Kenya
Wild life
I keep thinking what I’ll do when we regain our liberty — and I picture that beer at the end…
Wild life
Laikipia The sweetest sound to me now is the dawn chorus of birdsong at home on the farm. I lay…
Wild life
Death and failure are more integral to farming than any other experience that I’ve witnessed in my life. Some things…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
All was calm at the elephant safari camp. Then the river began to roar…
When Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, ejected from the aeroplane he was flying solo to Scotland, he parachuted to the ground…
To those with a taste for desolation, Lake Turkana may be the most beautiful place on Earth
As I write, a great gale is blowing in from Lake Turkana. The dry hills on the other side, always…
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…
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…
Rumours of sexual misconduct swirl around Westminster
Home A great ferment of accusations of sexual impropriety was made against people in Parliament and out of it. Bex…
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…
Diary
To the Business School at the University of Edinburgh to be interviewed on the theme of ‘Great Political Disasters’. Main…
Elephant in the room
Burning stockpiles of ivory was meant to wipe out poaching. After nearly 30 years, is it working?
Wild life
Nairobi The gangsters hadn’t heard of Brexit. ‘What is this “Breaks it”?’ they asked my friend hours after kidnapping…
