Rainey African Expedition, 1911-1912

Following the conclusion of the Smithsonian-Roosevelt Expedition [Smithsonian African Expedition], Paul J. Rainey offered to take a Smithsonian naturalist on his trip to British East Africa. At that time, Edmund Heller was working on the mammal collection which had come in from the Roosevelt Expedition. He was temporarily removed from that work and accompanied Rainey to Africa, leaving New York on February 18, 1911, joining Rainey in Naples and arriving in Mombasa on March 22. The expedition's route covered territory north and east of that covered by the Roosevelt expedition and included the country between northern British East Africa [Kenya] and southern Abyssinia. Important localities visited included the Mombasa region, the Loiti [Loita] Plains, Nairobi and vicinity, Fort Hall, Mount Kenia [Kirinyaga] and vicinity, Mount Uaragess and vicinity and the Kavirando Bay region of Lake Victoria.