We consider the processes by which Frank Oates acquired understanding of the peoples with whom he came into contact in southern Africa in the early 1870s, and the Ndebele people in particular. We place emphasis on the importance of ‘intermediaries’, individuals Oates judged not of a place but nevertheless considered experts in it, in shaping the traveller’s macro understandings of the region. We consider the role of social consonance in explaining the alacrity with which Oates accepted ways of reading Africa from some and not others. We also consider the processes by which Oates developed understandings of the flora and fauna of the region, and African guides’ roles in this. We evaluate the impact of factors such as race and gender on the recordings of the colonial encounter, and the areas in which Oates did and did not change his understandings over time. In our emphasis upon the importance of intermediaries, we explore the fragilities and contingencies that lay behind the development of European understandings of pre-colonial Africa.