Sokolov, I.I.: Diary of the Expedition to Kenya and Uganda in 1914

Title

Dnevnik ekspeditsii v Keniiu i Ugandu v 1914 godu, Sankt-Peterburg 1999

Diary of the Expedition to Kenya and Uganda in 1914

Keywords

Summary

The book consists of daily diary entries of variable length, which provide detailed ethnographic data and descriptions of the flora and fauna of East Africa. It is, therefore, a volume particularly relevant for naturalists, though it could also be read as captivating travel notes recounting the colonial situation in Kenya and Uganda. Sokolov’s observations are accompanied by his numerous drawings (80), as well as by one photo. The other photos he took during the journey are conserved in his family’s archive, and haven’t been published yet.

Bio

Born in Saint Petersburg, where he graduated, Sokolov later joined the local faculty of zoology. He travelled extensively across Europe for scientific reasons (Germany, Switzerland, Italy), and published many relevant studies in his field. Along with Valentin Dogel’, he went to Kenya and Uganda in 1914 (April-August), a journey that ended abruptly due to the beginning of WW1. Having received the doctorate, after the Revolution he worked as a professor of biology and later at the Institute of Cell Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He died in 1972 without having published his diary about the journey to East Africa. During his lifetime, he devoted only two articles to this expedition, Description of the Journey (V. Dogel’, I. Sokolov, Opisanie puteshestviia, “Nauchnye rezul’taty zoologicheskoi ekspeditsii prof. V.A. Dogelia i I.I. Sokolova v Britanskuiu Vostochnuiu Afriku i Ugandu v 1914 g.”, t. 1, Pg. 1916) and In Tropical Africa: From Mombasa to Lake Victoria (I. Sokolov, V Tropicheskoi Afrike: Ot Mombasy do ozera Viktoriia-N’iantsa, “Chelovek i priroda”, 1923, 10-11).

Sources

B. Val’skaia, Puteshestvie V.A. Dogelia i I.I. Sokolova v Keniiu i Ugandu v 1914 g., “Strany i narody Vostoka”, 1980, XXI, p. 148-186;

B. Val’skaia, A. Zhukov, Ekspeditsiia V.A. Dogelja i I.I. Sokolova v Keniiu i Ugandu v 1914, in I. Sokolov, Dnevnik ekspeditsii v Keniiu i Ugandu v 1914 godu, Sankt-Peterburg 1999, p. 5-22.

A.F.