description: This ed. lacks ISBN. LCCN 86-10656.The Victorian era saw the proliferation of eccentric and daring travellers hell-bent on reaching the far corners of the globe and writing their names into the history books. In a male-dominated field a few lone women stood out and their stories are perhaps the most fascinating of all. Mary Kingsley began her life as a typically conventional Victorian woman. She would end up travelling to some of the most inhospitable regions of Africa and became one of the most feted travellers of the day. Much of her youth was spent caring for her invalid mother while her father travelled the world. When her parents died, however, Kingsley was suddenly freed from her responsibilities and, at the age of 31, she travelled to West Africa. She sailed on a cargo ship along the coast from Sierra Leone to Angola and then travelled inland from Guinea to Nigeria, studying African customs and beliefs. On her second journey, she ventured into remote parts of Gabon and the French Congo. She encountered cannibals and crocodiles, studied the religious customs of the mysterious Fang tribe, climbed Mount Carneroon and explored the Ogooue River, trading cloth for ivory and rubber to fund her trip. On her return to England she had become a celebrity, her adventures having been widely publicised throughout the country. During this time she wrote the classic travel book Travels in West Africa, which remains in print over 100 years later. She returned only once to Africa, during the Boer War, when she worked as a nurse and journalist. Tragically, she died of typhoid in 1900, only 37 years old.
language: English
title: A Voyager Out: The Life of Mary Kingsley
titlecomplete: A Voyager Out: The Life of Mary Kingsley
genres: History, Womens, Adventure, Anthropology, Biography Memoir, Travel, Africa, Biography, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 94
publisher: Random House Value Publishing