Mungo Park (1771–1806)

This is an all-action account of 24 yr old Scottish surgeon Mungo Park's expedition to trace the source of the Niger. I'd had pictures of steamy jungles, but Park's journey from the Gambia and into Mali, is much more of a progress through sundry villages (under very different rulers) and arid desert...all overshadowed by an ongoing war between local kingdoms, and constant raids by the truly dastardly Moors.
I think the one thing that stands out from the account is what a lovely guy Mungo Park is. Having read various old travelogues, the writers tend very much to a jingoistic scorn for the locals...Park treats those he meets as his equals, his assessment based solely on their actions.
But the Moors truly merit their description as "the rudest savages on earth"; the highlight for me was their effort to humiliate the 'kaffir' Park by bringing a wild hog into the assembly for him to eat. Park notes (with, we feel, considerable satisfaction) that far from running at the Christian, the hog "began to attack indiscriminately every person that came in his way, and at last took shelter under the couch upon which the king was sitting."
After Park's year long odyssey, the endless difficulties, the heroism, one feels that the following years, publishing his memoirs, marrying and working as a doctor in Peebles, is a huge anti-climax.
The short second part tells of his second trip to the Niger, leading a military expedition ten years later (1805.) Setting off ill-advisedly in the rainy season, and hampered by a bunch of men less resiliant than himself, this is a very different journey, as fever, dysentery, animals, hunger...and Moors...bring endless insurmountable challenges. The final section is based on account by an African guide, and is very sad after such amazingly determined efforts.
A total hero, up there with Ernest Shackleton and Belarusian war hero Tuvia Bielski in my pantheon of Incredible People.… (mere)

Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa was published in 1799 and this fact colors everything. Mungo Park was generations ahead of his time, future African explorers like Burton and Livingstone were not even born yet. He was the first famous British explorer of Africa with dozens to follow over the next 80 years or so, while his predecessors were mostly Portuguese from the 15th and 16th who explored North East Africa.

Park was unencumbered by a tradition of African exploration literature, indeed he was one of the first. He wrote in a simple factual style that has more in common with 20th century modernism than the filigreed 19th century. It remains highly readable and entertaining. There is incident and adventure throughout and mercifully little 'geography'. It rightly made Park famous, but also sealed his doom when he pushed his luck for a second trip. Park was selfless in the quest for knowledge, indomitable in the face of adversity, and (occasionally) a humanist - which is more than can be said for many racist colonialists who followed.… (mere)

I don't think there's anybody I wouldn't recommend this book to. Not a single page lacks something fascinating. Park was the first European to travel that way and return to tell the tale. He finds an Africa of extremes. On the one hand here is a land with iron working and inoculation. On the other you have a society that is destroying itself with slavery and where Boko Haram predates on its borders. Park writes very well. There's an immediacy to the narrative so you exult when he exults and get angry when he's treated badly. He comes across as a really nice guy. Not your typical British colonialist.

There are two editions in the Everyman's Library; the original from 1907 and the 1954 "enlarged and revised". The '54 is essentially a stripped down version of the 1816 edition. You have Park's text of the first journey entire but with everything else from that volume stripped out. Then you have an abridged version of the second journey. The narrative is complete but lists of supplies and astronomical observations have been edited out. Amadi Fatouma's journal is here, or at least part of it, but Isaaco's is not. The editor has added some connecting passages. The original maps have also been removed and replaced with a map of such poor quality I would expect to find better in a third rate fantasy novel. I have knocked off a star because of the map.… (mere)

Mungo Park's fascinating "Travels in the Interior District of Africa" tells the story of his meanderings around West Africa. His goal was to find the Niger River, which he does with enormous difficulty. Traveling alone or with a single guide, Park is robbed of most of his possessions, trying to avoid getting caught up between warring tribes and is kept prisoner by the Moors. Much of the book focuses on slavery. While it is certainly told from a colonialist perspective, the book is filled with interesting details and made for a great read.… (mere)