In the 19th century, the idea of exploring ‘unknown’ Africa was a magnet for courageous and adventurous Europeans. Among them, Thomas Baines (1820-1875) is a towering figure whose legacy rests on his thousands of sketches, watercolours and oil paintings in public and private collections. A talented artist, cartographer and close observer of natural history and of the people he encountered, his many carefully drawn and accurate maps and journals full of rich and meticulous descriptions of his travels have left an unrivalled record. Much has been written about his life and career, but following his journeys in his own words through his published diaries gives an immediacy and excitement to his era and to his experiences. Intrepid modern travellers in southern Africa often make a pilgrimage in their 4WD vehicles to ‘Baines’s Baobabs’, a remote site in the vast expanse of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in Nxai Pan National Park, central Botswana. Baines painted these trees, Adansonia digitate, on the bottom half of a page in his sketchbook, and his caption reads: “Group of Baobabs on the North Western spruits of Ntetwe Salt Pan, Wednesday 21 May pm 1862, T. Baines”.
He documented the scene: “A long circuit brought me … to the clump of baobabs we had seen yesterday from the wagon; five full-sized trees and two or three younger ones were standing, so that when in leaf their foliage must form one magnificent shade. One gigantic trunk had fallen and lay prostrate, but still losing none of its vitality, sent forth branches and young leaves like the rest. The general colour of the immense stems was grey and rough; but where the old bark had peeled and curled off, the new … shone through over large portions, giving them, according to the light or shade, a red or yellow grey or a deep purple tone.”
THOMAS BAINES f ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY VIA GETTY IMAGES