Long Trail

Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) decided to explore the Congo River when he heard of David Livingstone’s death in 1873. He had admired Dr Livingstone every since their famous meeting in the Congo in 1871, when Stanley, a correspondent for the New York Herald, had been commissioned to find missing Livingstone.

Stanley set off from the east coast with a party of 350 in November 1874. They went first to Lake Victoria, carrying a small, single-masted boat, the Lady Alice, in sections. Stanley circumnavigated both Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika in the boat, establishing that they had no outlets to the Congo River.

When the party reached Nyangwe on the Congo in October 1876, Stanley enlisted the help of Tippu Tip, an Arab slave trader, and set off northwards with a party of around 1000. Progress was slow and difficult, and the Arabs left in December after they had travelled 200 miles (320 km).

Stanley acquired some canoes and continued by the river and by land, on the way shooting rapids and fighting some 30 battles with local tribesmen. Only 114 of Stanley’s original party eventually reached the sea in August 1877.