Sarah 
Part 2: Into the Heart of Africa
David Livingstone touched down in South Africa: hot, dry country, sunburned skin, strange birds, tree-covered mountains, and red earth. It was nothing like the cold and gray of Scotland.
He had never before seen such beauty and such danger.
David was not afraid. He had come to help and learn, not just map or preach. He wanted to know the Africans, not just study a map of them across the world. He believed that you cannot know a land unless you have walked through it.
So he began to travel.
David rarely stayed in a town or village for a long period. He traveled from one village to another like most people would travel, usually by foot or ox-cart (David’s life was not full of luxury). He took time to learn local languages, even picking up some Tswana. He listened to the people. He provided medicine for sick people. He educated children on reading and writing.
He did not try to dominate any group of people; he believed in respect, not power. Many people were astonished. Most white men came to take, not give. David came to share knowledge and peace.
However, not every day was a peaceful day.
One day, in a village close to the Kalahari Desert, David heard that a lion was killing the animals of the local people. It was a big, bold lion; it was coming close to the houses.
David raised his hand, to offer to help, by joining a hunting party. They followed the tracks of the lion through the tall grass. The lion jumped out of the grass and jumped right at David.
Before he could shoot, guard him, the guard grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him like a toy. Another man shot the lion. David survived, but his left arm never worked similarly again – the shoulder sleeve remained stiff for the rest of his life.
David made a crazy decision: he was going to go where no one from Europe had ever gone before. He was going to cross the Kalahari desert, where he would find a sweet water lake, said to be huge, that the local people had told him about.
The desert was dry and cruel. Some of his oxen died. He ran out of food. His throat was dry for days. But he kept going, anyway.
Many weeks later, he saw the glimmer of sunlight on the water. He made it to Lake Ngami, a large, beautiful lake in Botswana. He was the first person from Europe to document it.
But he was not done.
David continued to travel north. He fought his way across rivers teeming with crocodiles. He marched through swamps filled with leeches and snakes. He got malaria several times.
He maintained that Africa was more a land of wonder than darkness. And that he wanted to see the world.
To be continued…..
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