Northern Kenya

For what now seems a  long time ago I was fortunate to live with pastoralists in Northern Kenya.

I worked on  on a stock substitution programme to introduce camels to their traditionally cattle based society.  Cattle are more than livestock in this part of the world. They are financial banks on the hoof and for many  societies the bedrock of the curse of lobola (the bride price) which is an endless source of grief across Africa.

Occasionally Wilfred Thesiger used to wander up from his base at Maralal for conversation and just to ensure I was still alive. He was a great man and an outstanding writer, but  could never be persuaded to pack his own camels.

Camels and sand dams are two of my passions. In the right context they are both environmental superstars for arid lands. The more familiar boreholes for watering livestock do work, but more often open a pandora's box of conflict over ownership and access rights.

In those days local news travelled slowly and the endless cycle of cattle theft between the Turkana, Pokot and everyone else was fought out with spears.

Camel scraping out a seasonal dam

Today the land is drier and competition for resources has increased, with automatic weapons replacing spears as the weapon of choice.

This however remains a unique land that  shape's perspective on your own life.  The sense of light and space  is immense and the people are of a special quality to both survive here and enjoy this wonderful place.

Central Asia - first steps into a new world

It has been a roller coaster ride for the region since the Russians pulled out.  Some countries like Kyrgyzstan have taken tentative steps towards democracy, whilst others have veered sharply towards repression. Tajikistan is breath taking, but remains unstable, particularly  in its eastern province.
Now the old colonial power is making a concerted attempt to re-establish its influence in the region.

All the Stan's have one thing in common, they are a panorama of stunning landscapes and amazing peoples.

In the early 1990's, I was one of the first westerners into southern Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan after the fall of communism to establish what became a regional programme for one of  the more effective British NGO's.
The Tien Shan and the High Pamirs are utterly unforgettable but my lasting memory from the first few weeks was an outdoor shashlik (kebab) stall in sub zero temperatures. The vendor passed me a beer and in the seconds it took to open the lid and bring the bottle to my lips the contents had frozen solid and tragically remained undrinkable.

Central Asia in winter is not for the unprepared.

Beginnings - Kipling, Thesiger and Bouvier

Where do you begin after thirty years in remote places with amazing peoples?

The reasons are numerous but in the end it boils down to Kipling who as in many ways hit the nail on the head  'There are two types of men in this world: those who stay home, and those who do not' and as Nicolas Bouvier observed ' You think you are making a trip, but soon it is making you'.

Africa  has changed out of all recognition from when I lived in isolation  years ago with the Pokot with only the occasional visit from Wilfred Thesiger  to see if I was still a going concern.

That world  has now long gone, replaced by mobile phones and the internet.  Once it was an ocean of wildlife with islands of people and now the reverse is true.

I remain grateful for the opportunity to have lived with a unique people content in their marginal existence and to have met some truly outstanding individuals along the way.

This blog is really my take on how so much has changed  in a few short decades for so many peoples in the remoter parts of the world.