I went into this book expecting it to be emotionally challenging—and it absolutely was. But what I didn’t anticipate was just how intellectually challenging it would be too. My knowledge of African history is limited, and at times I felt a little lost, but that didn’t take away from the reading experience—it actually deepened it. This book made me *want* to learn more.

Sophy Roberts approaches this story with incredible curiosity, and that curiosity is contagious. Her passion and personal investment in the subject shine through every page. I loved how she included her own journey of uncovering the story—not only did it make the book more engaging, but it also grounded the historical research in something deeply human and relevant to today.

This book is about far more than a training school for elephants. It’s about colonialism, conservation, the poaching industry, cultural erasure, and the devastating effects of an urbanising world. Roberts doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable truths—about how big game hunting by Europeans created the crisis of animal loss in the first place, and how the modern solutions to this crisis (like national parks) have displaced communities, destroyed ancestral lands, and further entrenched the damage.

One of the things I admired most was how Roberts shares her conversations with locals. She never claims their stories as her own but instead invites the reader into the exchange. It feels like you’re right there with her, listening, learning.

The book is rich with historical anecdotes and detailed storytelling—at times I felt a bit overwhelmed, likely due to my own lack of context. It’s one of those books I wish I had in physical form so I could easily flick back to maps or names. I read it on Kindle, but I think this is one that would shine in print.

Incredibly ambitious in scope, *A Training School for Elephants* starts with a very specific piece of history and expands outwards, touching on so many interconnected issues. It’s a powerful, uncomfortable, eye-opening read.

4 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC, which contains an immersive history of colonialism with all its greed, violence, and folly. Written by Sophy Roberts, her amount of in-depth research was impressive. She lists her vast reference material and inserts herself into the story, adding to the reader's involvement. She follows along an 1879 trail to give a feeling of what the country was like then and how it has changed. Along her way, she stops to study records, interview people about what they knew about her story and the whereabouts of elephants., and describe their life in modern Africa.

Her book combines descriptive travel writing, history, politics, and personal experience. When she ponders the elephants' fate, the strength of their memory, and their emotions, she is saddened by humans' treatment of them. She wonders how human attitudes can be changed to make the world safer for all animals.

Historical records show the intrusion of stronger nations into developing regions with little regard for the populations. The aim was to seize control of the country's natural resources. I can't help but think that the way of colonialism has not strictly remained in the past. Their reasons for invading were often said to be a way to tame savage wildernesses while extracting minerals, wood pulp, and other resources for their own increasing wealth.

King Leopold of Belgium ruled vast stolen land in the Congo. The idea was to use African elephants as beasts of burden, to clear the paths, to ride through the jungles, and to be put to work extracting the resources for Belgium. The population of the country was not considered. Unlike domesticated Indian elephants, wild African elephants were regarded as untameable. A desperate scheme was envisioned where four tame Indian elephants were to be taken to the Congo. An adventurer, Frederick Carter, was chosen and enlisted to head the scheme. Dozens of wild African elephants were rounded up by men with the difficult task of domesticating them. Carter, unfortunately, knew little about elephants except through wild game hunting.

Four Indian elephants were transported by ship from Mumbai to Stone Town in Zanzibar. They were forced to swim to shore, a task to which they were unaccustomed and began their long trek to Lake Tanganyika, where they were to be used as examples for the African elephants. They were forced to carry about seven times the usual weight in heavy equipment, and their feet were not adapted to rough ground. They lacked sufficient food and water., and were subject to tropical disease. Reading about their treatment was very sad.

The author has added interesting photographs from the time, and many were shocking, depicting vast stores of ivory to be sent back to Europe. Tribal chiefs were made to feel disrespected. The deaths of many humans and elephants ended this scheme.

This was a well-written book that focused on the past and present days. It was heartbreaking to read about elephants that are now regarded as an endangered species due to human interference and cruelty.. It was an informative look at Colonel times and present-day central Africa. The Training School for Elephants is to be published on April 22.

Interesting story but the writing felt a bit jarring with a lot of "I did this", "i did that". Sheds light on another dark era of colonialism.

What a tragic story this is and a savage indictment of the greed, rapaciousness, cruelty and the occasional sheer idiocy of colonialism. With a blend of history, travelogue and personal experience, Sophy Roberts follows in Carter’s footsteps and compellingly tells the story of a largely forgotten venture and brings it vividly back to life. It’s quite a bizarre story. In 1879 the adventurer Frederick Carter was tasked by King Leopold II of Belgium to accompany four trained Indian elephants from Mumbai to Zanzibar and to oversee their planned use as beasts of burden to “extract Africa’s abundant natural resources”. Carter was also tasked with capturing dozens of wild African elephants, which he would then train and domesticate at a new elephant training school on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, to add to the workforce. It doesn’t take a genius to predict how this would pan out. The expedition was doomed from the start, and the fate of the elephants is a sad one indeed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learnt a lot from it. Highly recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic Atlantic Monthly Press for an advance copy of this book that is both travel memoir and a tracing of a path through Africa of a group of animals and men with plans to tame a "savage wilderness" during the late nineteenth century.

In high school we learned a bit of history. Every year we seemed to start at the same time, and end about World War II. We learned a lot of facts, but not much more. Even those facts were questionable, more on the wooden teeth of Washington that on his slave holdings. Of Africa we learned very little, only as it tied into slave trade in America. If we did, again it was just facts to pass a test, nothing of importance. Even with this I was always drawn to history, and once I started reading books, I found that history is more than facts. History is geography, philosophy, mindsets, religion, and even biases, from writer, from reader and from the times. History also is nature. How nature is effected by history, how nature recovers from history, and how nature gets dragged into history. Some stories are funny, camels in the American southwest. Emu wars in Australia. Some are dark, dogs, cats and horses in war. Some are sad, like this book about Africa, hubris, colonialism, men getting in way over their heads, and elephants. A Training School for Elephants:Retracing a Curious Episode in the European Grab for Africa by Sophy Roberts is a look at the attempt to use elephants as wondrous tools of colonialism, as well as a memoir of Roberts trying to come to grips with the story.

In the year of 1879,King Leopold of Belgium had a problem. The King had claimed a vast expanse of the continent of Africa for his own use, but had not thought about the problems that were very present. The disease, the lack of roads and infrastructure, and the lack of experienced people to help him. The idea was raised of using elephants as heavy equipment. Using elephants trained in India, these elephants could be transported to Africa and walk to what would become a school, using captured African elephants as students to move obstructions, carry great weights and more. An Irishman with little experience with animals, outside of shooting them, was chosen by the name of Frederick Carter. Four elephants were chosen, and sent by boat to Africa, where they first had to swim to shore, carry more weight than the were used to and sent on their way. As we learn this history, Sophy Roberts herself follows the modern trails with companions, following the route stopping in towns for research and seeing what has changed in almost 150 years. Roberts stops in churches, visits old towns, finds stories of the elephants, and why life is like for many in modern Africa.

A book that was far more than I expected. Roberts fills the stories with not just facts, but human stories. Elephant stories also. Roberts goes into the life these elephants had in India, life that was far different than they were exposed to. Roberts writes about these amazing creatures, their memories, their feelings, the way they grieve, and their treatment. Roberts also meets an interesting cast who share their stories, which gives a real strong feeling to the writing. There was quite a lot I liked. The chapters intermingle with Roberts travels and the travels in the past. However one never gets lost as Roberts is a really gifted writer. There is a lot of great writing here, and a lot of sadness. However this was a book I really enjoyed.

Nature readers will quite enjoy this, as well as people who like history, especially odd history. This is the second book I have read by Roberts, and feel I have some catching up to do. A very interesting tale, and a book that reminds me that the world is filled with a lot of weird stories. Thankfully we have writers like Sophy Roberts to share them with us.

A really excellent albeit sad story about a forgotten era of colonial abuses. Anyone interested in the history of colonialism should read this. I did find it very sad though - could only read it in bits and pieces!

This was interesting, but not what I thought it was. I am sure it is a need for this type of book, but just not with me.

King Leopold of Belgium is rightly infamous for his horrible abuses of people in Congo while extracting rubber from the country which was his own private domain for decades. A lesser known part of the story is Leopoldo’s attempt to create a training program for African elephants by sending four Asian elephants and their trainers to the East Coast of Africa and overland into the Congo. The author follows the elephants journey, both filling in historical details and providing vivid details of the economic and ecological changes in the region.

This was a fascinating concept, it had a period of time that I didn’t know anything about and got to learn about this. Sophy Roberts does a great job in showing the darker elements to this and have an adventure element to it. I really felt for the elephants and thought it was a fantastic story.