Here is the amazing true story of Julian Smith, who retraced the journey of legendary British explorer Ewart "the Leopard" Grogan, the first man to cross the length of Africa, in hopes of winning the heart of the woman he loved.
In 1898 the dashing young British explorer Ewart "the Leopard" Grogan was in love. In order to prove his mettle to his beloved—and her aristocratic stepfather—he set out on a quest to become the first person to walk across Africa, "a feat hitherto thought by many explorers to be impossible" (New York Times, 1900).
In 2007 thirty-five-year-old American journalist Julian Smith faced a similar problem with his girlfriend of six years … and decided to address it in the same way Grogan had more than a hundred years before: he was going to retrace the Leopard's 4,500-mile journey for love and glory through the lakes, volcanoes, savannas, and crowded modern cities of Africa.
Crossing the Heart of Africa is the unforgettable account of twin adventures, as Julian beautifully interweaves his own contemporary journey with Grogan's larger-than-life tale of charging elephants, cannibal attacks, deadly jungles, and romantic triumph.
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“Smith’s strong interest in the forgotten, nineteenth-century Victorian explorer Ewart Grogan compelled him to attempt a similar journey in 2007…The interwoven stories contrast an early adventure with a modern Africa, with the remnants of Burton and Speke’s search for the source of the Nile running through it…Smith, an award-winning journalist, tells his own story nearly a century later, as well as revealing a modern continent going through constant change.”
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