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An independent guide to golliwogs, including golliwog history, golliwog books/stories, golliwog dolls and golliwog collectables

"Golliwogg in the African Jungle"
by Florence Upton

"Golliwogg in the African Jungle" is the thirteenth and final of Florence Upton's Golliwogg books. The story, told in rhyme and beautifully illustrated, follows the the adventures of Golliwogg and the Dutch Dolls as they go on safari in East Africa.

Illustration from "Golliwogg in the African Jungle" by Florence Upton

Their quest to obtain animals for their "Wonder Zoo" finds them taking the train, setting up their tent in the jungle helped by their black attendants (Kooloo and Kamba), meeting up with a lion, and then politely asking the other wild animals (giraffe, baboon, elephant, rhinoceros, etc.) if they would join their zoo.

As they stop to refresh themselves at a pond they are attacked by a tribe of African cannibals! The famous Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov recalled reading this particular scene by saying, “Over the shoulder of my past I admire again the crucial picture: the Golliwogg, still on his knees by the pool but no longer drinking; his hair stands on end and the normal black of his face has changed to a weird ashen hue.”