Africa
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…
The many good things to come out of lockdown
Laikipia I was drinking in the fresh air on the high earth wall of my farm dam last week, when…
The perils of being a Kenyan farmer’s wife
Laikipia As the train pulled into Victoria my wife Claire, back home on the farm in Kenya, revealed that a…
Ethiopia is slipping into civil war
Civil war is breaking out in Ethiopia
What a relief it is to be back among level-headed Kenyans
Kenya I stood under huge skies in the open country of our farm in northern Kenya and, after months of…
Why is the WHO so worried about Tanzania?
Dar es Salaam The World Health Organisation has drawn up a shortlist of countries it’s most concerned about during the…
Another plague is enveloping the world – locusts
Another plague is stalking Africa
Why we’ll all be fleeing to Nigeria
I keep thinking what I’ll do when we regain our liberty — and I picture that beer at the end…
Africa’s invisible epidemics
Africa ‘Ah, Africa,’ the French scientist sighed contentedly. This was 1995 and all around us was an Ebola epidemic…
What our 500kg house bull taught us about the value of life
Death and failure are more integral to farming than any other experience that I’ve witnessed in my life. Some things…
My narrow escape from a burning aircraft
Addis Ababa airport This morning I caught a connecting flight via Addis Ababa’s Bole airport. For me this place…
The joy of a Rwandan airport
Our plane touched down in Rwanda at 7 p.m. Stepping outside on to the metal steps, I smelt that unmistakable…
![Tiny Rowland, 1991 [Business Collection/Shutterstock]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2Novwildlife.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
The man with the inside story on Tiny Rowland
Kenya At his house on Kenya’s coast our neighbour Paul Spicer kept a photograph of himself as quite a…
Britain is following in the footsteps of Africa’s former failed states
Kenya ‘In the past months the people of Uganda have been following with sorrow the alarming economic crisis befalling…
The astonishing resilience of my beach paradise
Malindi I could measure my whole life in the summers I’ve spent on the beach in front of our…
How an orphaned baby kudu gave solace to my grieving friend
Laikipia, Kenya On 5 April this year, my neighbour Torrie’s sister Vicki died during an operation in a Nairobi…
The true saviours of African wildlife
Laikipia, Kenya A cheetah perched in the front seat of your gold-plated Lamborghini. Stick that on Instagram in Saudi…
Why we should listen to elephants
Laikipia, Kenya ‘An elephant has fallen over,’ said the man running up to me. My first thought was that…
The British see Africa only in terms of aid but there are business opportunities aplenty
Kenya As the Union Flag was lowered during Kenya’s Uhuru ceremony in 1963, the Duke of Edinburgh turned to…
Demography has become the biggest story on the planet
One of my vanities is that all my novels are different. Yet one astute journalist identified a universal thread: ‘Too…
Me vs an eight-foot spitting cobra
Laikipia, Kenya ‘The End,’ I typed. The book that had taken me 14 years to write. I rose from…
How I rewilded the African bush
Laikipia My two Jersey bulls Halcyon and Hosanna were grazing happily on the lawn in front of the house…
I saw my future in the entrails of a butchered sheep
Laikipia, Kenya The Turkana cowhands are on Facebook and they spend a lot of time on their cell phones,…
China is winning the new scramble for Africa. Brexit could change that
On her tour of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, Theresa May finally made a positive case for Brexit. For too…
Portrait of the week: Theresa May goes to Africa, Labour accused of anti-Semitism (again) and John McCain dies
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, flew off to South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria accompanied by a trade delegation. In…
