T Alexander Barns Books

Thomas Alexander Barns (1880 - 1930) was a British traveller, hunter and naturalist in Africa. Barns first went to Africa to work in the coffee industry. He then became an agent for the Tanganyika Concessions in Northern Rhodesia, where he also worked in ranching, organising exploratory expeditions to German and Portuguese East Africa, hunted elephants, traded ivory and collected zoological specimens for museums. One of his elephants, shot in Nyasaland, which was extraordinarily tall at 11' 4", was exhibited as a full mount in the Natural History Museum in London.

Getting a full elephant skin back to England was no mean feat in those days - it took 40 porters to carry it to the nearest river steamer stop.

Between 1919 and 1922 Barns led three expeditions through the Belgian Congo and the Tanganyika Territory. He became the first Englishman to describe the Ngorongoro Crater and was one of the earliest observers of mountain gorillas in the Congo..

An African Eldorado: The Belgian Congo by T Alexander Barns (1926). Chapters include The Craterland of Kivu, Rail, Road and River Routes, Pygmies, Cannibals, African Apes. Sections include Natural History and Anthropology.

Angolan Sketches by T Alexander Barns (1928) is not primarily hunting but a book sought after by hunters because it is a scarce work on Angola and gives a good picture of the pre-war conditions in the country and the outdoors. Lots of sport and adventure.

The Highlands Of The Great Craters, Tanganyika Territory by T Alexander Barns (1921) is an extract from Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 1921.

The Wonderland Of The Eastern Congo: The Region Of The Snow-Crowned Volcanoes, The Pygmies, The Giant Gorilla And The Okapi by T Alexander Barns (1922) with the introduction by H H Johnston. The author explored the region about Lake Kivu and between Kivu and Ruwenzori in the Congo with good descriptions of the native peoples and nature and with some emphasis on gorillas, elephants, lions, entomology, cannibals and the volcanoes. The appendix lists the new species of butterflies and moths collected by the author and his wife who accompanied him. Free eBook

Across The Great Craterland To The Congo by T Alexander Barns (1924). "Describing a journey of exploration and research to the land of the giant craters in Tanganyika Territory, and to the forest, lakes and volcanoes of the South-Eastern Congo. With some account of the African apes and the capture and training of the African elephant."