A review of Crossing the Heart of
Africa, by Julian Smith, Harper Collins, NY, 2010
In this combination historical exposition and travelogue
author Julian Smith recounts the life and trans-African journey of Ewart Grogan
in 1899 while retracing the man’s footsteps a hundred or so years later. Grogan was a British adventurer who fell in
love with Gertrude, a New Zealand beauty. However, her stepfather believed that
Grogan was unsuitable. In order to prove his mettle, Grogan proposed to walk
the length of Africa along the Cape to Cairo corridor proposed by Cecil Rhodes.
Author Smith had obviously combed Grogan’s chronicles and
books of the era. He summarized and used this information to excellent effect
in this book. Grogan was indeed a
interesting character. A man of indomitable will, he persevered on this journey
through amazing difficulty – tropical diseases, hostile natives, hunger,
thirst, ferocious animals, lost supplies, isolation; all of which combined to wear
him down. But Grogan like predecessors Livingstone and Stanley had an iron
constitution and some spark in his inner core that would not bow to defeat. Although not of the first generation of
explorers, nonetheless Grogan was the first to map the Ruzizi valley and the
eastern shore of Lake Kivu. He plugged
ahead and eventually succeeded. Of
course, Gertrude waited for him. They married and settled in Kenya where he
became a stalwart of the community.
Smith’s journey was a bit less arduous. He took public
transportation from Beria, Mozambique
through Malawi, on into Tanzania, by boat up Lake Tanganyika, onward
through Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. He
then flew to Juba, Sudan where he finished his travels. As true with any budget traveler in Africa,
Smith found buses and boats crowded, facilities poor, food execrable and his
patience tried. He was beset by erstwhile companions who sought to play him for
what he might be worth, but he was also offered hospitality by strangers in the
best African tradition. Apart from the
gee-whiz factor of someone experiencing this for the first time, there was
nothing remarkable in Smith’s observations. However, Smith too soldiered on
motivated by his own true love, Laura.
While the juxtaposition of the parallel journeys and the
parallel loves made for a nice hook upon which to hang the book, I found the
ruminations of Smith’s relationship and courtship of Laura to be extraneous and
a distraction from the history of Grogan’s trials and the modern day travelogue.
I found two errors in the narrative that a good editor
should have caught. Early on Grogan’s
route was described from Cape Horn to Cairo.
Of course, Cape Horn is in South America. The Cape of Good Hope is the
African landmark. Secondly, Smith noted
that Grogan’s travelling partner Sharpe gave up the trip in western Uganda and
headed for Kampala where he could “get a
train to the coast.” The railroad did
not reach Kampala until 1931, some thirty years later.
Although this book has shortcomings, it is worthwhile and
provides the service of recounting Ewart Grogan’s riveting tale of exploration.
