Into Africa: The Extraordinary Journeys of Frederick Courteney Selous

Into Africa: The Extraordinary Journeys of Frederick Courteney Selous - Volume OneBefore he became a legend... Frederick Courteney Selous was simply a young man determined to explore Africa.In an age when vast regions of the continent remained unknown to Europeans, Selous ventured deep into the African interior with little more than a rifle, a few supplies and an extraordinary appetite for adventure.He crossed raging rivers, travelled through country inhabited by lions, elephants, buffalo, crocodiles and hippos, negotiated with powerful African kings and chiefs, endured hunger, fever, drought and exhaustion, and survived journeys from which others never returned.More than once, he came terrifyingly close to death.Based on Selous's remarkable first-hand accounts, Into Africa brings his extraordinary early adventures to life for a modern generation. From the Zambezi Valley and the great elephant country beyond it to Mashonaland, Matabeleland and the remote kingdoms of Central Africa, this is the story of one of the most remarkable explorers of the nineteenth century.Written in a modern, engaging style, Gordon Wallis takes readers beyond the sometimes difficult Victorian prose of the original accounts and into the Africa Selous actually experienced. Along the way, Wallis adds his own observations of the landscapes, rivers and wild places he knows personally, connecting the Africa of Selous's time with the Zimbabwe and southern Africa of today.This is not simply a story of hunting. It is a story of exploration, survival and an almost obsessive curiosity about what lay beyond the next river, mountain or distant horizon.It is also the story of an Africa on the verge of enormous change.By the end of Volume One, Selous has become far more than the young hunter who first ventured into the wilderness. His extraordinary knowledge of the interior is about to draw him into events that will change both his life and the history of the region forever.Whether you have a personal connection to Zimbabwe or southern Africa, an interest in African history, or simply enjoy true stories of exploration, danger and survival, Into Africa is an unforgettable journey into a vanished world.Some stories deserve to be remembered.This is one of them.