A cow is better than a bank balance
Laikipia, Kenya A minotaur head glowers at me through the bathroom window while I am brushing my teeth in…
The joys of early rising
Laikipia I wake at 4 a.m. these days. At that time you might hear a lion or a braying zebra,…
Tripping in the African bush
Laikipia, Kenya Neighbours Tom and Jo came by with a bucketful of wild African mushrooms, which they had collected in…
Why do British charities want to shut down private schools in Africa?
Why would anyone who claims to care about the world’s poorest children try to shut down their schools? It’s strange…
Farming is a hard life no matter where you do it
Laikipia, Kenya Erupe is a Kenyan farmer. He owns a smallholding of a few acres not far from my own…
At the deathbed of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino
Laikipia, Kenya Before vets put him down in Kenya this week, I attended the deathbed of Sudan, the…
The wisdom of toads, termites and wait-a-bit thorns
Laikipia Off Madagascar the other day the Indian Ocean gave birth to a little storm called 11S. As its gyre…
Oxfam’s troubles began when it became politically correct
In the early 1980s when I was a schoolboy, my father, Brian Hartley, worked for Oxfam during a famine in…
Cold Comfort Farm comes to Kenya
Laikipia I woke with the breath of a leopard a few feet from me as I lay in my bed.…
How to bee-proof yourself
Kenya First comes a distant hum, rising in volume until I hear it coming straight at me like Niki Lauda…
Aidan Hartley: A plague of ravenous zebras
Laikipia, Kenya The zebra lacks a rumen and eats at least twice as much as a cow. On our…
Why Kenya matters
Laikipia Flying home across Laikipia’s ranchlands with Martin after a farmers’ meeting, I see the plateau dotted with cattle…
Wild life
Laikipia Ripping up the black cotton soil on the farm’s high savannah I get a sense of what it must…
‘Kill! Kill!’ yelled the mob
Laikipia, Kenya Following Kenya’s recently concluded elections, I took a walk on my Laikipia farm and lit up a cigar,…
Wild life
Indian Ocean coast Like most men I wonder if I have been much good as a father, but one thing…
Wild life
Kenya We are on the beach, where our home is full of dystopian stories. My daughter Eve is whizzing…
Wild life
Laikipia, Kenya During our evening walk on the farm, Claire kept looking around nervously instead of engaging in conversation.…
Wild life
The guests at my brother-in-law Rick’s 70th birthday lunch party were distinguished, silver-haired, well heeled. Long before Rick rescued the…
Wild life
Laikipia, Kenya On my way home to the ranch, I stopped for a beer with my neighbour Martin. It was…
The lords of poverty
Kenya I met Dr Tom Catena in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains — the site of an African war and famine few…
Wild life
Laikipia, Kenya For weeks the farm has been in the eye of a storm, with violence swirling all around…
Wild life
Laikipia On Tristan Voorspuy’s hell-for-leather riding safaris across Kenya’s savannah, he cracked a bullwhip at predators that tried to eat…
Wild life
Laikipia On Tristan Voorspuy’s hell-for-leather riding safaris across Kenya’s savannah, he cracked a bullwhip at predators that tried to eat…
Wild life
Laikipia plateau, Kenya My great-grandpa Ernest Wise was an engineer who sailed to South Africa towards the end of the…
Wild life
Laikipia plateau, Kenya My great-grandpa Ernest Wise was an engineer who sailed to South Africa towards the end of the…
