After studying at
Tübingen and
Freiburg, he went to East Africa in 1888, and during the revolt of the Arabs in 1890 entered the German corps of defense as a lieutenant, and was severely wounded at Lembula. After his recovery he joined the expedition of
Emin Pasha to the lake region, was sent ahead from Undussuma to
Lake Victoria, and reached the coast in July, 1892, at
Bagamoyo, whence he returned to Germany with valuable
cartographic material and rich collections, to which he added copiously on another trip to
German East Africa, undertaken in 1893-94 by order of the government. In 1908-10 he was secretary of the
Colonial Institute in Hamburg. == Taxon named in his honor ==