The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile

The Albert N'Yanza (1866) is a lost classic of African exploration. While other books by Burton and Livingstone are better known, they contain lengthy digressions about geography and other details that are boring and outdated. Baker on the other hand is a natural storyteller and four years in search of the source of the Nile resulted in many interesting incidents. The book has everything one might expect and hope for in an account of a Victorian explorer heading into unknown Africa with trains of porters; duplicitous and restive natives; uprisings and rebellions; cannibalism; dangerous animals; discoveries of new countries, lakes and wildlife; malaria; swamps and deserts and through it all runs the Nile. Baker himself is a heroic and show more likeable figure, as his wife who accompanied him. He is tough but also fair and honorable. It is of course not politically correct and contains outdated ideas about race and evolution - this is early 1860s - but not terribly so, Baker is a humanitarian who is anti-slavery.

I call this a lost classic because in its day it was very popular but its been long out of print. It was mentioned favorably in both Alan Moorehead's The White Nile and Tim Jeal's The Explorers of the Nile so it's not unknown but only to specialists. show less

Samuel Baker is so easy to read. He describes a world that no longer exists. The only way for someone in the 21st century to experience what Baker did, is for that person to read his books. The world he explored has ceased to exist. Africa, in many ways, is a violent and unsafe place today, but it is so very different than it was back in the mid- to late 1800s. Read it for an accurate depiction of Victorian Exploration and Africa. Be respectful and enjoy it with a mind to its time and setting. Place your 21st century biases on hold. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am sure you will too.