Attilio Gatti (

Voghera The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera ( Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy. The population was 39,374 ...

(

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, Italy) 10 July 1896 - Derby Line (

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, USA) 1 July 1969) was an Italian-born explorer, author, and documentary filmmaker who traveled extensively in Africa in the first half of the 20th century.

Expeditions

1939 International Jungle Yacht Truck, Commander Gatti

Gatti, a member of the ''Società Reale Italiana di Geografia ed Antropologia'', was among the last great

safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

expedition men. He led thirteen expeditions to Africa starting in 1922. Broke after the financial disaster of his 7th African expedition, Gatti settled in the US in 1930. His second spouse Ellen accompanied him on his 8th expedition. They did the 10th (in Belgian Congo, 1938-1940) and 11th expeditions ("To the Mountains of the Moon" i.e. the

Rwenzori The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches , and the range' ...

Mountains at the border of Uganda, 1947-1948) with a caravan of motor vehicles including a 9-ton "Jungle Yacht", custom built by

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

in Chicago. Gatti became one of the first Europeans to see and capture the fabled

okapi The okapi (; ''Okapia johnstoni''), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe, or zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. It is the only species i ...

and bongo, a brown lyre-horned antelope with white stripes. He was an enthusiastic

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

operator using

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

OQ5ZZ. Known as "Bwana Makubwa", he was very familiar to the

Pygmy In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...

tribe. He photographed them as well as the

Watussi Watussi was a Sydney-based band that performed Afro-Colombian rock 'n' roots, with lyrics mainly sung in Spanish. The band's name is slang for "the most handsome man at the party". Their album ''Tequila, Sangre y Fuego'' was nominated for the 20 ...

and Masai. His books, articles, and some 53,000 photos have become invaluable scientific and anthropological resources.

Books

* Gatti, Attilio. ''Tom-toms in the Night''. London : Hutchinson & C°, 1932, 285 p., fig. (includes: ''The King of the Gorillas''. 1932) * ''Black Mist''. 1933 * Gatti, Ellen ; Gatti, Attilio. ''Hidden Africa''. London : Hutchinson & co. ltd, 1933. 286 p., ill. * Gatti, Attilio. ''Musungu : romanzo''. Milano : Editrice Genio, 1933, 247 p., ill. * Gatti, Attilio. ''Great Mother Forest''. London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1936. 344 p. * Gatti, Attilio. ''Saranga the Pigmy''. Ill. by Kurt Wiese. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939, 226 p. (trad. in Italian: ''Saranga il cacciatore''. 1941) * ''Kamanda: An African Boy''. 1941 (with ill. by Ellen Gatti) * ''The Wrath of Moto''. 1941 * Gatti, Attilio. ''Adventure in black and white''. Ill. by Kurt Wiese. New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1943. 172 p., ill. * Gatti, Ellen ; Gatti, Attilio. ''Here is Africa''. Ill. with photographs by Attilio Gatti and others ; maps by Raymond Lufkin. New York : Scribner's Sons, 1943, 166 p., carte, fig. * Gatti, Attilio. ''Killers all !''. New York : R.M. McBride & c°, 1943, 245 p., ill. * ''Mediterranean Spotlights''. 1944 * ''South of the Sahara: Perilous Encounters with Big Game and Strange Peoples in the African Wilds''. 1945 * ''Here Is the Veld''. 1948 * ''Kamanda on Safari''. (1953?) * ''Jungle Killers''. 1958 * Gatti, Attilio. ''Africa is adventure''. New York : Messner, 1959, 249 p. * Gatti, Ellen ; Gatti, Attilio.''The New Africa''. Ill. with phot. by the authors and others ; maps by Rafael Palacios. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, World background books, 1960, X, 213 p., ill. * ''Sangoma''. 1962 * ''Bapuka''. 1963 Ellen Gatti: ''Exploring We Would Go''. 1944 (autobiography)

Movies

* ''Siliva Zulu: Storia Negra in 5 Parti'' (Italy 1927/1928; silent film; with anthropologist professor

Lidio Cipriani Lidio Cipriani (17 March 18928 October 1962) was an anthropologist, university teacher and explorer from Florence. Education and academia He made his doctorate in Natural Science, became docente of Anthropology at the University of Florence and ...

) * ''Tramonto dei blasoni'' (Italy 1928; silent film) * ''Perils of the Jungle'' (USA 1941) * ''Bitter Spears'' (USA 1956; remake of "Siliva the Zulu")

References

External links

Goodbye Forever to Africa!
Source: International Trucks, power Gatti-Hallicrafters Expedition, part 1

* ttp://1940s.org/history/commander-gattis-jungle-yacht-and-african-expedition/ Commander Gattis Jungle Yacht and African Expedition {{DEFAULTSORT:Gatti, Attilio Italian explorers 1896 births 1969 deaths Amateur radio people