Lake Nyasa

  • James Chuma after 1874

    The Return of the Black Explorer James Chuma was the most famous of the liberated slaves whose early life at the Magomero mission and contribution to Livingstone’s last expedition 1865-74, is described in a previous article (here). After returning to… Continue reading

    James Chuma after 1874
  • Magomero and The Nasik Boys

    The Black Explorers This is not the story of famous white explorers, it is the story of some of the black African men, boys and women, many of whom were freed slaves, who walked with them. It is often suggested… Continue reading

    Magomero and  The Nasik Boys
  • Rigby, Livingstone & The UMCA

    Introduction Between 1808 and 1900 tens of thousands of liberated slaves, African men, women and children, predominantly from central and eastern Africa, were disembarked by the Royal Navy at Aden, Bombay, Cape Town, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Freretown in Kenya.… Continue reading

    Rigby, Livingstone & The UMCA
  • Magomero and The East African Slave Trade

    The slave trade in Africa was buyer driven. It was complex and fragmented trade but generally the Europeans took enslaved people from the west coast and from south of the Zambezi River in the east while the trade on the… Continue reading

    Magomero and The East African Slave Trade
  • The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 2 – The Nightmare Years

    We are watching a breeding herd of elephants at a muddy wallow, babies frolicking in the mud, tumbling over each other as they spray muddy water in all directions. Their aunts are just behind and often standing over them as… Continue reading

    The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 2 – The Nightmare Years
  • The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 1 – Before the Slaughter

    Malawi was once famous for its huge herds of elephants, described in the 18th century as an “elephant rich country” with the land between lake Malawi and the Luangwa River in Zambia “teeming with elephants”. A country where, in 1859,… Continue reading

    The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 1 – Before the Slaughter