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without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

It is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons living or dead or actual events is purely coincidental.

Index

Credits and Acknowledgements

Prologue

Preface

Cast of Characters

Glossary

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

From the Author

About the Author

Books by O.L.Rigiroli

Author's coordinates

Prologue

As happens with most of the members of my generation- and not just men- Africa has occupied an important place in my imagination since childhood. At the time I read and re-read all the novels and stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, H. Rider Haggard, Karl May, Christopher Wren, Wilbur Smith and many others of the classic period of this genre and even today, I miss the taste of adventure with a special connotation if it took place in the once mysterious Dark Continent. Powerful names like Timbuktu or Zinderneuf evoke romantic stories of courage and danger.

Then there has been all the rich African literature and even I have written several novels and short stories that take place in Africa today, including issues of painful as "ethnic cleansing", simple variants of genocide, human trafficking and modern slavery.

But I always miss the spirit of those classic African novels, which happened in imprecise geographical sites in foggy periods and with actors and events that have escaped the scrutiny of history. Is this flavor that I intend to rediscover and reproduce in An African Adventure.

Preface

For countless centuries the African continent was home to one of the most infamous human activities that have been carried out in history: the slave trade. Though the unfortunates were abducted in various parts of Africa, most of them came from a wide strip around the Equator extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Indian Ocean in the east, or approximately what today are part of the Republic Democratic of Congo, Zaire and Tanzania.

Often the slaves’ hunters were Arab merchants and warriors in collusion with native chiefs who captured and sold residents of neighboring villages with which they were permanently at war although they sometimes sold even their own people. Then the Arabs used to arrange the transportation of their victims in caravans that crossed hundreds and even thousands of miles along predetermined paths in which many of the slaves died since they were forced to walk those endless routes on foot and heavily chained to prevent them from escaping. Although there are no credible figures of the magnitude of this traffic over the centuries there is no doubt that millions of Africans suffered this sad fate.

Arab traders brought their caravans to the Indian Ocean ports that lie off the coast of the island of Zanzibar, powerful trading center which was also one of the major slave markets. From there the slaves were sold and directed towards Arab countries, Persia and even India, where they would work as cheap labor in agricultural plantations in these countries and even serve as cannon fodder in the armies of their employers whilst women were used to work in housework or were used as concubines or prostitutes. Other routes of these caravans extended to North Africa to supply labor to the plantations of the same continent.

Later befell the expansion of the European empires around the world and in Africa in particular, so that the powers of the continent joined the infamous traffic which fed labor to their farms in the Americas and later in their own colonies in Africa, that in the late nineteenth century covered more than 10 million square miles, or a fifth of the planet's land.

One of the main routes used by caravans of slavers began in a kind of assembly center in Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, and ran 750 miles to Bagamoyo, on the shores of the Indian Ocean off the island of Zanzibar; a large number of secondary routes to the same destination converged in the main path. Along this road can still be recognized ruins of strongholds and stations used by the Arabs in their activities.

The current population of the coastal area is an ethnic cocktail of the thousands of people who transited the route coming from across the whole African hinterland.

Eventually the slave trade was banned in most of the world in 1873, under the influence of several western nations including the British Empire, but in practice it continued to exist as an underground activity for decades and we cannot ensure it has been completely eradicated at present times. However the economic equation of slavery suffered due to the persecution and the importance of it in the world began to shrink. Merchants should then seek alternative sources of income.

During the nineteenth century ivory trade began to occupy the economic space left free by the slave trade and acquired a greater magnitude than it. Ivory in East Africa is softer than other regions, which makes it more suitable for carving and with the finding of new uses for that material Europe and America were added to the traditional ivory markets in Asia, including India and China. These two activities constitute the economic background of the events that take place in this novel.

There is also a political context in which these actions are developed. Although there were intermittent colonies of European nations in North Africa since the Roman Empire, a fast process began to develop in the nineteenth century, culminating as expressed before in the occupation of almost the entire so-called Dark Continent by the main powers of Europe. Indeed, at the end of this process in 1914, only the Ethiopian Empire and the tiny Liberia were independent nations and the rest of the vast continent was colonized by England, France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Germany.

The Berlin Conference in 1884 had the purpose to establish guidelines for the occupation of territories in Africa by the European powers, so as to limit the conflicts between them caused by the expansion of their empires. From there was born the Belgian Congo and the delimitation of the colonial areas particularly belonging to England, France and Germany.

Germany consolidated its possessions in Cameroon, German South West Africa and German East Africa.

The area where most of this novel takes place is the last of these colonies, located in the Great Lakes region of Africa, comprising areas that today belong to Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

German East Africa 1892 (the year in which our history begins) Cast of Characters

Alain Garnier: French expeditionary.

Djamba: Garnier´s Congolese assistant.

Tswamba: carrier and hunting assistant of the manyema ethnicity.

Helmut Westkamp: Lieutenant of the Schutztruppe.

Adia: Westkamp´s native girlfriend.

Abdullah al Shamoun: Bedouin Sheik.

Alima: Abdullah´s wife.

Farrah: Daughter of Abdullah and Alima.

Fadilah: Farrah´s maid service staff.

Ahmed ben Assaff: Bedouin military leader.

Leilah: Farrah cousin.

Faisal al Khoury: Bedouin young warrior.

Karim and Nadiyah: Faisal´s father and mother.

Walaka: tribal chief of the Kamba ethnic group.

Abboud al Kader: powerful Arab leader.

Mohamed el Amin: Elder in Shamoun´s clan , and one of his advisers.

Otto von Holstein Ransburg: Colonel of the Schutztruppe, head of an expedition.

Paul von Öttling: Mayor of Schutztruppe based in Bagamoyo.

Vijay Avninder: Indian captain of a freighter in the Indian Ocean.

Captain Jean Paul Duclós: French intelligence officer in Madagascar.

Colonel Geoffroy De la Fontaine: Alain Garnier´s boss, in Franceville, Gabon.

Dimitriou Ioannidis: Captain of a Greek steamer.

Pierre Chenaut: Delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, based in Paris.

Glossary

Schutztruppe (German) Forces of protection. German Colonial Army

La illahah illahah (Arabic) There is no God but Allah.

Assalaamu Alaykum: Peace be with you. Greeting.

Bismillah (Arabic): In the name of Allah.

Ya Allah (Arabic): expression of displeasure.

Tawak kalto ul Allah (Arabic): I put my faith in Allah

Boma (Swahili): palisade

Bwana (Swahili) Master, boss.

Kiji (Swahili): village

Simba (Swahili): lion, lions

Temba (Swahili): elephant, elephants.

Swala wa (Swahili): antelope.

Askari (Swahili): Native soldier.

Djellaba (Arabic): long tunic with hood and wide sleeves for male use.

Chador (Arabic): veil with which Muslim women cover their heads and part of their faces.

Nasrani (Arabic): Christian.

Manyemas, Kambas, Konongos (Swahili): Bantu ethnic groups.

Kibanda (Swahili):Cabin, hut.

Aduar: Bedouin camp, consisting of tents and huts.

Baobab: Adansonia digitata. Deciduous tree, typical of Tanzania.

Savannah: Plain, especially if it is very large and has little or no trees.

Fatwa (Arabic): Death sentence declared by a competent authority.

Tirailleurs Sénégalais (French): Regiments of the French colonial force.

Dhows (Arab): Barges, sailing cargo vessels used by the Arabs in the Red Sea, with one or more masts and lateen sails

Chapter 1

Congo Free State-1892

The man left the heavy backpack on the ground covered with grass and sat on a thick root of a large tree. He watched his men unload the packages carried on their heads and their backs and sit squatting on the floor; he marveled at the endurance of those porters who walked tens of miles with extremely heavy bundles that would exceed what a donkey could withstand. Alain hated the kind of exploitation that he had to subject these men to but to carry out his mission he had no choice. It was impossible to travel the kind of sylvan territories they were crossing with horses or donkeys. His dealings with a manyema wren had allowed him to secure the services of five porters at a reasonable cost, allowing him to carry the tents, supplies, weapons and ammunition and other elements necessary to travel through the tropical jungle and set up camps after each day journey . The men seemed submissive and obeyed the orders Alain gave them through his lieutenant. Alain watched Djamba discussing hard with the manyemas to ensure they gave the vital packages a proper treatment; the man was a native sergeant- major of the French colonial army who had been with him for five years, when fate brought them together in a patrol near Franceville, a city founded in 1875 by the Italian Count Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza in Gabon, the territory that France had obtained in the Congo basin in an international agreement between the European powers, the same one that gave the Belgian king Leopold II most of the territory that was then called Congo Free State and would later form the Belgian Congo.

The small expedition had traveled by river over most of this vast country, many times larger than Belgium, and after three months of sailing and some travel by rail in the area of the Livingstone Falls the group had left behind the Congo River and its tributaries and was now approaching Lake Tanganyika and the border with the colony named German East Africa, its true goal. Alain had mapped the details of the route they had been following and had carefully recorded them in his notebooks, but previously he had coded all relevant data in an encrypted language developed by him for the case where his notes were confiscated by any of the authorities of the sites that they were to transit. His facade was a forest technician who conducted surveys for a Belgian company looking for land suitable for planting rubber trees, that extraordinarily profitable crop originated in Brazil that King Leopold wanted to implant in the Congo State of his property. To this end Alain was carrying forged letters in three languages certifying his status as a researcher ... but Alain Garnier, a lieutenant in the colonial army of the III Third Republic, was actually a French spy.

After a short break and very reluctantly the Frenchman stood up; as soon as he saw him Djamba began to incite the manyemas to collect their packages and get on track. The small group began to walk the short distance that separated them from the great Lake Tanganyika.

Ujiji- Lake Tanganyika

They descended from the canoes with which they had crossed the majestic lake and went to town, actually a tiny and miserable village, which however was the head of a long road of caravans of Arab merchants who transported all kinds of goods, including the most infamous kinds such as slaves and ivory.

Garnier decided to camp at some distance from the village to prevent getting in contact with the odors and dirt from the native huts. As he looked around the man caught sight of an Arab camp near a tree grove and a stream that flowed into the lake. As ensuring the provision of fresh water not as contaminated as the one coming from the lake was an important task, he placed his camp on the other side of the watercourse. After a few minutes two Arab dressed in their robes and turbans approached the stream and began to observe the small contingent, no doubt in order to guess the intentions of the newcomers. Djamba approached the French explorer with a casual gesture.

“We're being inspected.” He said.

“Not only that. Those sentries are sending a message.”

“That message is that?”

“That our presence is not welcome.”

“What will you do about it?”

“Simply ignore the message. I will not let a bunch of hucksters armed with daggers and muskets drive us away.”

“But they are numerous and have many Bantu servers.”

“Even so we´ll stay.”

“At least let me talk to their servers. I'll try to explain that we are in transit and are not interested in their activities.”

“Go if you want. Nothing is lost with it.”

Djamba crossed the flow of water through the narrowest part and approached one of the black men that judging by his outfit looked like an important subordinate of the Arabs, who followed him with his eyes. Alain smiled pleased by the spirit of initiative of his follower. In fact the French officer had unlimited confidence in his deputy, a man of great resources and knowledgeable about the customs of the countries in Central Africa.

The next day Djamba clapped his hands in front of Garnier´s tent in order to wake him. When the Frenchman finally answered he said.

“Lieutenant, it's already five o'clock.”

“Well, well, I'm coming. I told you not to call me lieutenant until we get back to Franceville. Have the men rekindle the fire to prepare breakfast.”

They were working in the camp for a couple of hours rearranging the packages according to the needs of the next few days and mending the tents damaged by the prolonged use and contact with vegetation in countless previous camps. Alain proceeded to clean and condition the rifles and shotguns and preparing cartridges for the latter.

“We are running out of meat.” Djamba told him. “You should go hunting to replenish our stock.”

“All right. Tell Tswamba to be prepared. We´ll leave after noon taking advantage that today is not so hot.”

Tswamba was one of the manyemas, with a special ability as a scout and an instinct for finding hunting prey.

After an early lunch Tswamba and Garnier set off into the forest north of Ujiji, following the shore of Lake Tanganyika. To do this they had to cross the stream and get closer to the Arab camp with its white pointed tents; the Lieutenant saw the two sentries armed with muskets following their activities, particularly attentive when they saw that the approaching men were also armed. Alain decided to ignore once again the implied threats looking away from the men on guard. Involuntarily his eyes scanned the tents and suddenly focused on a slender female figure dressed entirely in white; the French knew enough of Arab garb and immediately realized that by the richness of the dress she was a lady of importance in her social environment; squinting Alain tried to observe her face but the midday sun at its zenith in the equatorial location dazzled him preventing to achieve his purpose. He felt someone touching his arm and realized that Tswamba was cautiously pulling his sleeve pointing at the two guards who were approaching in a hostile manner.

Garnier and his companion continued their course and the two Arabs returned to their control location. The Frenchman was visibly affected by the fleeting feminine appearance and his attitude showed it very clearly.

“Beautiful.”Said Tswamba.

Surprised by the comment Alain turned to his companion.

“What did you say?”

“The Arab woman. She is beautiful.”

“Could you see her well?” The question was actually rhetoric.

The manyema nodded.

Garnier smiled once again both surprised and pleased. He recalled with contempt those imbeciles in Paris who wondered seriously if blacks have soul.

Garnier and Tswamba spent almost two full days exploring the lakeshore and surroundings seeking adequate game prey to provide food to the small contingent during the subsequent days. Both men flayed and cut the slices of meat from a young antelope to make sure they would not carry unnecessary burdens to the camp and then started back. As they were approaching the stream near which their group had camped Tswamba pointed to the opposite shore.

“The Arabs. Gone!” Exclaimed with his limited vocabulary.

Alain felt a pinch in his gut. Since he had glimpsed her in passing he had made a point of looking at the face of the young Arab lady and now she had vanished into the jungle. The man already knew the customs of nomadic caravans of Arab merchants and thought that the chances to meet the woman again in the vastness of the African savannah were almost nil. It would have been only a momentary reverie.

Tswamba took him again out of his abstraction and the Frenchman followed his steps toward the place where the Arabs had once raised their tents and was now completely desolate. The manyema pointed at marks on the floor.

“There! Elephants.”

Alain looked at the place his companion was pointing and saw on the loose soil the unmistakable marks left by elephant tusks that had undoubtedly been stacked on the floor before.

“So they are ivory traffickers!” Muttered to him.

In the depths of his psyche Garnier had trouble reconciling the pure image of the woman that his eye had caught with the well known predatory activity of elephant hunters.

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