Dr Livingston was the first white man to walk across Africa, doing so from east to west. From 1841-1851 he explored the deserts, rivers and lakes of Southern Africa. From 1858-1863 he explored the Zambezi river and the area to the north of the river. It is true that he didn't accomplish 2 of the main goals he had set for himself. He hoped, by his explorations, to open up the African interior to economic development which would eliminate the slave trade. This didn't happen during his lifetime. He even compromised his principles and accepted food and hospitality from Arab slave traders as his second goal became his primary goal, and even an obsession- to find the source of the Nile. He was about 600 miles too far to the south, and never found what he was looking for. Indeed, after being found by Stanley, Livingstone remained in Africa and died in pursuit of his obsession. Despite these failures, Livingstone did map quite a bit of Africa and measured the height of, and gave the English name to, Victoria Falls.
In March 1866, Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa. In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostile cannibals and deadly predators. Within weeks, the explorer vanished without a trace... years passed with no word. While debate raged in England whether Livingstone could be found -or rescued- from a place as daunting as Africa, an American newspaper tycoon sent a young jounalist Henry Mortan Stanley to search for Dr Livingston.
Henry Mortan Stanley, while undoubtedly a racist (he beat his porters for little or no reason) did not have an easy time finding a very lost Dr Livingstone. As Mr. Dugard makes clear in his book "Into Africa", Stanley relentlessly made his way through jungles, swamps and savannah, having to deal with crocodiles, lions, hyenas, and tsetse flies along the way. He survived bouts of malaria and dysentery, encounters with cannibals, an attempted rebellion by his men, and porters running off with essential supplies. He also wound up in the middle of a war between Arab slave traders and various African tribes. He was genuinely fond of Livingstone and didn't just stick around to say, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" He spent five months with Livingstone, bringing essential supplies so that Livingstone could go on with his explorations. Stanley later, in 1874, returned to Africa and circumnavigated both Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika and followed the Congo River all the way to the Atlantic.
