The remarkable story of Alexandrine Tinne – the unlikely explorer

Alexandrine (Alexine) Tinne was born in 1835 in The Hague, the Netherlands. Her family was very wealthy and well connected in circles that included the Royal Family. This was the Victorian age and, unlike what was expected of her, she refused to be married as this would have prevented her from doing what she liked most: travel!
After having explored Europe, she and her mother Henriette travelled through the Middle East, later joined by her aunt Addy. She developed a passion for photography, exploring the influence of light and shadow. Their adventures were captured in letters that Henriette wrote on a regular basis to her increasingly worried family, relatives and friends, including King Willem I.

She travelled in grandeur; up to 30-40 boxes accompanied her party, including a desk and her iron-bed. Their travels on the Nile from Cairo to Khartoum were fraught with difficulties, including negotiating the Nile cataracts and sandstorms; part of the journey had to be completed by camel.

Nevertheless, the three ladies were always well-dressed and made a lasting impression on everybody they met, and their adventures were covered extensively in international newspapers.

Thereafter, Alexine became obsessed with finding the origin of the White Nile, similar to professional explorers such as Speke and Grant. They left Khartoum by boat and made it to the Sudd in South Sudan. She was shocked to see the horror of the slave trade in what is now South Sudan. Her encounter with slave traders filled her with disgust, and she was held by the slave driver headman for some time, who refused to let her leave because of her critical attitude.

Eventually they returned to Khartoum and decided to explore the origins of the Bahr el Ghazal (river of the gazelles) as a potential source of the White Nile. Aunt Addy stayed in Khartoum, and Baron Theodor von Heuglin and Hermann Steudner joined them as scientists. Then fate turned against her and her party. Her mother Henriette died of fever, as did von Heuglin. Alexine was also ill for weeks and increasingly weak, probably caused by cerebral malaria. She was saved by a rescue expedition sent by her aunt Addy from Khartoum. While preparing to travel back to Cairo, aunt Addy suddenly passed away. She met with her brother John in Cairo and passed to him the dead bodies of her mother, her aunt and 2 female servants. She refused to go back to Europe, and developed an interest in the mysterious Tuareg tribe. She learned their language before setting off to find them. During one of their encounters, she tried to interfere in a local quarrel and was killed. Her body was never found. She was 33 years old.

David Livingstone, who himself searched for the source of the Nile held her in high esteem, mentioning that despite the tragic events in her family, she persevered in her efforts to reach her goals, even against the odds.