Chapman and Baines

David Livingstone is reputed to have been the first European to see the Victoria Falls when he was travelling on the Zambesi in 1855, and he named them after Queen Victoria. In 1858 he made an expedition taking with him his brother Charles as photographer, but as far as I am aware, no photographs of the Falls survive from this trip (if any were taken). Other explorers followed: W.C Baldwin in 1860, Martinus Swartz in 1861 and in 1862 George Wood and Courtney Selous. James Chapman was to have accompanied Livingstone on his 1858 expedition, but they had a disagreement and Chapman eventually organised another expedition with Thomas Baines during the years 1861 - 1862. This started at Walvis Bay and went up the West Coast to Lake Ngami and on to the Victoria Falls. Many photographs survive from this journey, but sadly for Chapman, he was unable to overcome technical problems at the Falls, and so no photographs were taken of the Falls themselves. Baines, however, left a series of paintings depicting the Falls, and the following examples will show to what extent he availed himself of artistic licence. Although Watson travelled to the Falls in 1873, it was not until 1891 that he took the photographs, almost thirty years after Chapman's attempts. It seems that no photographs were taken (or survive) from the intervening years.

Some paintings by Thomas Baines from his 1861 - 1862 expedition.

---

Falls Index