Alan P. Landau

Whilst doing the research for ‘Langbourne’ I came accross a number if fascinating facts in anecdotes about the Langbourne brothers, some of which I will include for the reader’s interest.  Having lived in Africa most of my life, I could relate to many of these stories and events, but sometimes writing about them in the book was not the right platform.  However here I can discuss some incidents in more detail.​

 

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When the brothers left Port Elizabeth for Patensie, they spent their first night by a dry river bed where Morris and David, in the story, tried using their Martini Henry rifle for the first time.

 

For most of the year river beds such as these are dry.  The sand is usually very fine and soft making crossing them extremely difficult for wagons.  In the summer months it is normally the wet season.  This can make traversing these rivers even more difficult, especially if they are inhabited by crocodiles.

 

Below is a typical scene of the type of bushland they would have had to walk through.  I was fortunate enough to come across a pair of White Rhinos when I took this photo.