Crocodile Tales

I remember going on safari with my dad in the early 1960s to Baringo where he checked on the new fish-processing plant by the Roberts’ campsite. At night with lights shining, the muddy brown water looked like a parking lot with all the reflected crocodile’s eyes as...

Bad Binoculars

As we drove up the Subukia road towards Lake Hannington (now Lake Bogoria) in 1965, my husband Victor Burke stopped to watch some birds with his binoculars. Within minutes six Tugen men had gathered, intrigued by the binoculars. Victor explained that the binoculars...

Newsreels Fire Imagination

During World War II we sometimes saw black and white newsreels with moving pictures of how the war was progressing. We kids enjoyed watching the tanks clank across the screen firing rounds of ammunition. Sometimes the newsreels also showed other news. One time we...

Rhino Cargo

In 1949 Col George Jazman was driving his 10 cwt Fordson panel van on the Kiganjo-Mweiga road from his house between Monte Carlo Ranch and Steep (now Aberdare Country Club) when he heard a huge thump in the back of the car. When he looked around he saw a rhino in his...
Catching the Train

Catching the Train

Getting out into the bush was the best thing about going to school at Rift Valley Academy for me. We had a huge playground – the wild out-of-doors. Once we hiked a few miles northwestward along the railway to climb Kijabe Hill. We found heavy old tires near the top...

Wattle Underwear

While attending the Highlands High School at Eldoret, we were taken to a wattle farm belonging to an elderly German. Wattle trees where grown and the bark used for the leather tanning industry. We were told how the trees were planted and harvested and finally to our...