Alexine was a well-heeled Dutch lady with connections to the Dutch Royal family. She was born in The Hague in1835 and lived there for the first two decades of her life. Both she and her mother loved to travel. They traveled widely within Europe and then south to the Mediterranean. They finally ended up in the Wilds of Africa following the origins of the Nile. Surrounded by a large retinue of employees, Alexine fearlessly faced the hazards of nineteenth century travel in Africa as the leader of her own expedition. Almost two centuries later, a similarly exceptional countrywoman of hers, the author, decided to follow her heart and went to live in the Sudan. She felt that it was her destiny to re-discover and then to write the story of Alexine.