New York Herald sent explorer Henry Morton Stanley on an expedition to find renowned missionary and explorer Dr. David Livingston. Previous attempts to locate Livingston had failed and he was presumed dead. The newspaper wanted to build up the search into a series of human interest stories to gain readership.

Stanley spent a year following Livingston’s trail.  When Stanley finally tracked him down, he formally greeted Livingston with the famous words, “Dr. Livingston, I presume?”.  The New York Herald story was extremely popular and rendered Stanley a celebrity in his own right. The arduous journey was not enough to deter Stanley from making more trips.

He returned to Africa for another expedition to chart the path of the Congo River. He began this mission at the age of 46 and it took nearly 3 years to complete.  In that time, he managed to endure torrential rains, starvation, malaria, dysentery and attacks by cannibals and other native tribes.  In the course of the mission he lost over 70% of those who entered the jungle with him and he was the only person of European descent to survive.¹

He detailed his travails in his bestselling book In Darkest Africa: “The ground was rank with vegetable corruption, the atmosphere heated, stifling, dark and pregnant with the seeds of decay of myriads of insects, leaves, plants, twigs and branches. At every pace my head, neck, arms or clothes was caught by a tough creeper, calamus thorn, coarse briar, or a giant thistle-like plant, scratching and rending whatever portion they hooked on.”² 1888. July 26. Ave-jeli {468}

Adventuring can be demanding, and an explorer must be outfitted for the harshest of conditions.  Luckily we can provide many of the necessary accoutrements for even the most enterprising of adventurers. Click Here to see our full collection of adventurer gear or click on items below that match Mr. Stanley’s picture.