Kalulu wasn’t born Kalulu. His real name was Ndugu Mhali, a young boy in Africa whose life changed forever in the early 1870s. British explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley purchased him from an Arab slave trader in Zanzibar and, deciding his original name wouldn’t do, gave him a new one: Kalulu—Swahili for “little antelope.” By today’s standards, this act is horrifying. But in Stanley’s eyes, Kalulu became more than a name—he became a companion, an adopted son, a witness to history.
Between 1872 and 1873, Kalulu’s world expanded beyond imagination. He crossed oceans with Stanley, visiting cities across Europe and North America, capturing attention wherever he went. People marveled at the African boy traveling alongside the famous explorer. He was even immortalized in wax at Madame Tussaud’s in London. For a brief time, Kalulu attended school in Wandsworth, impressing teachers with his intelligence and rapid mastery of English.
But life had no mercy. In 1874, Dr. David Livingstone, Stanley’s mentor, died. Determined to continue Livingstone’s work in Africa, Stanley pulled Kalulu from school and returned him to the continent. Adventure awaited, but danger followed.
In 1877, during Stanley’s expedition through Central Africa, tragedy struck. Kalulu’s canoe was caught in the violent currents of the Congo River and plunged over a waterfall. His life ended instantly. Stanley, devastated, named the site “Kalulu Falls” in his memory.
Kalulu’s story is brief, tragic, and shaped by the colonial world around him. But it lingers—a young boy caught between continents, cultures, and history, remembered not just for the places he visited, but for the life he lived and the loss that followed.
Source: Some Amazing Facts
