In 1936, Hoyningen-Huene decided to join a group of explorers on an expedition across Africa. He recorded in words and photographs his travels, first to Egypt, then down the Nile through Tanganyika, French Equatorial Africa, British Nigeria and across the Sahara to Algeria and in 1938 published his book African Mirage: The Record of a Journey. His travels proved a great challange as until this trip he had been mainly doing studio work for Condé Nast and had had little opportunity to work outdoors.