In Wildest Africa, Vol. 2

In Short

This volume completes C. G. Schillings’s pioneering record of the East African wilderness, combining travel narrative, ecological observation, and early wildlife photography. Schillings traverses the river basins, swamps, and arid plains of former German and British East Africa, documenting a landscape teeming with lions, elephants, giraffes, and rhinoceroses. Rather than focusing purely on the thrill of the hunt, the text documents animal behavior, details the technical trials of early night and telephoto photography, and issues a stern warning against the rapid extermination of Africa’s fauna. It remains a historic testament to the birth of field photography and conservation ethics.

The Story

Schillings opens his account along the treacherous Pangani River and the basin of Djipe Lake, exploring regions that were, at the turn of the twentieth century, virtually unnavigable and largely uncharted by European mapping. He paints a portrait of an ecological El Dorado—a landscape dense with hippopotami, vast herds of game, and formidable megafauna. Yet, alongside his awe, Schillings establishes a tone of urgency, noting how rapidly human intrusion and unmonitored hunting are reducing these once-inexhaustible populations.

As the expedition moves deeper into the veld and thickets, Schillings shifts his focus from standard big-game hunting to the far more precarious pursuit of wildlife photography. He details the arduous process of stalking animals not to shoot them, but to capture their natural states on glass dry-plates. He tracks herds of giraffes across sunlit acacia woods, marveling at their graceful movements and protective coloration. He observes elephants moving through dense forest growth, detailing their matriarchal care and uncanny ability to vanish into high mountain woods when threatened by human pursuers.

The narrative shifts to the logistical and physical realities of establishing semi-permanent wilderness camps. Schillings describes the construction of shelters protected from torrential rains and destructive ant colonies, the management of caravan porters, and the delicate diplomatic encounters with local Masai groups. Tensions occasionally flare—such as a middle-of-the-night alarm when an Askari guard startles a traveling band of Masai—but Schillings emphasizes calm negotiation, returning lost property to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Throughout the journey, apex predators remain a constant focal point. Schillings documents hair-raising encounters with trapped and wild lions, leopards, and hyenas. He recounts the immense danger of handling live, aggressive animals, including a grueling, hours-long effort to secure a captured lion with ropes and yokes, only for the beast to succumb suddenly to heart failure upon reaching camp. He also experiments extensively with automated magnesium flashlight traps, enduring broken plates, accidental triggers by birds, and damp equatorial conditions to secure the earliest photographic proofs of nocturnal animal life.

In its final movement, the book shifts toward an explicit defense of the African wilderness. Schillings reflects on the tragic trajectory of species like the African elephant and rhinoceros, arguing against their systematic slaughter for commercial ivory or misguided land clearing. He closes not with a triumphant return home, but with a plea to future naturalists and sportspeople to replace the rifle with the camera, preserving the living secrets of the wilderness before civilization sweeps them away forever.

How It Unfolds

The wild river basin Schillings explores the unnavigable reaches of the Pangani River and Djipe Lake, describing a pristine sanctuary where hippopotami and waterbirds thrive in staggering abundance despite stifling heat and marshland fever.

Face-to-face with the megafauna Moving out onto the open veld, Schillings details harrowing close calls with charging elephants and defensive rhinoceroses, reflecting on the extreme mental toll and physical peril of tracking large game on foot.

Stalking with the lens Abandoning the desire to kill every specimen he encounters, Schillings spends weeks tracking herds of giraffes and antelopes, utilizing early telephoto lenses to record their uninhibited movements and environmental adaptations.

The anatomy of the camp The narrative turns to daily camp life, outlining the construction of thatched huts, continuous battles against destructive insect swarms, the care of camp animals, and peaceful encounters with nomadic Masai groups.

Capturing the nocturnal realm Schillings sets up complex, automated magnesium flashlight apparatuses along wilderness trails, enduring night heat, technical mishaps, and unpredictable animal behavior to secure pioneering photographs of prowling leopards, hyenas, and lions.

A plea for preservation Concluding his observations, Schillings laments the rapid decline of Africa’s iconic species, warning that commercial hunting will soon drive these extraordinary creatures into extinction unless strict conservation laws are enacted.

The People

C. G. Schillings The author and expedition leader, Schillings is a seasoned German naturalist driven by a dual passion for wilderness exploration and wildlife preservation. While highly experienced in big-game hunting, he grows increasingly disillusioned with killing animals for sport. He constantly seeks to replace the rifle with the camera, taking immense personal and physical risks to capture living animals in their natural habitats while advocating fiercely against their extinction.

Orgeich Schillings’s loyal and courageous taxidermist and expedition assistant. Orgeich acts as a vital right-hand man during high-stakes situations, once physically dragging Schillings out of the path of an enraged, charging lion. His veteran composure and steady nerves prevent multiple dangerous encounters—including a tense night confrontation with armed Masai warriors—from turning fatal.

Prince Johannes Löwenstein A member of the expedition party who shares in the logistical trials of wilderness life. He experiences firsthand the relentless nuisances of the African bush, including having his tent’s flag completely destroyed by swarming ants in a single night.

The Masai Nomads The indigenous pastoralists and warriors encountered throughout the expedition area. Though viewed with apprehension by European traders and some expedition guards, they are treated by Schillings with respect. They navigate the veld with profound local knowledge, moving fluidly across the terrain and maintaining their immutable cultural traditions despite European encroachment.

In Its Own Voice

"To-day I have no mind to kill the beautiful long-limbed beast, but it is delightful to get into such close touch with him."

Schillings observes a magnificent bull giraffe moving across the open plain, preferring the quiet thrill of close observation over taking a trophy.

"To the true sportsman the camera is the best substitute for the old-fashioned gun, inasmuch as it involves very much the same degree of difficulty and danger."

Reflecting on his photographic work, Schillings argues that capturing wild animals on glass plates requires all the skill and courage of traditional hunting without the destruction.

"We have no time to trouble about the living nowadays."

In a sharp critique of modern industrial expansion, Schillings laments how society ignores the preservation of majestic living species until they are reduced to museum specimens.

What It's Really About

Beneath its rich descriptions of African wildlife and field sports, the book is a foundational argument for ecological preservation and non-lethal study. Schillings writes at a transformative moment when modern firearms threatened to wipe out whole species within decades. He challenges the prevailing colonial ethos of endless conquest and resource extraction, insisting that wild animals possess intrinsic value in their natural habitats. By using the camera to bring the authentic image of the living African wilderness to a global public, he argues that humanity has a moral obligation to protect these species rather than drive them into extinction.

Why Read It Today

This work offers modern readers a rare, authentic bridge between nineteenth-century big-game hunting culture and the birth of modern wildlife conservation and field photography. Schillings writes with a disciplined, observant warmth, capturing the atmospheric stillness of moonlight on the veld, the tension of setting photographic tripwires in dense thickets, and the sheer majesty of undisturbed herds.

Readers should be prepared for the realities of early colonial field expeditions. The narrative describes animal trapping, lethal hunting encounters, and period attitudes toward native populations, though Schillings himself advocates strongly against racial superiority and preaches respect for local customs. The prose reflects the deliberate, detailed pace of classic travel literature, complete with meticulous technical notes on camera equipment and animal morphology. For anyone interested in environmental history, early photography, or natural history, Schillings’s work remains a powerful, visually evocative document of a vanishing world.