of Neall Ellis, Helicopter Pilot And Mercenary by Al J Venter (2011) is about a former South African Air Force pilot who saw action throughout the region from the 1970s. Neall Ellis is the best-known mercenary combat aviator alive. Apart from flying Alouette helicopter gunships in Angola, he has fought in the Balkan War, flew Mi-8s for Executive Outcomes, and thereafter an Mi-8 for Colonel Tim Spicer in Sierra Leone. For the past two years, as a civilian contractor, Ellis has been flying helicopter support missions in Afghanistan, where, he reckons, he has had more close shaves than in his entire previous four-decade career.

Michael Vickers

Ivory: An International History And Illustrated Survey With A Guide For Collectors by Michael Vickers (1987) showcases the production of ivory wares from a full spectrum of countries through the ages. There is a focus on the rarity of ivory and the resulting social and political implications of its circulation. With a large array of contributors, this survey covers ivory production in the earliest civilizations, Rome and Eastern Europe, Africa, the far and near East, North and South America through to contemporary carvers. Further, there is attention paid to the collecting and care of ivory items.

Werner Voight

60 Years In East Africa: Life Of A Settler 1926 To 1986 by Werner Voight (195) describes sixty years of experiences of a settler, during which the author built plantations for his German and other employers and finally acquired his own. His many adventures included a 1000 kilometre honeymoon foot safari, eight years of internment during World War II, prospecting for gold and establishing several plantations in Tanzania and Rwanda.

George Waddington & Rev Barnard Hanbury

George Waddington (1793 - 1869) was an English traveller, church historian and ordained vicar. He was responsible for the authorship and for the seventeen drawings the book describing a journey from Wadi Halfa to Meroe and back.

Rev Barnard Hanbury (1793 – 1833) originally planned the journey to Egypt. It was after meeting Waddington in Venice (who was en route to Greece) that Waddington decided to go with Hanbury to Egypt.

Journal Of A Visit To Some Parts Of Ethiopia by George Waddington & Rev Barnard Hanbury (1822) the authors decided to embark on an antiquarian tour of Egypt and Nubia. They were given permission to travel into Upper Egypt by the Governor. They were dressed as Turks and accompanied by an Irishman, James H Curtin as interpreter, two Maltese servants and a setter dog named Anubis. They ascended the Nile as far as Meroe. Whilst there they encountered the American traveller George English, and at Wadi Haifa met the French mineralogist Frederic Cailliaud. Free eBook

H B F Walker

Doctor Henry Francis Bell Walker (1876 - 1948) was a British medical doctor, who emigrated to Bedford in the Cape Province where he served as a GP until 1931. During the South West African campaign of 1915 he served with the SAMC and recorded his experiences in this book. In 1920 he bought some land and became a citrus tree farmer while still practising medicine. Still a very fit man at the age of 65, he served with the SAMC in Natal during World War II, becoming a physician specialist at the military hospital in Durban.

A Doctor's Diary in Damaraland by H B F Walker (1917) records Dr Walker's experiences serving with the Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance during the campaign in South West Africa. Free eBook

Hugh Walker

Kenya's Northern Frontier And Far Beyond: Memoirs Of A District Officer by Hugh Walker (2021) contains tales of life as a Colonial District Officer in Kenya’s wild northern frontier land in the 1950s and in Aden. The author began his African adventures in the army, with the Somaliland Scouts, where he learned to speak and write fluent Somali. After training by the Colonial Service he was sent to Kenya where he recalls how he adopted a lion cub, pursued Mau Mau rebels, and had to literally read the Riot Act to unruly crowds from the safety of a Landrover.

John Frederick Walker

A Certain Curve Of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest For The Giant Sable Antelope Of Angola by John Frederick Walker (2004) tells the story of one of the most revered and endangered of the regal beasts of Africa - the giant sable antelope of Angola, a majestic, coal-black quadruped with breathtaking curved horns more than five feet long. It is an enthralling and tragic tale of exploration and adventure, politics and war, the brutal realities of life in Africa today, and the bitter choices of conflicting conservation strategies. 'A Certain Curve of Horn' traces the sable's emergence as a highly sought-after natural history prize before the First World War and follows its struggle to survive in a war zone fought over by the troops of half a dozen nations and its transformation into a political symbol and conservation icon. As he follows the trail of this mysterious animal, Walker interweaves the stories of the adventurers, scientists, and warriors who have come under the thrall of the beast, and how their actions would shape the fate of the giant sable antelope and the history of the war-torn nation that is its only home. Kindle Version

Ivory's Ghosts: The White Gold Of History And The Fate Of Elephants by John Frederick Walker (2009) tells the astonishing story of the human lust for ivory and its cataclysmic implications for elephants. Kindle Version

Rupert Watson

Culture Clash: The Death Of A District Commissioner In The Loita Hills by Rupert Watson (2014) is the story of death of the Narok District Commissioner, Hugh Grant (1897 - 1946), from the spear of a young Masai man named Karambu Ole Sendeu. The events leading up to Karambu throwing his spear are described in detail, as is his trial for the DC's murder.

This incident is recalled in several other books where accounts differ, such as ... 'Last Chance In Africa' by Negley Farson and 'Red Strangers: The White Tribe Of Kenya' by C S Nicolls

David Webster

The Shimmering Heat: Memories Of A Bush Doctor In East Africa by David Webster (2007) is the author's life in Kenya. He spent his childhood at Marsabit and worked as a doctor in the remote mission hoospital at Amudat in Uganda, then later at the government district hospital at Marsabit.

Mishkid: A Kenyan Childhood by David Webster (2011) describes what it was like to grow up as a missionary child - 
a mishkid, as they were known. Much of his childhood was spent in the remote Northern Frontier District, on a mountain, Marsabit, surrounded by desert. With primal forest at the back door, elephants in the garden by night and baboons by day, it was an unusual upbringing shared with his African friends.

The Pulse Of The Countryside by David Webster (2016) after growing up in Kenya and working as a doctor, he returned to England and spent thirty years as a rural GP.

Leo Weinthal

Leo Weinthal (1865 - 1930) was editor in chief of the Pretoria Press, and, along with Sir Roderick Jones, served as Reuters' chief correspondent in the Transvaal at the time of the outbreak of the Boer War, their impartial coverage doing much to enhance the reputation of the agency, Weinthal produced this encyclopaedic work as a belated but substantial tribute to Rhodes's idea.

The Story of the Cape to Cairo Railway And River Route, From 1887 To 1922 by Leo Weinthal (1923) is a lavish 5 volume tribute to one of the most glorious failures of the empire, the project conceived by Cecil Rhodes as 'The Iron Spine and Ribs of Africa'. Weinthal recruited every possible person with a connection to Rhodes and to colonial Africa, every likely expert on the continent, and every amenable viceroy, sirdar and colonial governor. Prominent contributors were Sir Percy Fitzgerald on Cecil Rhodes and Dr Jameson, Sir Harry Johnston on the native languages along the route, Captain Selous on big game and Flinders Petrie on "The Trail of the Ancients on the Route". There is also an extract from Churchill's 'My African Journey', accompanied by a portrait.

Margaret Baker Wente

Margaret Baker Wente grew up in a jungle mission station in the Belgian Congo. In 1932 her parents, Donald and Lelia Baker arrive a mission station far up a tributary of the Congo River, where Dr Baker was the only doctor for an area the size of Indiana.

And We Ate The Leopard: Serving In The Belgian Congo by Margaret Baker Wente (2007) describes the unusual story of the author's family's life in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) catching marauding leopards, surviving malarial attacks and living in the jungle without electricity or neighborhood grocery stores. With Congo's independence in 1960 and the associated violence, the Bakers were evacuated by the United States Air Force after serving twenty-eight years there.

Mark G Wentling

Africa Memoir: 50 Years, 54 Countries, One American Life by Mark G Wentling (2020) Volume I: Algeria - Liberia. These 3 volumes tell the author's life story from growing up in Kansas to his travel and work in all 54 African countries. He devotes a chapter to each country describing his firsthand experiences, eye-opening impressions and views on future prospects.
Africa Memoir: Volume II: Libya - Senegal
Africa Memoir: Volume III: Seychelles - Zimbabwe

Charles Weston

African Adventure by Charles Weston (1960) is a privately published account of the author's 24 day photographic (no hunting) safari through Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

W W Wheeler

William Webb Wheeler (1845 - 1925) was born in Ohio and worked his way up to become president of the Wheeler-Motter Mercantile Company in St Joseph, Missouri.

Our Holiday In Africa by W W Wheeler (1912) is a travel book about the author and his wife's tour of Africa, from Egypt to Cape Town and everywhere in between. Though Mr & Mrs Wheeler are rather disdainful of hunting, the book is littered with big game hunting anecdotes that they heard on their journey. The book is full of great photographs of Africa in 1912. Free eBook

William F Wheeler

William F Wheeler (1943 - 2008) was an American anaesthetist who made 24 trips to Africa travelling in a car. He then decided to make a journey through the Sahara, East Africa and the Ituri rainforest on foot like the old African explorers.

Alive In Africa: My Journeys On Foot In The Sahara, Rift Valley, And Rain Forest by William F Wheeler (2008) chronicles the author's journeys through three regions of Africa - the Sahara desert, the Rift Valley, and the Congo rain forest. The author aimed to travel like the explorers of old with no contact with the 'civilized world'. The book is illustrated with the author’s photos of the landscape and desert nomads, Maasai warriors, and Efe pygmies. The title word 'Alive' refers to his spiritual feeling of being truly alive while travelling, rather than escaping with his life due to a dire situation.

Efe Pygmies: Archers Of The African Rain Forest by William F Wheeler (2000) is a photographic study of the Efe pygmy people who live in the depths of the Ituri forest. It depicts the seasonal lives of the Efe people - boys and men hunting, family life in their villages, dancing and music making and bark and body painting.

Jonathan Whitby

Bundu Doctor by Jonathan Whitby (1961). The author was a Government Medical Officer in south west Africa. He describes his experiences in an unembellished, factual memoir - no romantised adventures or preaching. He worked in isolated towns of the Bechuanaland, Northern and Southern Rhodesia where disease and medical common sense vied with the witch doctor and superstition and minimal conditions of hygiene. This book was published in 1964 with the lurid title of 'Voodoo Venom' as part of the 'True Adventure Series'.

A C White

The Call Of The Bushveld by A C White (1949) are personal recollections of hunting and wildlife in the Transvaal lowveld.

Captain Arthur 'Sikereri' Whitfield

I'd Do It Again by Arthur 'Sikereri' Whitfield (1954) is a rare book about the author's life in Rhodesia.

Errol Whittall

Errol Gilchrist Whittall (1906 - 1989) was a British settler in Kenya who owned a cattle ranch.

Dimbilil: The Story Of A Kenya Farm by Errol Whittall (1956) is the account of the life of a settler in Kenya who farmed cattle on land he was allocated as a soldier's settlement after World War II.

John Whittingham

Shoe-String Safari: Travels, Adventures And Experiences In Africa by John Whittingham (1978) is a self-published account of the author's trip to East, Central and South Africa.

Rupert Wilkey

The Claws Of Africa: A Biography of Dick Prickett - Soldier, Forester, Hunter & Conservationist by Rupert Wilkey (2020) is the life story of R J Prickett, as told to his grandson, Rupert Wilkey. The book relates Dick's early adventures in England and his marriage to Gertrude Annie in the most hilarious style. His life changed drastically when he was drafted and eventually found himself in Africa. As a young soldier he enjoyed hunting big game and fishing in the rivers flowing from Mount Kenya. After serving in the army, he subsequently returned to Kenya as a forest officer and things seemed to go well for him until after Kenya gained independence and he found himself back in England. Finding life unbearable in England, Dick and his wife Gertrude Annie went back to Kenya where they stayed until their deaths.
Books by R J Prickett

A Fish Eagle Calls: Memories Of Growing Up In Malawi 1975 - 1988 by Rupert Wilkey (2022) tells the story of the first twenty-five years of the author's life growing up in Kenya, before his family then moved to Malawi in 1975. It was there that his passion for reptiles and amphibians started. This book not only describes how he caught his first snake at twelve years old and swam in rivers with crocodiles and hippos; but it also tells of his feeling of loneliness and isolation with a very dysfunctional family.

Jeff Williams

On Foot In The African Bush: Adventures Of Safari Guides by Jeff Williams (2021) is based on the premise that "a walking trail in the bush is the ultimate adventure for a visitor to wild Africa and it is the skill and experience of their guides that allow them to do this safely". This is an "eye-opening collection of stories gathered from safari guides by the author - charging elephants, angry lions, inquisitive rhino, venomous snakes are all here".

Bailey Willis

Bailey Willis (1857- 1949) was an American geological engineer who worked for the United States Geological Survey and lectured at two prominent American universities. In 1929, Willis travelled the length of Africa, accompanied by his wife and supported by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, to study the geological structure of the deep rift valleys that bisect the East African plateau. His study convinced him that the valleys had not developed because of separation, as most geologists thought, but were the result of 'ramping' caused by compression and vertical movement.

Living Africa: A Geologist's Wanderings Through The Rift Valleys by Bailey Willis (1930) is a charming narrative of the author's observations and explorations during an expedition into the causes of earthquakes in Central Africa and their relationship to volcanic activity.

Colin Wills

Colin Frederick George Wills (1906 - 1965) was an Australian journalist, broadcaster, war correspondent, scriptwriter and travel writer.

White Traveller In Black Africa by Colin Wills (1951) is an account of a journey made through Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia.

Who Killed Kenya? by Colin Wills (1953). The author's observations about Kenya's past and the events leading up to the Mau Mau rising.

Lloyd L E Wilmot

Embers Of A Campfire: Pioneering Adventures In The Wilds Of Botswana by Lloyd L E Wilmot (2018) is about the author's escapades and other exploits as one of Botswana's oldest professional guides. It includes episodes of being trapped in a cave with a black mamba, pinned down by an elephant bull, charged by a buffalo at night, attacked twice on the same day by crocodiles and sitting with lions at kills at night. The author is related to Eric Cronje Wilmot. Kindle version only.

James C Wilson

In 1927 James C Wilson (1901- 1995) and his friend, Francis Flood left their homes in Nebraska to ride their motorcycles and sidecars across Africa from Lagos, Nigeria to the Red Sea.

Three Wheeling Through Africa: Two Adventurers Cross The So-Called Dark Continent North of Lake Chad On Motorcycles & Sidecars by James C Wilson (1936) is a delightful and very readable account of motorcycle travel from Lagos on the West Coast, up into the desert at Kano, east across what is now Chad and the Sudan to the Red Sea at Eritrea. They packed every concievable spare part imaginable, plus cameras & a banjo on their Triumph 5HP 3 speed motorcycles with sidecars .

William Winstanley

A Visit To Abyssinia: An Account Of Travel In Modern Ethiopia by William Winstanley (1881) 2 Volumes. The author's account of travel in Abyssinia in 1880 with observations on Emperor Yohannes IV and his court, churches, markets and customs. Free eBook Vol I Free eBook Vol II

Steve Wisecarver

Steve Wisecarver was an American Peace Corps Volunteer who spent 30 years in Africa with his wife. He was in Senegal from 1976 to 1978. He then worked for the USDA and USAID in places such as Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Kenya and Ivory Coast.He became the country director for the Peace Corps in Madagascar and Kenya from 2008 to 2013.

What Sahel Am I Doin' Here: 30 Years Of Misadventures In Africa by Steve Wisecarver (2018) is a collection of tales that captures the exotic, bizarre, comic and even magical nature of daily life during the author's three decades in west Africa. It includes accounts of locals transforming themselves into hyenas, a remote tribe in Mali whose knowledge of the universe was given to them by ancient space travellers, a close call with killer African bees, pygmies who communicate with the trees, a nefarious arms dealer's private retreat and numerous other misadventures.

Michael Wood

After training as a surgeon in England, Michael Wood (1918 - 1987) moved to Kenya with his wife, Susan Wood and family in 1946. He spent the rest of his life living and working as a physician in Kenya and Tanzania until his death in the 1980s. He learned to fly in Kenya and was a founder of the Amref Flying Doctor Service, an organization that still provides medical care to people living in isolated areas of east Africa. Michael Wood received many awards for his humanitarian work which included a knighthood.

No Turning Back by Michael Wood (2001) is the author's extraordinary life story as a medic in Kenya. He soon found he was regularly being called to emergencies in remote areas and often had to charter flights to get to these places. When the number of these emergencies escalated and became a challenge, Michael Wood learnt to fly and with some colleagues, he developed the idea of AMREF ( African Medical and Research Foundation) and its Flying Doctors Service. After much fund-raising, AMREF was founded in 1957 and continues its work to this day.

Go The Extra Mile: The Adventures And Reflections Of A Flying Doctor by Michael Wood (1978) is a fascinating account of the author's experiences as a general surgeon and pilot, and the creation of the Flying Doctor Service in East Africa.

Susan Wood

A Fly In Amber by Susan Wood (1964) is an account of how the author and her husband, Michael Wood developed the Flying Doctor Service in Kenya. They then developed the idea of a flying specialist service for reconstructive surgery in East and Central Africa and hospitals on wheels.

George E Woodberry

George Edward Woodberry (1855 - 1930) was an American literature critic and poet. He was a Professor at the University of Nebraska and later Columbia University.

North Africa And The Desert: Scenes And Moods by George E Woodberry (1914) is the account of travels in north Africa including Tunisia and Libya. Free eBook

Leslie Woodhead

James Leslie John Woodhead is an award-winning British documentary filmmaker. He made several films about the Mursi, a nomadic cattle herding people in South West Ethiopia.

A Boxful Of Spirits: Adventures Of A Film-Maker In Africa by Leslie Woodhead (1987) is an account of making a series of films about the Mursi people living in the lower the Omo Valley of south-western Ethiopia.

C Brooke Worth

Charles Brooke Worth (1908 – 1984) was an American naturalist and virology professor.

Mosquito Safari: A Naturalist In Southern Africa by C Brooke Worth (1971) is about an entomologist who for two years worked for an Arbovirus Research Unit doing lab and field work in South Africa, Portuguese East Africa and Uganda. The project was to investigate the existence, characteristics and range of arthropod-borne viruses. His extracurricular explorations lead to interesting excursions in swamps and forests and even onto a golf course, with observations of birds, reptiles, crabs and insect life.

Richard Wyndham

Guy Richard Charles Wyndham (1896 – 1948) was a British amateur artist who decided to visit an old school friend who was a government employee in the southern region of the Sudan in the 1930s. Prior to this, he served in the First World War, where he was wounded. He gained the rank of Captain in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He was killed in Jerusalem during the Arab/Israeli conflict when working as a Sunday Times war correspondent.

The Gentle Savage: A Sudanese Journey In The Province Of Bahr-el-Ghazal, Commonly Called "The Bog" by Richard Wyndham (1936) is an account the author's journey to the swamps of the Bahr-el-Gazahel district of the Sudan. While at times the author is frequently preoccupied on how he could get his hands on European liquor or food, he does provide some insights into the Dinka, Zande and Bongo tribes in the area. Free eBook

Captain John Yardley

John Henry Reginald Yardley, DSO (1881 - 1938) served as a captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Special Reserve.

Parergon: Or Eddies In Equatoria by Captain John Yardley (1931) is an account of the author's experiences in what he describes as one of the many side-shows connected with the First World War. 1917 found him on his way to Khartoum, and then southwards. It includes a vivid description of the campaign against the Turkana and Abyssinian raiders. He writes..."Parergon is primarily an eye-witness's story of that adventurous and arduous, though small-scale, campaign in Equatorial Africa; but I believe that it is also not without importance in the present fight against slavery." The word 'parergon' means or refers to a piece of work that is supplementary to or a by-product of a larger work.

John Young

Cheating Death by John Young (1937) are the autobiographical reminiscences and yarns by 'adventurer' John Young, mainly set in the Kenya of the mid-1920s where he worked up-country. Evokes something of the feel and atmosphere of the colony at this time even if the 'adventures' have something of the 'Boys' Own' feel to them.

Francis E Younghusband

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband (1863 - 1942) was a British Army officer, explorer and writer. He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia, especially the 1904 British expedition to Tibet, which he led, during which a massacre of Tibetans occurred.

South Africa Of Today by Francis E Younghusband (1898) was written when he was a special correspondent for 'The Times' newspaper and visited South Africa in 1896. It is a fascinating look at the politics and upheaval in South Africa at the end of the nineteenth century, the time leading up to the Boer War and wild days of prospecting for gold and diamonds by South Africa's early settlers.