What did Selous want to be when he was young?

W: Thank you for joining out talk about Mr. Frederick Selous. What was his background?
M: Frederick Selous was born in 1851 to a London Stock Exchange official and a poet who loved adventure. From the early age, he had a fascination with David Livingstone, the great British explorer, who had made his name exploring Lualaba river in Southern Africa. At the age of 9, he was said to have been found sleeping in the nightshirt on the floor of his boarding school, Rugby, and when asked what he was doing there, he replied, "One day, I’m going to be a hunter in Africa, and I’m just hardening myself to sleep on the ground". Selous first visited Southern Africa in 1871 and then spent the next twenty years exploring and hunting between Transvaal and Cango Basin.
W: Why is he famous?
M: As one of the few white men, the travel in the Africa interior at the time, Selous was instrumental in opening up Southern Africa for Ceil Rhodes and British, negotiating with many of the great indigenous leaders. He documented the progress of gold industry of Zimbabwe and invited US president Theodore Roosevelt on the hunting expedition. That was to effectively kick-start these foreign industries for travelers who want to follow in Roosevelt’s foot steps.
W: What did he contribute to geography as a discipline?
M: Selous was a typical example of the Victorian image of a great white hunter. However, he was also an enthusiastic naturalist and conservationist at the time when such interests were considered unfashionable. While his fellow hunters rested during the afternoon heat, Selous would be out with a net catching butterflies and taking detailed notes. His precise observations provided a valuable, historical record. And today, the British Museum houses hundreds of specimens.