His father, a retired army captain, farmed a large estate in the area, and the family seat was at Jordans, near Ilminster. After a desultory education Speke in 1844 joined the Indian army as a cadet officer. During the next decade he saw action in the Punjab, and while on leave he indulged his passions for hunting and for traveling extensively throughout the Himalayas and elsewhere in India.
In 1854 Speke left the Indian army on extended leave and set about fulfilling his most cherished ambitions--to explore Africa and gather wildlife specimens to build a natural history collection at home in Britain. He traveled to Aden with almost £400 in barter goods, with which he hoped to enlist guides and porters for his travels. In Aden he met Richard F. Burton, who had just returned from an expedition through Abyssinia. Encountering difficulties in gaining official approval for his plans, Speke joined Burton's party to travel to Zanzibar via Somalia.
The expedition was an unqualified disaster for Speke. He accomplished little, and he failed to satisfy his desire to explore the African interior. In addition, Speke was captured and severely wounded during a raid on the British camp by Somali tribesmen.
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