We Pushed the Governor out of the Mud

by | Feb 20, 2009 | Shel Arensen

Author: Jill Simpson 1946 We rounded a curve on the wet road, chains spitting mud into the air, and found a big fancy car stuck in a mud hole. We were on school holiday at our Mianzini Farm near Turi. My parents had left the house earlier in the morning to help...

Italian Expedition Scales Ruwenzoris

by | Feb 19, 2009 | Shel Arensen

1906 The Italian adventurer, Luigi Amedeo di Savoy, Duke of Abruzzi, spearheaded an expedition to explore, map and photograph the mysterious Ruwenzori Mountains in the heart of Africa. No stranger to harsh conditions, Luigi Amedeo began his life in a palace. At...

Epic Safari Marred by Disasters

by | Feb 19, 2009 | Shel Arensen

by: Dominik Kamonde Kitonyi 1967 As I drove the Land Rover through Uganda on the way to Kidepo National Park, I felt a jolt behind me. The trailer tyre hurtled past me and into the grass. I stopped to check the damage. The wheel had sheered off at the axle. I don’t...

Russian Officer with King Menelik’s Army

by | Jan 12, 2009 | Shel Arensen

Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes; Country in Transition 1896–1898 by Alexander Bulatovich, translated & edited by Richard Seltzer (Red Sea Press, 2000). Reviewed by Cynthia Salvadori Despite its bland title, this is the most important book on the history of eastern...

Missionaries Murdered at Golbanti

by | Jan 9, 2009 | Shel Arensen

1886 Maasai warriors, armed with long heavy spears and terrible clubs, met Methodist missionaries, John and Annie Houghton, just outside the stockade of their mission station at Golbanti on the Tana River. A second group of Maasai joined the first on the open road and...