Jacquelyn Borgeson is the curator of The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum which is located in Osa's hometown of Chanute, Kansas. Formed in 1961 to preserve the Johnsons achievements and to encourage further research into their fields of study, the Safari Museum (as it was originally named) has grown and flourished. The museum started with a core collection of the Johnsons films, photographs, manuscripts, articles, books, and personal belongings donated by Osa's mother. The museum shares the beautiful old railroad depot with the Chanute Library.

The museum website can be found here: www.safarimuseum.com

The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum is a not-for-profit, 501©(3) organization.

It is situated in Chanute's beautifully renovated Santa Fe train depot at 111 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chanute, KS, 66720

Who were Martin and Osa Johnson? What is their history, how did they meet and what drove them to Africa and other such wildernesses when such undertakings were expensive and difficult?

Documentary filmmakers, photographers, naturalists and authors, Martin and Osa Johnson traveled the world together from 1917 to 1936 when few Americans ventured beyond our shores. This amazing couple captured the public’s imagination with their films and books of adventure in distant, exotic lands. Ernest Hemingway said the Johnsons destroyed the preconceptions of the Black Continent by bringing it to the silver screen, and as curator of a museum dedicated to them, I concur!

As a young man in 1906, Martin was invited along on a sailing expedition planned by author Jack London. In 1910, upon returning to his hometown of Independence , Kansas he opened a theater and showed lantern-projected travelogues of his adventures aboard THE SNARK. It was at this theater that he met Osa Leighty. They eloped shortly thereafter and the “Married Adventure” was officially underway.

Their draw toward Africa ? Well, for Martin it was really a call to adventure. After his trip with Jack London , Martin said he’d finally “run shoulder to shoulder with adventure” and I think it did set the course for the rest of his life. Every choice he made from that day forward—including the woman he selected as his life partner—was predicated on staying in that race with adventure.

As for Osa’s drive and reasons for undertaking this wholly unconventional lifestyle, I think it had to do with her childhood and family support. She was her father’s daughter. As a tomboy she was always trailing him and her brother through the woods and along the streams, so the outdoors always beckoned her. On the evenings when she did have to stay inside, she was often found listening intently to her favorite aunt’s tales of life as a circus performer. Aunt Minnie was a cigar smoking, non-sidesaddle horse riding carny, people! Girls Osa’s age in that time didn’t have many role models that exciting. I am quite sure Minnie instilled in young Osa the idea that women who wished to follow their own dreams must never allow themselves to be bound down by petticoats and shouldn’t give a fig in regard to what others considered “proper female behavior.” That is certainly the mentality Osa embraced her entire adult life, and in Martin, who was more than willing to be her partner and open cohort in planning altogether nontraditional escapades, she could not have found a better love match.

In a time when hunting prevailed in the locations where the Johnsons were based, what made them want to document the wildlife with use of both still photography and film?

They were in Africa during the brink…the tipping point─when the once abundant wildlife was suddenly becoming non-existent. Martin and Osa were shocked and dismayed by the scars of mass hunting…and the wars...and the land grabbing...all the influences that were changing the face of the Africa they had come to admire.

I am going to cover the Johnsons shift from a “hunting was standard practice and therefore acceptable” mentality in the next question, and use Martin’s own words to do it. As to what made the Johnsons so dedicated to the overwhelming goal of documenting Africa in its entirety? Bottomline: Martin and Osa grew up on the prairie. They saw what unchecked hunting and “progress” did to the bison and the Native Americans and they wanted to give the world a record of the Africa they feared was about to be lost forever. This was the contribution they believed they could make…And they were right.

Hunting or conservation? What was their involvement in each and how did one lead to the other? When it was assumed that African wildlife was so bountiful it could last forever, do you think that as they became more involved in documenting it they felt a growing consternation at those involved, and if so why?

As is so often the case, first hunting, then conservation. The Johnsons hunted on their initial trip to Africa in 1921…the first leg anyway. It was what one did when one went on safari. This first trip was really a scouting endeavor…have a bit of fun, see what (if anything) was worth filming and mainly discover precisely what adventures could be drummed out of the bush. But after being there for a few months and hearing the tales of how it was changing from the old timers? Well, that’s when I believe the stark reality hit Martin and Osa. That’s when they started seriously pursuing that story of an untouched waterhole in the middle of the desert…they knew it might be the last stronghold and if they didn’t get there soon it might be gone without a trace.

In 1923, just before embarking on their “Four Years in Paradise Expedition,” Martin and Osa’s perspective of their mission and goals in the field changed dramatically when for the first time they publicly announced a conservation agenda. Below are some excerpts from a lengthy article Martin wrote for Worlds Work entitled “What I Am Trying To Do: Why Now is the Time to get a Permanent Motion Picture of Untouched Africa.”


On and off during their careers, the Johnsons did accept assistance from diehard hunters like George Eastman. Even after they became aware of the devastation to wildlife, they did it, in my opinion, as a “necessary evil.” Martin and Osa were not independently wealthy…they could not film without sponsors…and if they couldn’t make the types of documentary records they had come to believe were a “now or never” proposition, who would do it? They were more than willing to exploit their celebrity status and utilize just about any funds they could obtain if it allowed them the opportunity to do the task they had assigned themselves. Ethical? Debatable, but the fact remains that today the world has 140 miles of unprecedented film footage and over 10,000 photos that preserve images of an Africa we, nor any future generations, will ever see again…and one we might never have known even existed if Martin and Osa Johnson hadn’t been willing to risk life and limb and be counter intuitive to their own conservation beliefs to get the job done.

How have they influenced the world of wildlife and travel documentary?

I think by making it look so easy and glamorous, and just being so “boy and girl next door” easy to relate to, Martin and Osa have inspired untold numbers of people to take a serious interest in this field and to use their own special talents to make a difference. We have letters where Martin or Osa would respond to children who wrote them asking to come along on their next trip about why they couldn’t take them, but how they sincerely hoped the young wannabe explorers would focus on their most important dreams and then use their own skills and wits to make those dreams a reality.

During September 1921 they visited Africa for the first time, traveling to Kenya. What preparation would it have required to undertake such a trip at that time, and how would they have financed such an adventure?

The preparation was massive…they knew they would be spending several months traveling to central Kenya (the Athi Plains, the Ithanga Hills, the Loita Hills and northwest across the Loita Plains)…and perhaps further (which turned out to be all the way to Marsabit, in Kenya’s Northern Frontier District), so they had to plan for any and all contingencies and figure out how to get their kit there and what they needed to bring. The Johnsons discuss all the contacts they had to make to get this first expedition off the ground in their books (Osa in I Married Adventure and Martin in Camera Trails in Africa) in great depth and in far more entertaining ways than I could here. Suffice it to say, they contacted just about any person they’d ever heard of who’d been to Africa and hit them up for contacts, tips, and, I’m sure, financing.

This brings us to the financial section of the query. First, Martin and Osa sunk in all the savings they made in the sale of their South Seas and Borneo films. The smash commercial success of their latest film, JUNGLE ADVENTURES plus the valuable assistance of Carl Akeley, who put them in contact with a number of potential backers, made it easy for Martin to locate a much broader base of stockholders and investors for his film production company (which was quickly renamed Martin Johnson African Films during the planning process). Lastly, Martin’s father, John Johnson, sold the family jewelry store in Independence , Kansas . The only stipulation on the last check was that father Johnson got to come along on the adventure. I think from the huge smile on his face as he stood alongside Martin and Osa when they finally found “the secret lake in the desert” he was very pleased he made that investment.

In a generation where everything is immediate and on TV, upon initial release of their films what was the public reaction to them, bearing in mind that these were unique images and unseen footage to the vast majority of the world?

To put it bluntly, the general public was gob smacked, the critics dazzled, and the professional biologists/anthropologists/photographers were absolutely green with envy.

Back to the public---we have photos and newspaper accounts of theater entrance lines wrapping around blocks to get into the Johnsons films in NY, Los Angeles , Amarillo , and St. Paul … The size of the city didn’t matter for crowds, but I do imagine that the people in smaller towns were in for the biggest shock since they may well have never been to a zoo or ever even had a carnival come through town so seeing those images was the first real look at animals not found in their own backyard.

And the films were not just a hit stateside…we know from press reports and photos in our archives that these same reactions occurred at the film premieres of SIMBA, CONGORILLA, and BABOONA in countries such as Japan, France, England, Germany, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina.

How famous were the Johnsons during their lifetimes, and how has knowledge and appreciation of their work grown since their deaths?

They were celebrities of the highest caliber in their day. Newspaper and tabloid photographers trailed their heels the same they did Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. Osa had at least one stalker who proclaimed they were married…Martin and Osa’s fame was as “pure Hollywood ” as could be, for good and for bad. It was only after Martin’s death and WWII that they began to lose some of their pop culture acclaim. This was due in part to Americans finally becoming jet-setters and the sudden loss of remoteness to the various Johnson haunts.

From the 1960s on, however, interest in them has begun to build again. That was when the museum was formed, mostly due to the dedication of Osa’s mother and thanks in part to the constant requests for information from wildlife conservationists and zoologists. It seems Martin and Osa are “rediscovered” by a different niche field each decade. Below is my wholly tongue-in-cheek assessment of the niche field breakdown by decade:

In the 60s, it was the conservationists who were interested in learning more about that couple who predicted in their 1923 book Safari that elephants would be extinct by the end of the century, because, you know, hey folks, they might have been right and maybe further insight into their work could stop that… In the 70s the anthropologists started calling to find out if the rumors were true that some kids from Kansas had filmed the Vanuatu islanders reaction to themselves on film in 1917 or Rendilles speaking in an all but extinct dialect of their language at a market scene in 1921, etc. cause, golly, we thought only someone with four PhDs could have invented and conducted such study methodologies. Next came the women studies scholars (80s), and the aviation buffs (90s) who I won’t bother joking about since I have found that neither group has any appreciation for my sense of humor. As for the Aughties? The fashionistas (Martin + Osa Stores leading the pack) and film/literary industry legions are running a dead heat for the honor.

What would have been their expedition “kit list”? And how would it have differed for those who go on safari now?

Did you take a differential bolt with you the last time you went to Africa , Matt? Martin and Osa did—probably a whole gross of them. They had to. On the first four African safaris they had to literally take every imaginable car or camera part that could—and likely would—break. The nearest Willys Knight mechanic was where? London ? Maybe? The closest Kodak repair shop? Rochester , NY with nary a branch in Rhodesia .

And on the 5th trip---when they had the planes? The items they had to bring “just in case” are unbelievable. Entire books could be written on that alone so I am just going to say, on occasion they even brought the kitchen sink. Partial lists of their kits can be found in their books, letters, and articles. Books, which FYI, can be purchased online through the museum’s Osa’s Ark Store. Have I mentioned we’re a struggling, non-profit museum about Africa situated in rural Kansas ? We routinely honor Martin and Osa by squeaking by on a shoe-string budget, but with the economy as it is now, we need all the support we can get to just keep the doors open. So if you would like to own a Johnson book or DVD, buying them through our online store at www.safarimuseum.com could be considered your own good Africana-themed deed for the day…Asante Sana!

Multi-thousand dollar digital SLRs, superzoom / extreme telephoto lenses, laptops, storage drives: this is the equipment a pro photographer / serious amateur takes to Africa now for his safari photography. What equipment did the Johnson’s use both to film and later produce their films?


Even we don’t know the full range or number of cameras they took…there are some lists in their books and letters, but it is far from complete. We do know that Martin was asked by Kodak, Akeley, and Belle Howe to take along experimental equipment and do field reports…it was just one more way of financing their trips. If you look at the original prints in our collection, they are all different sizes and clearly done with different types of film and cameras during these many tests and trials.

Also remember they had to bring every spare part imaginable so the sheer bulk of their equipment was massive due to hauling a camera shop along.

One component of the equipment list that most people might not immediately consider was the developing chemicals and materials. Martin was not able to just “hope” he’d gotten the shot. It took roughly one year---one full YEAR---to get from Kansas to Africa . That timeframe made for demanding and anxious sponsors. After being in a blind or up a tree all day, Martin usually spent most of the evening in a darkroom tent. If the shot wasn’t there, then he knew he’d have to go right back to the same place the next day and get it that time.

During 1933—1934 the Johnsons undertook a Capetown to Cairo African Flying Safari: for what purpose did they do this, how was the trip recorded, and what were the logistics involved?

Every new trip, every “next” mission had to somehow up the adventure ante. That’s what kept the audiences coming back and what won them sponsors. Aviation was “the new fad” and Martin and Osa immediately saw the potential. With airplanes---especially amphibious airplanes---the Johnsons realized they could reach remote regions in mere hours rather than the days…even months…required by their previous foot, camel, and auto safaris.

The trip was recorded in writing in Martin’s book Over African Jungles and on film in what later became the Hollywood feature BABOONA! The funny name of the flying film is a result of sponsorship obligations---the Johnsons were paid to study and record a colony of Baboons during this trip. That footage can be found tacked at the end of this amazing film which includes an hour of far more entertaining, educational, and irreplaceable footage no one wanted to pay to be filmed then that includes:

1. perhaps the earliest aerial footage of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya , Africa ’s two tallest peaks,
2. immense elephant herds at Lorian Swamp which today are all but extinct,
3. and a revisit with the legendary Mbuti peoples of the Ituri Forest who have since systematically been decimated by civil wars.

When Martin died of injuries sustained in a commercial plane crash on January 13th, 1937, how did Osa react and from that date how did she lead the rest of her life until her death in 1953? What did she do to continue her late husband’s memory?

As any devoted spouse would be, Osa was devastated emotionally from the loss. And to add insult to that injury, she was about to be devastated financially. Today Osa is considered “the star” of the pair, and it’s assumed she made the majority of money for them, but that was the 20s-30s-40s and sexism reigned supreme. It was Martin’s endorsements and bookings that paid the bills…and his death, just months after returning from a major trip meant she was facing a huge, crushing debt. I have been told that one of the sponsors actually roosted her from her hospital room---the room Martin had shared with her and where he had just died!---to do a radio endorsement. Showbiz has always been a tough biz, but it got pretty nasty for Osa after Martin. To survive, she had to transform herself from “Mrs. Martin Johnson” to “Osa Johnson” and use all her prairie wits and wiles to make a go of her new solo career.

She succeeded professionally, and for 16 years she honored her life’s work with Martin by writing books, assisting other African-themed movies to be made (examples: footage loaned to Tarzan movies and being the African consultant to Stanley and Livingstone), designing African-oriented clothes and jewelry and even by becoming a television pioneer---Osa Johnson’s Big Game Hunt was the first full-length wildlife documentary on the small screen. Discovery Channel? Animal Planet? Yeah, you both owe Osa a big thank you!

I wish I could say Osa was personally happy, but post Martin that really wasn’t an option. I’m a sappy romantic by nature, but after learning of this couple and reading their letters and hearing countless tales from people who met them of how perfectly matched they were, I have a whole new perspective about the existence of soul mates, the wonders of when they find one another…and the tragedy of when they are separated prematurely. To fill that Martin-sized void in her world, Osa focused on preserving their films and photos. She wanted to open a museum in NY, a Martin Johnson Film Institute, and she literally died while raising funds for it.

Had he not died so prematurely, what do you think they would have gone on to achieve together and why?

Ok, I have been curator here for over a dozen years, so I have the rare privilege of total inside knowledge. I have read each letter, every journal, all their books, seen every film a thousand times, and fervently grilled anyone I could who actually knew them. I also am acquainted with almost all the “Martin and Osa” experts out there---their biographers and the scholars who have studied them ceaselessly. I’m also one-third gypsy so I should have at least a partial crystal ball to work from, right? Despite that and all the behind-the-scenes Johnson info and resources at my ready, I confess I have not one clue what they would have done next.

The reason the Johnsons were so successful is that no one ever knew what they would dare to try or could accomplish next. Their coming adventure was always going to be better than their last, but it could never have been predicted. I think that was one of the most beguiling and charming things about Martin and Osa…they always brought home the unexpected and I am sure they would have continued to do so as long as they could be together to sort out the next adventure!

Aside from photographic and film records, their books, what other items remain from the Johnsons’ inventory and life and how does the museum present these to the public? Indeed what interest is there in the Johnsons’ and their work in this new millennium and from where do your visitors come?

We have many personal items…gifts they were given by friends and guides, which include anything from a shield from some Borani pals to the 30-30 Jack London reportedly handed Osa on her honeymoon to a blowgun crafted by Murut hunters to a desk blotter from Robert Ripley of Ripley’s Believe it Or Not fame. Because the Johnsons were not “collectors of things”---they really were early proponents of the “take a photo and leave only footsteps behind” ideology---the large collections of African, South Seas and Asiatic art and ethnographic materials we house have come from Johnson fans who were inspired to travel, live, and explore the same regions as Martin and Osa. We employ those items today, along with the photos and films, to tell the Johnsons’ story.

The interest in the Johnsons’ lives is hard to define but very important. They were role models on so many levels---explorers, adventurers, photographers, conservationists, aviators, women’s first…the list goes on and on. Our visitors literally come from all over the world. We have had park rangers from Africa and culture center designers from Vanuatu…we have farmers from Kansas and housewives from Florida…all come after hearing about Martin and Osa and being seemingly called to learn more about this eternally fascinating couple.

If you had been permitted the chance to sit down round the camp fire with Martin and Osa, what would have been the subject of your conversation and what five questions would you most like to have asked them?

You know when those moments come when one can totally be cool and collected and seize the moment? That would so NOT be how I would be in the presence of Martin and Osa Johnson. I am 100% sure I would become a blathering idiot and sink into incoherent squeaks and squeals of delight that only, you know, dolphins could translate. So it’s nice to make a list of questions to ask now, and I will make a point of taking it along should a time machine ever be made available to me!

1. Which of the nine world trips was your favorite and why? (I have money down that it will be Lake Paradise for Osa and either of the Flying Safaris [in Africa or Borneo ] for Martin!)
2. Who annoyed you more…the bigoted white community in Kenya or your even more racist Hollywood sponsors?
3. Where in the whole world do you consider the best place to film (and mea culpa Safaritalkers…my money for Martin’s pick here is Balit Dami in Borneo …and I am certain my money is safe! I’m sure Osa will pick Africa , though I know not where.)
4. [After bringing them up to speed on the sorry state of wildlife welfare, the ongoing wars, and how little support conservation receives] What do you think we can do today to turn the tide back to the favor of the animals and the indigenous peoples?
5. Can I go with you next time? [This inquiry will include a demonstration of what a phenomenal luggage bearer I can be!]

If the Johnsons were to be transplanted into this modern age, when there are few adventure and wildlife boundaries left, and very little of the world unexplored – what would have been their challenge and how do you think they would have pushed the limits of wildlife and travel documentary?

Obviously, funding would be their first hurdle, as always. However, having seen the current state of affairs, I think they would be motivated to “Obama levels” of campaign money funding finding and would head off to film some of their past haunts today with the express intention of using the then and now comparisons to drive home the immediate cease and desist order against “modernizing” the wild places left in this world.

Some of the most worthwhile projects the museum has participated in have been returning photos and films to now utterly disturbed regions so wildlife refuges and national parks could be designed as authentically as possible. For Safaritalk readers, it should be noted here that Amboseli National Park was redesigned in the 1980s specifically using Johnson footage obtained from this museum.

It’s been difficult for scholars to effectively use these resources, but just think how wonderful it would be if Martin and Osa could come and lead the replanting/repopulation efforts? I can just see Osa marking off where the acacia groves needed to be installed while Martin is bellowing for more elephants over that ridge!

Seriously though, I think Martin and Osa would go straight to Africa and not leave again until it resembled the place as they had left it…no matter what it took to do it. No matter the time, the money, the sacrifice, the danger, honestly---no matter what it took.

With your knowledge of the Johnsons, what do you think would have been their opinion on the following?

Poaching of endangered species, especially rhino for their horns?

They were shocked and disgusted then, so I think they would be truly horrified to know it has continued on for so many more generations.

Mass safari tourism and how it has impacted on both the environment and wildlife of Africa?

I think Martin and Osa would be stunned as their hope was that mass tourism could have been a savior outlet for small communities under fire to change their traditional ways. I think they idealistically assumed that everyone would fall in love with Africa as they themselves had and that those tour buses would be filled with people who’d all become philanthropists after being forever changed by their travel experience and the world would be better for all their footsteps. Naïve, sure, but I myself don’t understand the tourists who go with the check list---lion, elephant, rhino, giraffe, leopard---and once it’s checked off simply walk away never being touched by the real Africa . It’s beyond my pale, actually, and I am sure the idea never dawned on Martin and Osa that it could happen on such a large and destructive scale.

The continued interest, both scientifically and publicly for African wildlife.

They would be thrilled---THRILLED. I joke about Animal Planet owing the Johnsons dividends forever, but I think Martin and Osa would be joyous to see all the TV shows, movies, and internet sites just like safaritalk who are devoted to their main interests…namely honoring, studying, and publicly sharing the great continent and all its inhabitants.

The modern technology used in film production today.

Oh my! I am sure Osa would be fascinated, but Martin would no doubt---NO DOUBT!---become the biggest technogeek of technogeeks. I’d have to get my five Martin questions in before he saw what a digital camera can do these days! There would be no conversing coherently with him for sometime after his discovery of all the new film gadgets this world has to offer.

High-end high dollar luxury camps and lodges.

The Johnsons were renowned for carrying luxury items with them, but they did it as a reward for all the other excruciatingly hard scrabble work that was involved in their day-to-day operations. I have to say I think they would not cotton to the big camps and lodges…that they would imagine that it takes away from the “real Africa ” experience. Martin and Osa dined in the bush with a British king and queen to be, and other world royalty as well, true, but they also lived in tents with the Samburu. If given a choice as to what they found most meaningful? I have to say, long live the king, but the Samburu moments were far more cherished, written about, and fondly recalled years later by both Martin and Osa.

The Safari Museum – www.safarimuseum.com: what is its history – how is it funded and what are its aims? How does it continue to promote the work that Martin and Osa Johnson started, as well as who they were?

The museum was founded by Osa’s mother in 1961. She’d taken up the grail from Osa who died while fundraising to open a film institute where all the photos and films would be saved. Now a film institute in NY would have been a fine idea, but Osa’s mum knew that wasn’t going to fly in rural Kansas . She changed the museum mission to be focused on the lives, legacy and even romance of Martin and Osa Johnson themselves. We are non-profit, which means we beg for money constantly. We live on a shoestring budget that would have shocked even shoestring budget gurus like Martin and Osa themselves provided by membership fees, museum store sales, and licensing/usage fees associated with many of the Johnsons’ books and films whose copyrights Osa’s mother wisely secured.

Our once tiny and inferior website was overhauled and the life-fund supplying online gift store was designed by Paul Westerman, a fellow who loves Africa as much as Martin and Osa. Paul spends a great deal of his spare time volunteering his online techno talents to our museum, a local tour operator in Tanzania (www.kiliman.com), and I’m sure to other needy sorts I’m not privy to. Without his assistance, the increased online interest in the Johnsons it has wrought and most importantly the store revenue it has garnered, I am sure the museum would have had to cut staff and operating hours 5 years ago. The artifacts, films, and incredible archives are just barely maintained on our current budget, so without the store income and licensing projects we’ve picked up from the website, they would truly be at severe risk right now.

With funding ever short, and now being entrenched in the worst economy in the museum’s history, we hope getting the word out on sites like Safaritalk will be the next event we can mark as having saved this little museum from financial shutdown. This is not a good time to be a non-profit with a cause…we need assistance and we know other groups are in the same dire straits. It’s wonderful to be able to network like this and hopefully find a way to pool all our resources to their most effective use.

What can visitors expect when they pay a visit to the museum and what do you think they come away with?

I hope they take away the true spirit of Martin and Osa, and by that I mean finding something here in our galleries and exhibitions that spark their own imagination to seek out what they can do to make the world a better place and actually go do it. Years after Martin’s death, Osa was invited to speak at Rollins College and before receiving an honorary degree of Doctor of Science, in her address below entitled “The Vanishing World,” she summed up her fears that the wilds of the globe she and Martin had worked so hard to record for prosperity were fading fast. She never gave up that the problems could be solved and she never abandoned the hope that any person so inclined could be a part of the solution. This kind of devotion to a cause---ANY CAUSE---is what I hope visitors will remember after touring our museum and being introduced to the real Martin and Osa Johnson:

How long have you been involved with the museum? What is your personal interest in the Johnsons?

I have been the curator at this museum since October of 1995. I was hired right out of grad school in the east, had never been further west than Indiana , and, to be frank, I had never heard of Martin or Osa Johnson. I really had no idea what to expect but when I turned up a day early for the interview and saw the museum, I was hooked. And freaked---I wanted the job more than anything in the world, and was sure I had not prepared well enough. I went directly to the Chanute Public Library, handed over my driver’s license as security and checked out Osa’s book I MARRIED ADVENTURE. You cannot imagine my joy at turning to the first page and finding out that my birthday was the same as Martin Johnson’s! That was a great start and I spent the entire night reading one of the best adventure books ever written (My opinion? Yes? Also National Geographic’s, please see their list here!). The next morning I waltzed into the formal interview blurry eyed, but clearly enough of a Johnson enthusiast to win the post. And folks, it is the best job in the world. Hands down, no debate.

What is the Johnsons’ lasting legacy?

I believe it to be twofold, and divided equally between their professional achievements and their personal ability to inspire. I hope I have gushed enough in the earlier questions to have sufficiently explained their professional legacy. If not, please go right now to www.safarimuseum.com and look at the online photo exhibition pages…that Africa is gone, true, but it can be remembered and portions may be able to be revived using these remarkable historical records. That is the Johnsons’ professional legacy.

As for the personal one, I can’t tell you exact numbers of how many people have been touched by what these two people did, but I do not feel any qualms at ballparking it to the level of “hordes.” At the start Martin and Osa just had enormous courage and a nice dose of good old gumption as a launching base to follow their dreams. The way they succeeded at it set the bar for the rest of us…and I think if we all try…I mean really, really try…we can make a difference. The urge to do that? To pick up their mantle and become an Everyman Crusader? That’s the true legacy of M artin and Osa and the scores of other individuals who have done the right thing for their cause of choice, regardless of the many sacrifices that had to be made. These two kids from Kansas proved it could be done and with not much more than some spit and a smile at the start. If they could do it, anyone can. That’s Martin and Osa’s personal legacy, people. We just have to focus, find our own goal, and then do our part to make it happen.

The views expressed therein are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Safaritalk.

To read further about Martin and Osa Johnson's expeditions in Africa, and see some of the images from the museum, please click here:

www.safaritalk.net/index.php?showtopic=1872

Thanks for this interview! I almost feel sorry for the fact that I’ll probably never go to Kansas.