How Moscow can pervert the course of Africa’s future
On the lengthy train ride to Kyiv I read my Plokhy as we trundled through seas of mud, passing villages…
My conversations with Wilfred Thesiger
When Wilfred Thesiger arrived in the port of Al Mukalla after his foot crossing of the Empty Quarter desert with…
The man who makes money where no one else dares to go
Rwanda The mineshaft is dark, the air humid and starved of oxygen. I follow Marcus Edwards-Jones out of the muddy…
In praise of missionaries
Kenya Tonj is a war-battered settlement on a river that eventually feeds into the White Nile, in South Sudan. When…
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…
How Kenya viewed the Queen
As the Union Jack was run down the flagpole at Kenya’s independence in December 1963, Prince Philip said to Jomo…
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…
When will the West start to deal with Africa on its own terms?
When will the West start to deal with Africa on its own terms?
Could this election be a turning point for Kenya?
In Kenya’s latest general elections, ‘The Hustler’ William Ruto has been declared our new President after a narrow victory against…
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…
What’s behind Africa’s love affair with country music?
What’s behind Africa’s love affair with country music?
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…
The real reason Africa can’t feed itself
The real reason Africa can’t feed itself
When flying was fun
On the BOAC VC10 flights to Nairobi, the pilots would invite children like me up to sit in the cockpit…
Why Kent is being bulldozed by buffalo
Buffalo are now living in the fens of Kent. Why – have we slipped into the metaverse of Lewis Carroll?…
The sin of neutrality
Yet again, millions of civilians across the Horn of Africa are starving. The world blames the crisis on drought and…
Why so many African leaders support Putin
Why so many African leaders support Putin
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…
After Covid, Kenya’s flower industry is gearing up for its next challenge
Kenya’s flower growers have a busy time ahead
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…
