Attilio Gatti


Attilio Gatti 10 July 1896 - Derby Line was an Italian-born explorer, author, and documentary filmmaker who traveled extensively in Africa in the first half of the 20th century.

Expeditions

Gatti, a member of the Società Reale Italiana di Geografia ed Antropologia, was among the last great safari expedition men. He led thirteen expeditions to Africa starting in 1922. Broke after the financial disaster of his 7th African expedition, Gatti settled in the US in 1930. His second spouse Ellen accompanied him on his 8th expedition. They did the 10th and 11th expeditions with a caravan of motor vehicles including a 9-ton "Jungle Yacht", custom built by International Harvester in Chicago.
Gatti became one of the first Europeans to see and capture the fabled okapi and bongo, a brown lyre-horned antelope with white stripes. He was an enthusiastic amateur radio operator using callsign OQ5ZZ. Known by the Africans as "Bwana Makubwa", he was very familiar to the Pygmy tribe. He photographed them as well as the Watussi and Masai. He met an important female python shaman and became experienced with African magic.
His books, articles, and some 53.000 photos have become invaluable scientific and anthropological resources.

Books

Ellen Gatti: Exploring We Would Go. 1944

Movies