Suggested Readings
Geology
- Africa: A Biography of a Continent- John Reader gives an excellent survey of Africa from its geological beginnings through pre-history to contemporary challenges.
Traveler’s Accounts
A Chronicle of Adventure- Bartle Bull recounts the historic tale of the safari business.
A Passage to Africa- George Alagiah is a Tamil from Sri Lanka relocated with his family to Ghana when he was very young; now BBC bureau chief for Africa, he writes about the root causes of Africa’s problems. This is an excellent all-around read!
Dark Star Safari- Paul Theroux, the famed travel writer goes overland from Cairo to Capetown; a former Peace Corps worker, he discusses why Africa is in worse shape now than before the billions of dollars of Western aid were poured into it!
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood- Alexandra Fuller is a white woman raised in farm in Zimbabwe.
Harmattan: Wind Across EAfrica- Marcello Di Cintio presents her travelogue of a ten-month odyssey as a young Canadian Volunteer
Journey to the Jade Sea- John Hillaby recounts his epic trip to Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya in the days before the safari trucks.
Out of Africa- Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) is the classic African novela storytelling book woven in the imaginative Danish style. Her descriptions of the Kenya of her day are exquisitely written, factual and magical at the same time. Her writing evokes the Africa she knew well and loved deeply.
The Shadow of Kilimanjaro: On Foot across East Africa- Rick Ridgeway sets out on a 300-mile trek across Tsavo National Park
West With the Night- Born in England in 1902, Beryl Markham was taken by her father to East Africa in 1906. Markham recounts her adventures–discoveries, rescues, and narrow escapes, the glint of an airplane abandoned in the desert, the look of a lion about to pounce…. Much more than a pilot’s memoir, West With the Night is a wise, funny, and inspiring exploration of a life well lived. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Zenzele: A Letter for my Daughter- J. Nozipo Maraire writes to us as the daughter of a black Ivy League-trained female neurologist.
Journey to the Jade Sea- John Hillaby recounts his epic trip to Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in the days before the safari trucks.
The Ukimwi Road- Dervla Murphy recounts her bicycle trip from Kenya to Zimbabwe. The book is equally revealing about the impact of HIV/AIDS on the people of Africa.
A Chronicle of Adventure- Bartle Bull recounts the historic tale of the safari business.
Politics
The Africa Review- an annual production by World of Information, offers an overview of the politics and economics of every African country as well as detail facts and figures. It’s well-balanced and the research makes no attempt to curry favor with any particular regime.
The African’s – David Lamb.
Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent- Blaine Harden examines issues straddling Africa’s development through series of people and their stories.
Cry the Beloved Country- Alan Patton opens dialogue about being black and a Christian pastor in South Africa
Detained- A Prison Writer’s Diary- Ngugi wa Thiong’o presents a radically different view of politics than that put out by the Kenyatta and Moi regimes.
The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience- by 2006 Noble Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai tells why she began her movement, how it operates, and where it is going.
Unbowed: A Memoir-, Wangari Maathai, who offers an inspiriting message of hope and prosperity through self-sufficiency. We see her studying with Catholic missionaries, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the United States, and becoming the first woman both to earn a Ph.D. in East and Central Africa and to head a university department in Kenya. We witness her numerous run-ins with the brutal Moi government and she makes clear the political and personal reasons that compelled her, in 1977, to establish the Green Belt Movement.
The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience- Here Maathai tells why she began her movement, how it operates, and where it is going. She includes the philosophy behind it, its challenges and objectives, and the specific steps involved in starting a similar grassroots environmental and social justice organization.
Things Fall Apart- Chinua Acebe is story of Nigerian “strong man†by Noble Prize winner. Detained- A Prison Writer’s Diary- Ngugi wa Thiong’o radically different view of politics than that put out by the Kenyatta and Moi regimes.
The Africa Review- am annual production by World of Information, offers an overview of the politics and economics of every African country as well as detail facts and figures, It’s well-balances and it’s research makes no attempt to curry favor with any particular regime.
African Development Issues
Kenya: Promised Land?, Geoff Sayer, an Oxfam Country Profile
Shaping a New Africa, Abdullah A. Mohamoud, Kit Publishers, Amsterdam
Striking a Balance, A Guide to Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations in International Development. Alan Fowler, Earthscan Publications, Ltd, London
Tanzania: Is the Ugly Duckling Finally Growing Up?, Arne Bigsten, Anders Danielson, A Report for the OECD project “Emerging Africaâ€.
Voice From Africa, Local Perspectives on Conservation, Edited by Dale Lewis and Nick Carter, World Wildlife Fund, Washington D.C.
What Went Wrong With Africa, A Contemporary History, Roel Van Dern, Kit Publishers
Flora and Fauna
Africa’s Top Wildlife Countries Mark W. Nolting, a well-known guide and tour operator CEO, gives great outstanding insight into safari
A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa- Jean Dorst and Pierre Dandelot
A Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa- JG WilliamsWillams and N. Arlott
Daily News (in English)
- Daily Nation - Kenya
- Daily News - Tanzania and Zanzibar
In addition to those listed above, there is a large flurry of large-format hardback books on the various tribal societies of Kenya, especially the Maasai and Samburu, which you will see in the bookstores of Mombasa and Arusha.