The Kilima-Njaro expedition

About the book

"The Kilima-Njaro expedition" by Harry Johnston is a scientific travelogue and exploration account written in the late 19th century. It chronicles a British-led expedition to the Kilimanjaro region of East Africa, combining natural history, geography, linguistics, and commerce with a practical narrative of travel, encounters with local rulers, and attempts to reach the mountain’s upper slopes. The opening of the book sets its purpose and context: a dedication to Sir John Kirk, a preface pledging to add to African knowledge, and a note explaining the phonetic spelling used for African names. The first chapter introduces Kilimanjaro’s geology, scale, and scientific appeal, outlines the expedition’s backing by British learned societies, and reviews earlier sightings and visits (Rebmann, Krapf, von der Decken, Charles New, Thomson, Fischer), before explaining why the author himself had to handle most collecting. The next chapter paints Zanzibar and its politics through a vivid portrait of Sir John Kirk’s influence, the suppression of the slave trade, the British Consulate, Sultan Barghash’s court, and the city’s streets, harbour, and flora. At the start of the journey proper, the author travels to Mombasa, suffers fever from a night in harbour, recruits porters, details the caravan’s trade goods (cloth, beads, wire, cowries, powder), and criticizes unreliable local carriers compared with Zanzibaris. Early marches inland bring a test of authority with recalcitrant porters, moonlit camps, observations of abundant wildflowers, and the rigours of waterless stretches—relieved, at a low ebb, by a single restorative glass of champagne—before the caravan presses on toward Maungu.