More Stories from East Africa's past for you to enjoy
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...
Navigating the Nile – 1946
1946 In those days one could not always plan ahead and purchase ongoing tickets and connections. After our ship the Gripsholm docked in Alexandria, Egypt on a Saturday night, my father and some other missionary men disembarked and tried to clear the trunks and drums...
Karen ‘Then and Now’ – follow up
I was pleased to receive the following email from Barbara Black from Victoria, British Columbia in Canada after she read my blog about Karen, then and now. Here’s her email. “You will have to excuse my barely contained delight at finding your blog entry “Karen—Then...
Road to Congo 1968 – The VW
I just got back from a road trip in Tanzania, where the roads were pleasantly paved. Our 20-year-old Land Cruiser performed well without so much as a puncture. On my return to Kenya I found a comment on my Old Africa blog asking for a photo of the Volkswagen car my...
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...
Christine Nicholls’ Blog, 5 April 2012
I was in London last week, at the annual general meeting of the East Africa Women’s League (UK). There was a fascinating talk by David Arathoon, an English GP, about his recent return, with his brothers and sisters, to their old farm in Kenya, where they grew up. As I...
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...
Racism in Kenya
My story concerns Christmas on the Kenyan coast in 1963. Despite the atrocities committed by the Mau Mau during their uprising and equal atrocities that have recently come to light associated with its suppression, race relations in Kenya have been surprisingly good...
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...
Road to Congo, 1968
I rode in the back of our white Volkswagen beetle, registration KCY 434, from central Kenya to northeastern Congo in 1968 when I was 12 years old. My father had to speak at a conference at Rethy. We drove through Eldoret, into Uganda and Kampala before driving...
Egypt!
Being only three years of age on this epic voyage to East Africa via ship, my childhood memories are sometimes confused. I know we stopped in Naples, Italy, but remember nothing of the stopover except the visible evidence of World War II. Large, rusted hulks of bombed...
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...
Jezebel and the Puff Adder
When living outside Naivasha on the edge of the Rift Valley in a somewhat lonely and rugged place, we didn’t have too many wild animals, but we did have snakes. One morning Ezekiel, our mpishi and the chap who totally ran the household, rushed in to say Jezebel, one...
Christine Nicholls’ Blog, 3 March 2012
I have been looking into the early newspapers of Kenya and have managed to glean the following facts, with the help of Stephen North. Can anyone help me further with this list? Have I got any of the dates wrong? Has anyone any more information about when the papers...
Bwana Sasa Hivi of Marsabit
Jaldessa Diko, the Boran station Mnyapara (foreman) during my service with the Provincial Administration in Marsabit in the early 1950s earned his nickname of “Sasa Hivi” meaning right now. Jaldessa was out to please everyone, and if ever I told him that I required...
Car Racing in Langalanga
Standing on a bit of broken-up tarmac road above Gilgil last week, it was hard to believe that 60 years before this was the place for Kenya's 'Petrol Heads' to gather on weekends and race around the three-mile track in MG-T series sports cars. Old Africa reader, Harry...
Sailing to Africa
January 1946 A well-traveled ship, the seaworthy freighter Gripsholm would be our home for our trip to North Africa. High cranes and derricks covered its deck with little room to accommodate extra passengers as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. As a three-year-old, my...
Lions in Langata?
It is about a mile from Margaret Downey’s house to the Giraffe Centre. On Saturday 11th February 2012, Margaret rang up the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) because two large female lions, assumed to be mother and daughter, had been prowling around her plot and her staff...