Staś and Nel travelled a great deal across deserts. Little wonder: they take up most of the territory of Egypt. The country lies in the dry tropical zone, and there are no permanent rivers other than the Nile. Because only a small percent of the territory can be farmed, settlement in Egypt has always been concentrated in the valley and the delta of the Nile, which is also portrayed in Sienkiewicz’s novel.

Civilisation in Egypt dates back to the 5th millennium BC. The first communities were hunters, farmers, traders and…

A fair share of the events described in the novel take place in the country of Sudan. Geographically, Sudan lies south of the Sahara Desert. It spreads nearly across the entire African continent from the state of Sudan as far as Senegal. Its name comes from Arabic and means “the land of the black people” – most of the indigenous population have dark skin.

The state of Sudan is a republic situated in north western Africa, south of Egypt, along the Nile. It covers nearly 2,000,000km² (775,000mi²) and has a…

Today the territory where Staś and Nel travelled after the escape from the kidnappers is Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda. Since ancient times, the territory was inhabited by settled peoples dealing primarily with agriculture and animal breeding.

We don’t know much, however, about the earliest history of the area, and more precise information dates back to the time when the Egyptian state took over control over it, that is, since the 19th century. The southern expanses of Sudan and northern Uganda are among the highest in Africa. They may be…

Britain had several colonies and dependent territories on the African continent. We will, however, focus on British East Africa as the last stage of Staś and Nel’s adventure leads through Kenya, which was part of it. It started in the Wa-Hima villages by Basso Narok Lake and ended in Mombasa by the Indian Ocean.

Kenya lies on the Indian Ocean and is bisected by the Equator, which means that a part of the country lies on the northern hemisphere and the other on the southern. Most of its territory is…