Travels in West Africa (National Geographic Adventure Classics) - Softcover

Kingsley, Mary; KINGSLEY, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0792266382 ISBN 13: 9780792266389

Publisher: National Geographic Books, 2002

Synopsis

Unique perspective: Until 1893, Mary Kingsley led a secluded life in Victorian England. At age 30 however, Kingsley defied convention and arranged a trip to west Africa to collect botanical samples for a book left unfinished by her father. Such a daring adventure was unheard of for women at the time. Kingsley traveled through western and equatorial Africa and became the first European to enter parts of Gabon. Her story--as an explorer and as a woman--offers an enduring tale of adventure. Adventure writer and historian Tony Brandt sets Kingsley's Africa against the history of other European explorations of the continent and details her contributions not only to literature, but science as she collected more than 400 samples--some now extinct--of plants and insects. Handsome editions, competitively priced: Gathered together for the first time in inexpensive, accessible editions, Adventure Press Classics offer readers the opportunity to build a comprehensive library of the most adrenaline-packed tales of adventure ever written. She was the first Englishwoman and the "third Englishman," as she put it, to climb the great peak of the Cameroons. She traveled with native guides but otherwise without a man along into some of West Africa's most dangerous jungles, up its most dangerous rivers. She fought off crocodiles with a paddle, hit a leopard over the head with a pot, fell into an animal trap lined at the bottom with sharpened sticks, waded through swamps in water chin deep. Then she wrote this book, which describes her adventures in detail, as well as her discoveries as a naturalist and her observations of the Africans and their customs. She writes a brisk engaging prose and she is clearly dauntless. The book was no. 18 on the Adventure list of the 100 best adventure books. It's a wonderful read.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Showing little awareness of the potential dangers she faced, Mary Kinglsey travelled to Africa alone, with no knowledge or experience of the languages and cultures she would encounter. She marched, climbed and hacked her way through the Congo--wearing the same clothes she would at home--treating hardships and dangers, such as being charged at by wild animals, or fired on by angry natives, as trivialities on a par with an April shower during a Sunday afternoon stroll. Bordering on the eccentric, Kinglsey's absorbing and witty account of her journey across the "dark continent" is a fascinating record of previously unexplored terrain, as observed by a truly remarkable woman.

About the Author:

Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) was an English author and explorer known for her bestselling Travels in West Africa, one of two books she wrote about her time in the region. She made three trips to Africa throughout her lifetime, the final being to South Africa, where she contracted typhoid as a volunteer nurse and died during the Boer War.

About this edition

• Publisher: National Geographic Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0792266382
• ISBN 13: 9780792266389
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384