The Safari Museum is located in an enchanting $2 million renovated Santa Fe Railway Depot in Chanute, Kansas.
Statue of Martin Johnson beside replica of a 35mm motion picture camera.
Statues of Martin and Osa Johnson in the Johnson Exhibition hall of their worldwide travels.
Statues of Martin and Osa Johnson in the Johnson Exhibition hall of their worldwide travels.
Osa Johnson leads a camel caravan for a motion picture expedition into Kenya's wild Northern Frontier.
One of the Johnsons' Sikorsky amphibious airplanes, named "Osa's Ark", lands in Kenya's Chalbi Desert. A crowd of curious Turkana, an ethnic group of northern Kenya, surround the plane. [early 1930s]
One of Martin and Osa's camera cars, a Willys-Knight, in the Serengeti of Tanganyika (today Tanzania) [1930s]
Martin and Osa filming the Samburu warriors of northern Kenya.
Osa leading a camel safari intro Kenya's Chalbi Desert [1920s]
Trained African forest elephant in the Belgian Congo. [1920s]
Osa (far right) sitting beside the Duchess of York. Sitting directly across from them is the Duke of York. The royal couple later become King and Queen of England (George VI and Elizabeth)
Martin and Osa on a foot safari in northern Kenya (1920s)
The Johnsons' second Sikorsky amphibious airplane named "The Spirit of Africa." Martin and Osa pioneered professional motion picture aerial photography in Africa -- flying over 60,000 miles of pristine Africa from Cape Town to Cairo. [early 1930s].
Osa falls seriously ill with pneumonia after climbing 17,000-high Mount Kenya. She eventually recovered after weeks of recuperation. Tropical diseases, heat exhaustion, and grueling travel conditions took a toll on the pioneering movie makers.
Martin captured the romantic history of East Africa's pioneering days by filming the first safari outfitters, Tarlton, Whetman, and Burman. [Nairobi, 1921]
A fleet of safari trucks the Johnsons used while exploring the remotest parts of Africa.
Martin and Osa Johnson remain unequaled in the annals of pioneering motion picture nature photography. They virtually "invented" the wildlife documentary film -- a popular genre carried on to this day by Animal Planet, National Geographic, and many other popular documentary programs.
