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Kenya books
On this site you can search and find hundreds of books related to Kenya or East Africa. We try to discuss and review as many as possible. You will find travel guides about Kenya , maps of Mount Kenya,Mount Kilimanjaro and the National Parks in East Africa , Diving sites on the East African coast,books about Kenyan history,Safari guides , Kenyan story tellers, political books, personal books ,wild life guides , basically you might find everything which has ever been published about Kenya and East Africa or from Kenyans , the website is far too small to discuss and review every book which has been published ( but we will add new reviews every month), so please use the search facilities provided and scroll down . If you want to recommend a new book related to Kenya or East Africa , just let us know ( email on the bottom of the page ). You also can buy books online here in association with amazon.co.uk . Please support our project ( about us you can read at the bottom of the page ) : If you want to buy a book anyway , please buy it from this website and you help to secure jobs for Kenyans . Thank you . Have fun to surf around .
Kenyan books,maps of Kenya,African and Kenyan travel guides,Safari guide,Kenyan Safari guides,travel guide East Africa,books and travel guides about Kenya and East Africa,Mount Kenya guide,Diving guide Kenyan Coast
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An eminent scholar and nationalistic leader presents a study of African
tribal life as represented in his own Kikuyu society.Jomo Kenyatta
provides a detailed insider description of the Kikuyu peoples of Kenya.
The book takes a structural functionalist approach to anthropology,
providing a very detailed description covering virtually all aspects of
tribal life. A native Kikuyu,son of a medicine man, Kenyatta reveals his
wonderful anthropological ability in a storybook fashion. A must read for
anyone interested in learning about African culture. This book is a must
read for anyone interested in Kikuyu culture I found the Rough Guide far better [than the Lonely Planet guide] with
more up-to-date info.This is pretty much everything a guide book should
be; plenty of detail on the mainstream stuff (where to stay and eat in
Nairobi, how to organise a safari in the Maasai Mara), but plenty also on
the areas off the beaten track. Best of all, the book is unfailingly
relevant, avoiding the usual pages of filler on the blindingly obvious.
The wealth of background information and the dry, witty style are welcome
bonuses. The best recomendation I can give this book is that it quite
simply made our holiday much more enjoyable than it would have been.We
have visited Kenya twice using the Rough Guide both to select safari and
resort destinations, and as our "bible" on arrival. The descriptions of
the regions, people, scenery, wildlife and accommodation are without equal
- we own several other publications on Kenya but none has such detailed
and accurate information. The author's deep personal knowledge (and great
affection) for Kenya shines through in his observations on the political,
social and cultural life of the country and his wry humour always makes it
a pleasure to dip into the book while travelling around. During one of our many breakdowns on safari in August 2001 we were
given a lift by a group of ex-pat residents travelling from Nairobi to the
Masai Mara. We clambered into their vehicle, our copy of the Rough Guide
in hand, and noticed one occupant of the bus clutching the same edition.
Our remark that it was good elicited the immediate response "oh, it's
definitely the best" - and this from a "local". Kenya is 2.5 times the size of the United Kingdom. This travel survival
guide contains information required for a journey round Kenya. It provides
various maps and indispensable advice to help you on your way. THE book
for Kenya - great for reading up on culture, tribes and animals found in
each region. You will always have some lcoal knowledge however remote the
spot your in!! No matter where I go I always put pride in knowing about
the specific country's history, culture, people, traditions, and daily
life. For planning purposes I had acquired Lonely Planet Kenya but I was
positively surprised to find out that this guide book contains a chapter
which gives a comprehensive description of the above subjects as well as
economics, politics, etc. It helped to give me a good understanding of the
country and the foundation for interesting conversations with the local
people. The description of how to get around in Kenya also came in handy.
In this chapter you will find information about all means of
transportation. If you are in for travelling by camel on a safari, you
will be able to get good advice in this book! Since most people going to
Kenya go there because of the game safaris, this is a subject which is
described thoroughly from a practical point of view. You can read about
the game reserves and what you can expect to see there. There is even
illustrations of the game but I could have used more illustrations. For
this purpose I will recommend that you acquire a field book about the game
and birds in East Africa. If you are to stay overnight in the game
reserves, you can find information about the facilities and price levels
of the various hotels and lodges in the game reserves. Overall, you
shouldn't worry about bringing LP Kenya as your travel companion Cameron Burns presents a detailed guide to t hirty of the majour routes
for climbers in the East African mountains of Kilimanjaro and Mount
Kenya.A great addition to the rucsac when pounding the slopes. Don't pay
too much attention to the costs included within text, but do pay attention
to the great variety of routes and descriptions contained within the
book.This is a great book detailing both Trekking and Climbing routes for
Africa's two highest peaks. Written in a very accessible style the book
gives very straightforward reviews and comments regarding the most popular
routes on each mountain. The excellent black and white photo's are perfect
accompaniments for the route descriptions and these are supported by
useful topo's. The colour prints are appropriately reserved for general
"photo album" shots. The book provides route descriptions all the way from
the "normal routes" of both mountains to HVS (American Grade VI) routes
encompassing scrambles of various difficulties in between. However, don't
assume that this is a book for hard-core mountaineers only; it simply does
a good job of explaining all the options available. A useful chapter on
preparation includes kit lists (differentiated for Trekkers and Climbers),
Maps and Guides available, recommended fitness levels, park regulations,
food, travel arrangements, access and mountain health (and what to do when
it is waning!). I bought a number of guides to these mountains prior to my
first trip to Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya. This book and the Mountain Club of
Kenya's excellent Guide to Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro are the only two
that are dog-eared and the only two that I would take again.This book
probably has the edge in terms of practical use for Trekkers, with the MCK
book slightly more focussed towards climbers.Either way, both make
excellent companions on your African adventure. This is the history of the Meru people of Mount Kenya, based on their
own traditions, from the earliest times through the colonial period. Many
of these tales have been ritually passed down through no fewer than 19
generations; others were remembered by those personally involved. The
author gathered them in interviews with more than 100 of the Meru's oldest
men and women. The traditions touch on every era of the Meru past. They
include narrations, songs, chants and childhood riddles. They tell of a
mysterious origin, past enslavement, despairing flight, mountain
warriorhood, British conquest, and the fight for freedom. The Meru elders
speak of urogi, or witchcraft - the incantations rituals, and potions used
to deal with the supernatural aspects of Meru life. This guide includes a chapter detailing Kenya's history and culture, 24
itineraries and excursions taking in sights ranging from the top wildlife
reserves to Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Reserve's coral reef, leisure-time
suggestions, and a comprehensive information section packed with essential
contact addresses and numbers. It also contains dozens of photographs and
numerous maps, including a detailed pull-out map. This is the life story of one man's journey through life which began in
Kenya and took him to London. In telling his story he brings together
various experiences he encountered from political unrest to racialism to
discrimination. This is as much a story about Kenya as it is about the UK.
He recalls his grandparent's work on the Railways and comments on changes
in society. It is also about his beliefs and spiritual experiences.
Overall he sets out to illustrate how he fared in the mother country after
arriving just before the ban was imposed on Asians from Kenya. In 1914 Karen Blixen went to Kenya to run a coffee farm; its failure in
1931 caused her to return to Denmark where she wrote this classic account
of her experiences. A poignant farewell to her beloved farm, this work
describes her friendships and her affection for the animals and
landscape.I consider Out of Africa to be the best-written portrayal of
Africa by a foreign writer. She did a great job in her portrayal,
indicating that she was well versed not only with the land, but also with
the native African peoples she met and knew as well as their way of life.
The fact that Karen respected that way of life made her to have a deep
understanding of their customs and lives at a time of colonialism where
European settlers lived an exclusive life from the natives and only dealt
with them as sources of cheap labor. I could not help recalling other
titles set in the colonial era such as DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE and NOWHERE IN
AFRICA. However, Karen towered above the others in her unique style of
recounting her stories.As an avid reader, Out of Africa still remains one
of my favourite books. I have returned to it many times to absorb myself
in the world of Africa at the turn of the 20th century.Karen Blixen lived
in Africa from 1914 to 1931 where she set up a coffee plantation. Through
the book she meanders through her life in no chronological order telling
wonderful stories about the people she encountered while there. She gives
the reader no hints on her personal live leaving you picking through the
story desperately trying to figure out the woman behind the life. I found
this book both stirring and remarkable and will return again and again.
"If I know a song of Africa," she writes, "of the Giraffe, and the African
new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the fields, and the sweaty
faces of the coffee-pickers, does Africa know a song of
me?" am lucky enough to have a second edition of this book and read it
after visiting Tsavo (an arid place) and long before the film came
out. The book was very interesting and the events that occured made the
story quite gripping in places. However, the book is written more as a
diary of recollections than a descriptive story. I did not feel that the
author added much intensity to the book with this style of writing.
I was initially disappointed to find that half the book is written
after the reign of the man eating lions. I was pleasantly surprised when
the interest of the authors situation continued following the fall of the
lions.
One word of warning to any lovers of wildlife planning to read this
book. The book was written about experiences in the late 1800's. The
author encounters many different animals and breifly describes there
majesty before going into great detail about how he shoots them.
Obviously, attitudes have changed in the last 200 years. If you can
overlook the brutal slaughter of the animals, and if you have interest in
this field, you should enjoy this book. Known for such feats as being the first climber to reach the summit of
K2 without bottled oxygen, climbing Antarctica's highest mountain, and
leading a team to the top of aformidable 2,000-foot granite tower in the
most remote corner of the Amazon's Orinoco jungle, Rick Ridgeway, in his
latest book, takes a walk. Of course, it's no ordinary stroll. Accompanied
by park officers, Ridgeway treks unprotected among lions and elephants,
rhinos and oryxes. The Shadow of Kilimanjaro is as much a search for answers to an
adventurer's most soul-searching questions as an account of a thrilling
journey. In the introduction Ridgeway writes,
Starting at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and ending at the Indian
Ocean, Ridgeway's aim during this adventure is less to get there and
more to be there. During his weeks on foot, he thoughtfully considers
the effects of colonial expansion on Africa's indigenous peoples, its
landscape, and its awe-inspiring animals--all the while contemplating
with a conservationist's heart Africa's uncertain future.Combining
moments of danger with moments of profound introspection,
mountaineer/explorer Ridgeway details his journey from the top of Mount
Kilimanjaro through the Tsavo game reserves to Mombasa, a month-long
journey on foot, which allows him to experience man's primal
relationships with the environment. Traveling with an experienced guide,
two members of the Kenya Park and Wildlife Service, and two
sharpshooters (in case of life-threatening danger), Ridgeway follows dry
riverbeds across the savanna, seeking "tactile knowledge of Africa's
wildlands and wild animals." Far more than a search for thrills, the journey offers Ridgeway an
opportunity to observe breath-taking vistas and the full panoply of
wildlife, from the elephant to the tiniest of birds, paying equal
attention to all. Mourning the absence of once-plentiful animals from
the bushlands near Kilimanjaro, and the decline of species elsewhere,
Ridgeway contemplates the long-term effects of colonialism, big game
hunting, poaching, traditional tribal values, climatic changes, and
tourism, as well as man's seemingly innate tendency to kill certain
species into extinction.
Ridgeway, long a hunter himself, is an engaging author, both
observant and thoughtful. A great admirer of
hunter-turned-game-park-adminstrator Bill Woodley, whose two sons from
the Park and Wildlife Service are on the journey, he provides a
sensitive and impartial treatment of conservation issues. Extolling the
work of elephant researchers Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole, the latter of
whom joins the group for part of the journey, he points out that they
have acquired through study a kind of knowledge not available to
hunters. Without preaching, he conveys "the big picture," making a
compelling case for the fact that to preserve Africa's large mammals one
must "fight fiercely not only to preserve, but even to expand, their
wild habitat." Men and women of passion and action live, fight, love and die in scenes
of dramatic intensity. From haunting tragedy on the snow-capped peak of
Kilimanjaro to brutal sensationalism in the bullring; from rural America
with its deceptive calm to the heart of war-ravaged Europe, each of the
stories in this classic collection is a feat of imagination, a masterpiece
of description. The Snows of Kilimanjaro is among Hemingway's best works.
Concise and yet incredibly condense in meaning, it takes the reader
through the main events of the protagonist's life. It therefore provides
an explanation of how the main character gradually deprives himself of his
greatest dreams and ambitions, drifting away in a lifestyle that he
accepts rather than chooses for himself. The character and landscape
depictions are remarkable, identifiable with the classic Hemingway style.
In this way, connections are allowed to be made between this particular
work and others by Hemingway, such as, for instance, A Moveable Feast. The
magnitude of The Snows of Kilimanjaro is to be found in the fact that it
combines many of Hemingway's distinctive storytelling locations in one
text and, most notably, in one that greatly demonstrates his craft.
There are hundreds of good books about Kenya and East Africa available
,Travel guides ,Kenyan maps , books about Kenyan
history,tribes,essays,wildlife,adventure stories,
movies,documentaries,political articles,African music and much
more .This websit is far too small to discuss all of them . If you do not
find what you are looking for you can use the search boxes provided .
Back in print in a single volume, "Born Free, The Full Story", includes
the first book "Born Free" and the subsequent "Living Free" and "Forever
Free". All three books had an impact on wildlife conservation and
attitudes to the environment. If you want to understand the REAL live in Nairobi , this book is
brilliant . The best place to read it is a small bar ( which I hope still
excists ) called "friends corner" . Go to River Road and ask around where
the bar is. ( NB : it is relatively safe to have your Tusker there , just
don't "Going Down River Road" alone in the night ! Kenyan human rights activist wa Wamwere spent a total of 13 years
imprisoned and faced execution before pressure from international human
rights groups freed him. In this gripping autobiography, wa Wamwere
recalls the brutality and oppression of Kenya's colonial and postcolonial
history as well as his own personal suffering. He brilliantly incorporates
African folklore in his analysis of Western and African engagement. Wa
Wamwere is bluntly critical of the rise of the Mau Mau in response to
British colonial repression, as well as the debilitating accommodation of
Jomo Kenyatta, and the rise of Daniel Arap Moi. Wa Wamwere recounts his
career as activist, journalist, and member of the Kenyan parliament
representing one of the most depressed districts in the nation, and his
refusal to be silenced by the Kenyatta and Moi regimes despite detention,
torture, and five times being imprisoned. Despite his personal suffering
and Kenya's struggles through colonial and postcolonial strife, wa Wamwere
exhibits resilience and optimism in his inspiring autobiography.I Refuse
to Die is political activist Koigi wa Wamwere’s account of his life in the
human rights movement. In it, he documents the injustices committed under
British rule and President Moi’s oppressive regime, and he celebrates the
Kenyan people’s ongoing struggle for survival and human dignity. Born in
Nakuru, Kenya, in 1949, wa Wamwere attended Cornell University, where he
was inspired by the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. He returned to
Kenya to push for change, first as a member of parliament and then as a
journalist. Wa Wamwere ran for president in 1997, but his outspoken
criticism of Kenya’s human rights record incurred the anger of the Kenyan
government who imprisoned him four times. Now living in New York, wa
Wamwere continues to speak out for democracy in Africa. With 16 pages of
black-and-white photographs, this is a moving autobiography by one of
Africa’s leading human rights advocates. The true story of the Mau Mau rebellion of 1952-60 in Kenya, told for
the first time At once a hopelessly romantic love story, a gripping adventure yarn and
a fine piece of social anthropology, White Masai is a compulsive read.
Whilst on holiday Corinne Hoffman fell in love with a Masai warrior. After
overcoming all sorts of obstacles she moved into a tiny shack with him and
his mother and spent four years in Kenya. Slowly but surely, the dream
began to crumble. She eventually fled back home with her baby daughter.
From wild animals through starvation to ritual mutilation, this is a book
steeped in humanity and one that tells a fascinating tale. The White Masai
is at once a hopelessly romantic love story, a gripping adventure yarn,
and, incidentally, a fine piece of meticulously observed social
anthropology. It is also a compulsive read. Corinne Hofmann falls in love
with a Masai warrior while on holiday with her boyfriend in Kenya. After
overcoming all sorts of obstacles, she moves into a tiny shack with him
and his mother in his village, and spends four years in Kenya. Slowly but
surely the dream starts to crumble until she flees back home with her baby
daughter born out of the seemingly indestructible love between a white
European woman and a Masai. From close shaves with wild animals to the
rigours of a subsistence existence in the bush, disease, malnutrition,
hunger, ritual mutilation and, overriding it all, a consuming passion for
another, almost wholly alien, human being, this is a book steeped in
humanity: one which emphasises how much we all share, and how much has
come to separate us. Simply unputdownable. Excellent book about Diving in East Africa' s beautiful coral reef .
The Arabian dhow, with its characteristic features, is one of the most
evocative images of the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The great
cargo dhows represented a flourishing trade which stretched from the
Mediterranean up to China in the time of the Portuguese and the Dutch from
the 16th to the 18th centuries. When the pearling industry was at its
height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of pearling dhows
were actively employed, carrying thousands of seamen diving for the finest
pearls, a commodity much sought by the Western powers. In times of war,
the dhows were magnificent fighting vessels and associated with the piracy
so prevalent in these waters. This book is a product of over two hundred
interviews with shipwrights and seamen in the Arabian Gulf and Oman over a
period of nine years. It compares information given firsthand with the
literature already written on the dhow and on Arab seafaring in the past
70 years, much of which was simply technical. Documenting the dhow as an
important element in the prosperity of the area before the discovery of
oil, we find in this book the geographical conditions and the
historical-linguistical background of each dhow-type, the life-pattern in
its role as cargo, pearl-diving, pirate and slaving vessel and also how
the sea faring communities interacted with the dhow world.
It is a wonderful book if read in the context of the time it was
written,(the greens and PC brigades are no doubt horrified)but that is the
way it was,you can't change history,unless of course you are an American
film director.
As with so many Hollywood "true stories" the film is
utter rubbish and bears very little resemblance to the facts -apart from
two lions,a hunter and a railway the rest is pure hokum! If the author was
still with us he would probably sue.I read this book mainly because I am
visiting the Tsavo game reserve in Kenya next year. This book provided a
frightening insight to the wildlife of the area.
Henry David Thoreau did not write that in wilderness is the
preservation of the world, as he is oft misquoted, but that "In wildness
is the preservation of the world." There is a difference, and it is
significant. A wildness is intact. In wildness, all the original pieces
are there. My own backyard mountains in California, from the Coastal
Range through the Sierras, are in many places wilderness, but none of it
is wildness because the grizzly is gone. We may have the grizzly on the
state flag; having it there, however, is not a celebration of our
heritage but a burlesque of what we have done to the most noble
patriarch ever to walk the land.
The unique continuity in plot and the marvellous transitions from
present to past and vice versa, keep interest in constant maximum level,
until the end of the narrative.
The title of the book is highly
related to its content, since it defines the outcome. The climax of the
story is inseparably linked to its location. The ending is complemented by
the scenery and the impact on the reader is immense.
The Snows of
Kilimanjaro is bound to be appreciated not only by avid Hemingway readers,
but also by readers that select this book in order to become acquainted
with the acclaimed author.
www.dianibeach.co.uk/books.htm is listed in the following directories and searchengines :
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About www.dianibeach.co.uk : This is the first private and independent Kenya travel and tourist guide on the net.It aims to become the leading website about Kenya,encouraging ecotourism and envirement friendly investments in Kenya,offers free and low cost web promotion for local small business,offers free and low cost investment consulting for small and middle scale investors to Kenya,employs Kenyans to keep the website up to date and contributes actively to "make poverty history in Africa" .
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