[2] In 1881 Van Gèle offered his services to the International African Association as Deputy Lieutenant to the State Major, and received a short training course at the Institut Cartographique Militaire.

[1] On 5 May 1882 he embarked at Southampton for Cape Town, where he joined the engineer Lieutenant Louis Valcke, who had gone to the east coast of Africa to recruit 250 Zanzibaris there and bring them to the estuary of Congo River.

The work had to be done quickly so the dismantled Association internationale Africaine steamer and goods could be carried to Léopoldville for the planned expedition.

He recovered, rejoined Valcke, and helped him until a post was erected on the territory of Chief Lutete as a staging point for the Manyanga-Léopoldville transport.

[6] Stanley reached the mouth of the Ruki River on 9 June 1883 and directed Van Gèle and Coquilhat to build a station there.

[3] On 20 June 1883 Van Gèle signed a treaty with Ikenge, principal chief in the district of Ibonga-Wangata, and Ipambi, principal chief in the same district, in which they ceded all property in perpetuity, the land and the rights to exploit the resources of the country and to create and roads and establishments suitable for developing the commercial and other relations of the Committee and Expedition.

In one conflict a local ruler was killed and the spoils of war ended up in Van Gèle's ethnographic collection.

Two days later Hanssens and Van Gèle set out in the En Avant to explore the Ubangi River with the pharmacist Courtois, de Guérin and the mechanic Amelot, a crew of ten Zanzibaris and a local African who was to act as their interpreter.

[10] Van Gèle managed to persuade them to act as pilots, and after four hours of full steam on 21 April 1884 entered a strong stream of yellow water, the Ubangi, which they ascended to the Bisongo village.

After returning to Equateurville Hanssens left Van Gèle in charge and took Coquihat with him to found the Bangala station, the future Nouvelle Anvers.

[13] Casman arrived at Equateur Station on 12 December 1884, where Van Gèle handed over command in a ceremony before the native chiefs.

Later that day Tippo-Tip himself visited Van Gèle and assured him he wanted cordial relations with the Europeans and would stop hunting for slaves.

The Congo Free State government charged Van Gèle with exploring the Ubangi above 4° north to resolve the problem.

[17] Van Gèle, in the company of Raert, embarked in Ostend on 30 June 1886, en route to Vivi via London and Madeira.

[18] On 2 August 1886 Van Gèle, accompanied by lieutenant Liénart, left Léopoldville on the Henry Reed of the American Baptist Missionary Union.

[17] On 11 October 1886 they left Equateur Station and entered the Ubangi the next day, passed the French post of N'Kundja and anchored upstream at a small island near Bisongo.

For ten days Vangele and Liénart struggled to force the Henry Reed up through one of the five rocky channels, but were defeated and returned down the Ubangi on 4 November 1886.

[19] On the way back to Léopoldville to organize a new attempt on the Ubangi, Van Gèle met Stanley coming up the river on the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.

Stanley had a letter from Brussels ordering Van Gele to try to reach the upper Ubangi by way of the Itimbiri River and Djabir.

Van Gèle then went to meet governor-General Camille Janssen in Boma, who authorized an expedition towards the Uele by the Ubangi.

The expedition reached Zongo on 25 June 1889, where a station was founded as a base of operations with Captain Léon Hanolet in command.

After returning to the Yakoma camp, Van Gèle decided to explore the Bomu river and visit Bangassou, but the steamers were blocked after a day by the Goui falls.

[24] On 27 May 1890 the expedition of Léon Roget and Jules Alexandre Milz reached the Uele River opposite the Djabir village.

[25] Milz began construction of the station while Roget, guided by Sultan Djabir, tried unsuccessfully to join Van Gèle in Yakoma.

[27] Van Gèle heard of the presence of a European in Djabir on 18 November 1890 and set out via a roundabout route up the Uele, reaching the village of Gamanza on 2 December.

Van Gèle offered to help, and his services were accepted, but before he could embark news came that another commander had been appointed in Boma to lead the troops to suppress the revolt.

[32] In December 1897 Van Gele was appointed Deputy Governor General to replace Francis Dhanis as Commander in Chief of the Arab Zone.

Dhanis's vanguard had revolted during the Haut-Ituri expedition due to bad treatment of the Force Publique troops by their Belgian officers.

Van Gele reached Stanley Falls in March 1898, but due to poor communication did not gain overall command until September 1898.