One day, Henry Stanley was going through the jungle, looking for Dr. Livingston. He came to a clearing and there was Tarzan, Lord of the Apes painting lines on everything, the tree's, animals, what have you. "What a strange thing" he thought to himself and continued on.
10 years later, Stanley was again touring darkest Africa looking for the source of the Great Gray-Green Greasy Limpopo River. He came to the same clearing, and there was Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, painting lines on everything. "Ok, that's a bit off" he thought to himself. But again carried on because progress waits for no man.
30 years later, Stanley was nearing death and he wanted to die in the jungle, exploring. He came to the same clearing he had visited in the past. There again was Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, painting lines on everything. Finally, he had enough curiosity and called over one of his native porters. "I don't understand. When I came looking for Dr. Livingston, Tarzan was painting lines on everything. I came back looking for the source of the Great Gray-Green Greasy Limpopo River, and again I find Tarzan painting lines on everything. Here I am, 50 years later, and I find him once again painting stripes on everything. I don't understand.
His porter looked at him quizzically and says "You mean you've never heard Tarzan stripes forever?"
10 years later, Stanley was again touring darkest Africa looking for the source of the Great Gray-Green Greasy Limpopo River. He came to the same clearing, and there was Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, painting lines on everything. "Ok, that's a bit off" he thought to himself. But again carried on because progress waits for no man.
30 years later, Stanley was nearing death and he wanted to die in the jungle, exploring. He came to the same clearing he had visited in the past. There again was Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, painting lines on everything. Finally, he had enough curiosity and called over one of his native porters. "I don't understand. When I came looking for Dr. Livingston, Tarzan was painting lines on everything. I came back looking for the source of the Great Gray-Green Greasy Limpopo River, and again I find Tarzan painting lines on everything. Here I am, 50 years later, and I find him once again painting stripes on everything. I don't understand.
His porter looked at him quizzically and says "You mean you've never heard Tarzan stripes forever?"
Rather than acknowledge the pun, I felt the appropriate response was to conduct what I call a "geography check":
The Limpopo (which is indeed known as "great grey-green greasy limpopo river" in the story The Elephant's Child by Kipling) is a river in southern africa, and it forms the border between South Africa and both Zimbabwe and Botswana. Its lower basin is navigable, but once you move beyond that (moving towards its source) it flows through increasingly arid land and eventually the Kalahari desert. The upper reaches do not flow most of the time during dry years.
The Limpopo River Basin
Area map with national boundaries for reference
This is not the kind of area that Tarzan, Lord of the Apes would have been found. Tarzan, whose was raised by gorillas, would either have been in an area of Gorillas. Gorillas are found in central africa, in two areas, the mountain ones (as in the Sigourney Weaver / mist movie) and an area along the western coast of the congo. It was almost certainly the latter as the tarzan stories begin with the Greystokes being marooned on the west coast of africa by mutineers.
This is not the kind of area that Tarzan, Lord of the Apes would have been found. Tarzan, whose was raised by gorillas, would either have been in an area of Gorillas. Gorillas are found in central africa, in two areas, the mountain ones (as in the Sigourney Weaver / mist movie) and an area along the western coast of the congo. It was almost certainly the latter as the tarzan stories begin with the Greystokes being marooned on the west coast of africa by mutineers.
Gorilla Habitats (lowland in orange, mountain in yellow)
I should point out that Burroughs mentions the species of Apes that raised tarzan were a fictional third species called the "mangani", but the rest of it with marooned off west africa would put him nowhere near the Limpopo. Even if he were that far south and they were apes that died out, there were never any jungles at the latitude of the Limpopo. The southernmost african rain forest (even allowing for areas that have been lost since that time) was found in Madagascar (and much of that is gone). The bulk of it is up in the Congo (kinshasa). And the pun does say he was in "the jungle" and "darkest africa" (which is a title Stanley used for his account of his epic mission to rescue Emin Pasha (epic catastrophe in most accounts other than Stanley's) in which he travelled up the Congo river and then cut across to Equatoria).
I should point out that Burroughs mentions the species of Apes that raised tarzan were a fictional third species called the "mangani", but the rest of it with marooned off west africa would put him nowhere near the Limpopo. Even if he were that far south and they were apes that died out, there were never any jungles at the latitude of the Limpopo. The southernmost african rain forest (even allowing for areas that have been lost since that time) was found in Madagascar (and much of that is gone). The bulk of it is up in the Congo (kinshasa). And the pun does say he was in "the jungle" and "darkest africa" (which is a title Stanley used for his account of his epic mission to rescue Emin Pasha (epic catastrophe in most accounts other than Stanley's) in which he travelled up the Congo river and then cut across to Equatoria).
Rain Forests of Africa (present day)
Thus we must conclude that if this story is accurate, Stanley was hopelessly lost. ;)
FWIW Stanley never returned to Africa after the Emin Pasha relief expedition, which was about 15 years after he first arrived in his search for Livingstone. He died in London, and was buried on his estate in Surrey.
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