Full name: A Voyager Out: The Life of Mary Kingsley

Author: Katherine Frank Year: 1986 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Biographies, Non Fiction, Travel Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9781845110208 184511020X

Mary Kingsley began her life as a typically conventional Victorian woman. She would end up travelling to some of the most inhospitable regions of Africa and became one of the most celebrated travellers of the day. At the age of 31, she sailed on a cargo ship along the coast from Sierra Leone to Angola and then traveled inland from Guinea to Nigeria, studying African customs and beliefs. On her second journey, she ventured into remote parts of Gabon and the French Congo--the first European to do so. She encountered cannibals and crocodiles, studied the religious customs of the reclusive Fang tribe, climbed Mount Cameroon and explored the Ogowe River, trading cloth for ivory and rubber to fund her trip. She returned only once to Africa, during the Boer War, when she worked as a nurse and journalist. Tragically, she died of typhoid in 1900, only 38 years old. Similar books: Livingstone by Tim Jeal Stanley by Tim Jeal Footsteps by Richard Holmes Too Close to the Sun by Sara Wheeler Bruce Chatwin by Nicholas Shakespeare Burton by Byron Farwell With Chatwin by Susannah Clapp Passionate Nomad by Jane Fletcher Geniesse Dark Safari by John Bierman Balzac by Stefan Zweig Victor Hugo by Graham Robb Samuel Beckett by Anthony Cronin Aldous Huxley by Nicholas Murray Tony Hancock by John Fisher The Knox Brothers by Penelope Fitzgerald Hobo by Eddy Joe Cotton Indira by Katherine Frank Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure by Matthew Algeo The Devil Drives by Fawn M. Brodie Captain James Cook by Richard Hough