Welcome to Old Africa

your window into East Africa’s past.

Old Africa books

Old Africa books are well-told stories in the same tradition as the shorter pieces

our readers have come to enjoy from the pages of Old Africa magazine.

After two decades in print, Old Africa is now fully digital and free for all! That’s right: zero shillings, endless stories. Yes, we’ll miss the smell and feel of fresh paper too — and to our loyal subscribers who’ve stacked us proudly on bookshelves, we thank you for your loyalty. The stories stay rich, the history stays deep — only the format has changed.

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A Housewife Spying on the Italians in Ethiopia in 1939?

A Housewife Spying on the Italians in Ethiopia in 1939?

  It sounds more like a Mrs Pollifax mystery novel. Katharine Fannin, a surveyor's wife from Kenya made an informal spying trip trhough Italian-held Ethiopia and was hosted by the highest government officials in Addis Ababa. Later she received commendations from the...

Only in Africa – Quirky Tales that Happened in Africa

The Lion Roars at Dawn On a camping trip to Maasai Mara I had a new kijana as my camp helper to make the fire in the morning for chai.  We slept in different tents. Early one morning I called to him to go make the fire. I heard the kijana getting up and the tent...

Great African Baloonograph Safari Fizzles

1909 Charles Hughes spent his honeymoon in Kenya as the writer and secretary for the great African Balloonograph Expedition. His bride Anna didn’t join him. She spent their honeymoon with her mother in Europe. The couple’s strange start to married life is entwined...