Through the Heart of Africa

In 1910, Frank H. Melland and Edward H. Cholmeley undertook a remarkable journey from southern to northern Africa. While the general premise is that they traveled by bicycle, in reality, it was a more elaborate expedition than they let on and they partly walked, partly biked and had "native porters" carry their gear, which required sixty bearers "to carry a certain quantity of respectable clothing...drugs, carbide, cameras, books, five loads of spirit tanks, and other apparatus for the preservation of zoological specimens" which the duo considered "for two travellers, by no means an excessive allowance." This work highlights what extreme wealth can command-the pleasures and adventures of imperial voyeurism and curiosity in the colonial era. This edition is dedicated to Daniel Gutierrez-Sandoval, bicyclist and world traveler.