Wild life
Indonesia In a Jakarta traffic jam it hits me. After decades of frenetic travel, I have learnt less of the…
Latham’s law
Immigration minister Chris Bowen chose a curious venue for the launch of his statement on the revitalisation of multiculturalism. Just…
Latham’s law
In as much as a quirky, irreverent magazine like The Spectator Australia has an ideology, it would be called conservative.…
Wild life
Democratic Republic of Congo It is impossible to predict how a person will behave in a tight spot. I have…
Latham’s law
Forget the bellowing absurdity of Oprah, the true saviour of our tourism industry is Western Australia’s sunshine. Forget the bellowing…
Wild life
Juba In the run-up to this week’s referendum on Southern Sudan’s future, I flew to Juba with a bottle of…
Wild life
Laikipia A Christmas gift of perfume smelling of chocolate caused my wife Claire to burst into tears. ‘I have never…
Wild life
Laikipia I have a mob of finished Boran steers ready for the holidays. The butchers are suddenly chasing me and…
Funding: Local heroes
I was acting and directing at Helmsley Arts Centre last week, in a little piece of ‘café theatre’ performed in…
Funding: Local heroes
I was acting and directing at Helmsley Arts Centre last week, in a little piece of ‘café theatre’ performed in…
Wild life
Bangkok ‘Any Thai man who is not married is gay,’ said a Thai woman to me. ‘You could say that…
Wild life
Rift Valley The patriarch Jacob Mukhamia Omanyo, grandfather of my friend Celestina, was born in 1888 in western Kenya. For…
Last season
Kenya Our surfing gang — average age 50 — are out in the bay again, dodging sewage, bull sharks and…
Friendly fire
Laikipia, Kenya My cousin Charlie Williams is a young Irish Guards captain about to deploy in Afghanistan. The other day…
Battle lines
South Africa Rarely is Jonathan Clayton, the Times man in Africa, far from the front lines — but this month…
Let’s do business
Tanzania Here’s this Chinese guy in the midday sun. Straw hat, faggy in his mouth, bright eyes, tanned face. I…
White-knuckle ride
Rainy Season on the Cattle Stock Route From the side of the track, a Samburu youth waved me down. I…
Let’s have an adventure
Colombian jungle The first day I was in Bogota I saw a big yellow bus speeding by, full of old-aged…
Shooting the breeze
Malindi, Kenya I’m at Malindi’s Driftwood beach bar, nursing a Tusker beer. I’m gazing at the Indian Ocean. The day…
Entrance exam
Before disembarking at Bulawayo airport I stuffed the book I was reading in the front-seat pocket. It was Peter Godwin’s…
Plague of pachyderms
Laikipia ‘That elephant is almost human,’ my wife Claire said. ‘That,’ I replied, ‘is the problem.’ I called him Stomper.…
In the line of fire
Laikipia ‘Let us go in amongst the cattle and talk,’ said the Councillor Jeremiah. That means a serious matter is…
Bankrupted by paradise
Kiwayu Island, Kenya I came on a holiday to unwind and decompress but I have just been handed the bill…
Wild Life
Kuala Lumpur I dropped into Malaysia armed with F. Spencer Chapman’s anti-Japanese guerrilla war memoir The Jungle is Neutral and…
Wild Life
Kenya An image I will never forget is of Ben Freeth’s three little children on the front lawn of their…
