Kenya
The James Herriot of Africa
Great Rift Valley The mare hangs her head; her neck is swollen, her eyes bloody red, crammed by flies. She…
The Kenyan night is like a busy shipping lane, but silent
Night falls like a fire curtain at seven and I go to bed not long afterwards, serenaded by bullfrogs after…
A World Championships that puts Sebastian Coe on the right track
Sebastian Coe’s new job as head of world athletics will be a heck of a lot easier thanks to the…
How British universities spread misery around the world
From Greece to Kenya, the worst economic ideas come from alumni of British universities
Why I dream of the Great Wall of China
Laikipia A quarter of a century ago I met two young South African men who had ridden their ponies 1,700…
A better way to be charitable: just give money
Seven years ago I wrote here about a site called Kiva.org. I had met the co-founder of this charity when…
From conspiracy to childhood secrets: a choice of recent crime fiction
The act of reading always involves identification: with the story, the characters, the author’s intentions. Renée Knight takes this concept…
Portrait of the week
Home Talha Asmal, aged 17, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, died in a suicide bomb attack on forces near an oil…
The Shrewsbury School Hunt very nearly killed me
Laikipia, Kenya Out cross-country running on the farm in Kenya recently, I came face-to-face with a gang of bull…
There’s only one sane way David Cameron can meet the foreign aid target
In this week’s Queen’s Speech, the government promised as usual to cut red tape for businesses. But David Cameron is…
The Kenya Fly Fishers’ club makes the Bullingdon look rather left-wing
Nairobi Trout were first introduced into Kenya’s highland streams in 1905. Men like Ewart Grogan, ‘baddest and boldest of…
Portrait of the week
Home Tony Blair, the former prime minister, opposed a referendum on membership of the EU. In a speech at Sedgefield…
The warrior arched his body, readying to sling his spear at my chest
Laikipia With a shriek, the warrior arched his body, readying to sling his spear at my chest. The tear-dropped javelin…
If you want a real safari, head to Botswana
As a boy camping with my father on safaris deep in the African bush, there were no tents involved; we…
I cannot imagine living in a world without lions
Laikipia We are privileged to live with lions on the farm. We hear them most nights. We encounter them frequently.…
The myth of the White Widow
Samantha Lewthwaite almost certainly isn’t as monstrous as the papers say. And she definitely isn’t as important
Could the Kenyan mall atrocities happen here?
So you’ve just popped down to the supermarket for the weekly shop, toddlers in tow, when the grenades start to…
From Burma — or maybe Saigon — to Manchester via Calcutta
England We dropped off our daughter Eve at her new school in the Midlands and started the long journey…
The Catholic missionary and the Masai running champion
The remarkable story of the missionary and the Masai running champion
Please take your holiday in Kenya this year
Rift Valley Many of my British tribe fled Kenya around independence in 1963 because they believed there was no future.…
The books that have kept me alive
In bed Safety measures — I’ve never been good at them, so inevitably I inhaled and got soaked by the…
Spectator letters: Bereaved parents against press regulation, and a defence of Tony Benn
Why we need a free press Sir: As bereaved parents and (to borrow from some signatories of last week’s advertisement)…
A £50 million search for love
Laikipia When I first knew Michael Cunningham-Reid he was such a strict teetotaller that he would not eat trifle for…
Aidan Hartley: If Santa Claus tried to make a delivery, he’d be shot before he reached the chimney
Laikipia In the cattle rustlers’ camp, I know as I write this that the warriors are sharpening their blades, staring…
Aidan Hartley: Kenya is special like no other African nation
As I write this, my hands are seared and bruised from holding a hot iron after branding our cattle. We…
