Wild life
The energy of the world is shifting south
Kenya Greetings from Africa, my beleaguered cousins. I’ve written before about how in 1973, Uganda’s Idi Amin telegrammed Queen Elizabeth,…
Class of the 1980s: my Balliol reunion
Laikipia, Kenya No portrait of Boris Johnson hangs in the hall of Balliol, his old Oxford College. Hardly a surprise,…
The man-eating leopard of Laikipia
Laikipia Plateau, Kenya Until only a few years ago, the constellations blazed across the sky above the farm at night…
Waiting for the rain that never comes – and for the elections to be over
Kenya After two years of no rain, all colour has drained from the landscape on the farm so that by…
There are almost no animals left – but we’ve been here before
Laikipia You know things are bad when the zebras are thin. Even during most droughts, zebras are like matrons at…
The long and the short of it in Africa
Kenya As late as the 1920s, it was believed that Africa’s tropical sun would boil a European’s brains. ‘The direct…
When flying was fun
On the BOAC VC10 flights to Nairobi, the pilots would invite children like me up to sit in the cockpit…
The sin of neutrality
Yet again, millions of civilians across the Horn of Africa are starving. The world blames the crisis on drought and…
Hell is an English train journey
Delayed, on Southern Rail Home From the Hill is a 1987 documentary by Molly Dineen about Hilary Hook, an elderly…
Africa’s lessons for Ukraine
Kenya During Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 I got a close look at Moscow’s troops and their kit. These…
Why a church in Jerusalem is the model for all family-owned holiday homes
Malindi, the Indian Ocean When I lived in Jerusalem a long time ago, I often visited the Church of the…
My ocean voyage from hell
Kenya Wondering what this year will bring, at dawn this morning I stood in the waves in front of our…
A long-forgotten tale of sorcery and a severed head
Laikipia Plateau, Kenya Our local chief Panta wore a government-issue khaki uniform with epaulettes, beret and swagger stick. On a…
When it comes to Africa, the media look away
Kenya Each time I sit in St Bride’s on Fleet Street during the memorial of another friend, I look around…
Africa’s empty vastness has vanished under the concrete of the present day
Kenya When I was a child in Kenya, the road from the Indian Ocean up to Nairobi was still…
Our farm is a haven for lost souls
Laikipia He was turned out in a crisp bush ranger’s uniform and handled his assault rifle like a man hardened…
With tourists absent, the teeming marine life has returned to the sea off Malindi
Malindi, Kenya Beneath the Indian Ocean’s surface, I wondered if the pandemic had turned out to be a good thing…
Is today the day I become a Kenyan citizen?
Nairobi Since my father first caught sight of Mombasa from his ship in late 1929, at least some of my…
How WhatsApp mums saved Kenya’s castaway children
Kenya In March, Global Britain signed a new, post-Brexit trade deal with Kenya. This was a welcome agreement for my…
Thirty years ago, I saw the rebels take Addis Ababa
Kenya The evening before the assault on Addis Ababa, my guide Girmay and I ventured into a complex stuffed with…
Did I catch Covid from a naked-rumped tomb bat?
Laikipia Until I promised to slaughter a fat-tailed sheep with a goat thrown in for a feast, the farm cowhands…
Why I’m investing in sheep
Laikipia In the past I had a low opinion of sheep. During my first forays into farming I saw them…
The healing power of sweat
Laikipia In one of Kenya farmer Karen Blixen’s short stories, a character says: ‘I know of a cure for everything:…
The art of mourning well
Malindi, Kenya I’ve learned that mourning must be tackled ever so gently. As a younger man, when friends were killed…
Eccentric, artist and storyteller: in memory of my mother Doreen Sanders
Indian Ocean coast ‘I love you’ became just ‘love’, and that was the last word Mum was able to say…
