The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition; led by Henry Morton Stanley; undertook to rescue Emin by going up the Congo River and then through the Ituri Forest; an extraordinarily difficult route that resulted in the loss of two-thirds of the expedition.

Stanley met Emin in April 1888; and after a year spent in argument and indecision; during which Emin and Jephson were imprisoned at Dufile by troops who mutinied from August to November 1888; Emin was convinced to leave for the coast. They arrived in Bagamoyo in 1890.

During celebrations Emin was injured when he stepped through a window he mistook for an opening to a balcony. Emin spent two months in a hospital recovering while Stanley left without being able to bring him back in triumph.