In 1897 he published a book about his travels, Through Unknown African Countries: the First Expedition from Somaliland to Lake Rudolf.

Three species of reptiles, three birds and a desert musk shrew were named in his honor.

His family was wealthy and his paternal great-grandfather, Joest Smith Jr., served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

[3] He was a big-game hunter,[4] and became interested in the exploration of East Africa after a hunting trip in British Somaliland.

[3] The expedition was intended to explore the unknown lands and collect botanical, geological, and zoological samples for study.

He was the first explorer to reach the lake from the north and the first to see it since Sámuel Teleki and Ludwig von Höhnel seven years earlier.

[11] In 1895, three new species of reptiles endemic to the Horn of Africa were named in his honor by Belgian-British herpetologist George Albert Boulenger: the short racer Playceps brevis smithi, Smith's leaf-toed gecko Hemidactylus smithi, and Smith's racerunner Pseuderemias smithii.