Three-Wheeling Through Africa Explained

Italic Title:Three-Wheeling Through Africa
Three-Wheeling Through Africa
Author:James Calmar Wilson
Country:USA
Language:English
Genre:Travelogue
Set In:Present-day Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea
Publisher:Bobbs-Merrill Company
Published:1936

Three-Wheeling Through Africa is an autobiographical book and a best seller written by James Calmar Wilson in 1936 about the first motorcycle trip crossing the continent of Africa.

James Wilson and Francis Flood were sailing around the coast of Africa as Flood was writing travel articles for his newspaper in the United States. On a lark, Wilson talked Flood into traversing the continent on 5 horse-power single-cylinder Triumph motorcycle. They encounter many trials along the way, often resorting to pushing the bikes where the paths were not suitable as they doggedly pursue a route through jungle and desert from Lagos, Nigeria to the Red Sea. Throughout the book Wilson refers to their adventure as the "Flood-Wilson Trans-African Motorcycle Expedition". Later Lowell Thomas encouraged him to write a book. It includes many encounters with tribal people, poisonous snakes and officers and expatriates from England and France in African colonies and outposts. It was briefly reviewed in the Montreal Gazette in 1936.

Only two years prior had any motor vehicle crossed the continent, that was by automobile. Flood and Wilson chose a route that took them above Lake Chad. Flood and Wilson are noted among long-distance motorcycle riders.

List of cities, villages and forts listed in order by Wilson in the book

Location Date Mileage Note
November 10 0 Atlantic Coast
November 18 66
November 20 114
November 25 220
November 31 275
Ushiba 2 nights from Jebba
departed on December 5 406 3 days from Jebba
750
Zinder, December 24
December 25
December 31
Belaberum
Lade
North of Lake Chad
D'Germana, Chad
Hemmina
modern maps show "Abeche"
modern maps show Al Junaynah
modern maps show Al Fashir
Red Sea, Modern day Eritrea

Bibliography

Book: Wilson, James Calmar . Three-wheeling Through Africa . Blue Ribbon Books . 1938 . 1936 . fifth.