A Training School for Elephants

From the author of the much-celebrated Lost Pianos of Siberia, a new critically-acclaimed and Sunday Times bestselling story of a journey, this time tracing a colonial-era African expedition.

Sophy Roberts travels from Ireland to Belgium, Iraq, India, Tanzania and the Congo on the trail of a forgotten expedition, a part of Leopold II of Belgium’s plan to plunder Africa’s resources. Following the footsteps of four elephants she uncovers an extraordinary story of colonial greed, ineptitude, hypocrisy and folly.
In 1979 Leopold commissioned the charismatic Irish adventurer Frederick Carter to ship four tamed Asian elephants from India to Zanzibar, from where they were marched inland towards Lake Tanganyika. The aim- to establish a training school for African elephants.
Roberts digs deep into historic records as she travels, bringing to life a compelling cast of historic characters and modern voices, from ivory dealers to Catholic nuns, all set against rich descriptions of the landscapes travelled.
‘History and travelogue combine wonderfully in this tale of colonial plunder and hubris… Roberts is such a vivid travel writer that you forget what a brilliant historian she is. She has the water-diviner’s gift for stories in unlikely places.’ Guardian

Author Biography

Sophy Roberts is an award-winning British journalist, and a regular contributor to FT Weekend. Her critically acclaimed first book, The Lost Pianos of Siberia, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year in 2020, and went on to be published in eight more languages. Her second book, A Training School for Elephants, is another unusual quest, threading lost history with modern reportage in India, Iraq, DRC, Tanzania and Belgium. Following an 1879 journey that four elephants from Pune made to Africa’s Great Lakes, it is a reckoning with colonial ambitions gone berserk.