Into Africa. Pioneers and Explorers: Three Extraordinary Journeys from Southern Africa (The Gordon Wallis Africa Series)

INTO AFRICA: PIONEERS AND EXPLORERS

Before there were roads, railways and towns, there were the pioneers and explorers who ventured into the unknown.

They crossed flooded rivers, hacked wagon roads through virgin forest, climbed seemingly impassable mountains and travelled through some of the wildest country in Africa.

Some were searching for new land and a better life.

Others simply wanted to discover what lay beyond the next river, mountain or distant horizon.

Into Africa: Pioneers and Explorers brings together three books telling the remarkable true stories of the men and women who travelled through Southern Africa during one of the most extraordinary periods in its history.

INTO RHODESIA

Long before the Eastern Highlands of modern Zimbabwe became home to farms, villages and towns, ordinary families loaded everything they owned onto ox wagons and set out for an almost unknown frontier.

They endured disease, drought, isolation, dangerous river crossings and formidable mountains in search of somewhere to build a new life.

Based on the accounts of those who lived through these extraordinary journeys, Into Rhodesia tells the story of the pioneer treks that reached Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands, from the epic Moodie Trek to the lesser-known expeditions that followed.

INTO AFRICA – VOLUMES 1 & 2

Frederick Courteney Selous arrived in Africa as an unknown young man with an extraordinary appetite for adventure.

Over the decades that followed, he crossed vast stretches of the African interior, travelled through country inhabited by lions, elephants, buffalo, crocodiles and hippos, negotiated with powerful African kings and chiefs, and survived hunger, fever, drought and journeys from which others never returned.

More than once, he came terrifyingly close to death.

But Selous would become far more than an explorer.

His unrivalled knowledge of the interior eventually drew him into some of the defining events of Southern African history.

He guided the Pioneer Column northwards, witnessed the beginnings of Salisbury and became caught up in the turbulent events surrounding the collapse of Lobengula's kingdom, the fighting in Matabeleland and the uprising of 1896.

His reputation eventually spread around the world. He became an internationally respected traveller and author, formed a remarkable friendship with former American president Theodore Roosevelt and continued seeking adventure long after most men would have chosen a quieter life.

Then, in his sixties, with the First World War raging, Selous put on a British Army uniform and returned to Africa one final time.

Together, these three books tell two very different but interconnected stories of exploration, settlement, survival and enormous change.

Written in a modern, engaging style and based upon first-hand accounts and historical sources, Gordon Wallis brings these remarkable journeys to life for a new generation, while adding his own observations of many of the landscapes, rivers and wild places he knows personally.

This is not simply a history of explorers and pioneers.

It is the story of ordinary and extraordinary people venturing into an Africa very different from the one we know today.

It is a story of courage, hardship, adventure, conflict and an almost irresistible curiosity about what lay beyond the horizon.

And it is the story of Southern Africa changing almost beyond recognition within a single lifetime.

Whether you have a personal connection to Southern Africa, an interest in African history, or simply enjoy true stories of exploration, adventure and survival, Into Africa: Pioneers and Explorers is an unforgettable journey into a vanished world.

THREE COMPLETE BOOKS IN ONE COLLECTION

Some stories deserve to be remembered.

These are among them.