Tears For Kenya

Out of Africa by Isak Dineson (Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke) was the book that first enchanted me with Africa. I discovered Kenya firsthand in the 1970s after a stay in Tanzania, bearing witness to its booming cities and stunning wildlife and vistas. Repeated visits led to many new friends.

Visits with the Blochs, a pioneering settler family, at their flower ranch at Lake Naivasha, opened my eyes to the mounting problems in Kenya, including significant environmental concerns. At the top of a sweeping lawn that sprawled down to the lake and filled with hippos and flamingos, we dined by candlelight outside and kept a gun handy in case of a hungry hippo! To fly in, we buzzed the dirt runway leading to their home to chase off the zebras.

At the same time, I flew to meet one of my heroines, Kuki Gallmann, the famous author of I Dream of Africa. Sitting around a fire at Rift Valley, her remote 100,000 acre preserve, we listened to her stories about her pioneering efforts in wildlife protection. Today, the Gallmann Africa Conservancy is one of the most stunning places to visit and maintains the most enlightened wildlife conservation policies in all of Africa.

My attention was first drawn to the beautiful lands of Kenya with the shouts of "Uhuru” (freedom) filling my young mind.

As a young boy in the 1950s, the media was filled with stories about the Mau Mau Rebellion led by Jomo Kenyatta. When the British colonists attempted to seize large portions of land in the Kikuyu tribal regions in the White Highlands to give land to the settlers, the rebellion started to rage.

In the decade long struggle for independence, Britain was forced to commit more than 21,000 personnel, including heavy air force bombers and naval ships.