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I have seen many mammals in Africa from aarvarks to zorillas but the ones that interest me the most are the ones I’ve never (or hardly ever) seen.  Some of the ‘Big Five’ bore me, particularly cheetahs and lions. Cheetahs should not be on the list: they are small (around 50kg), are killed by big cats and are, apart from their speed, utterly defenceless and harmless. When surrounded, you can catch them by the tail and all they do is try and pull away from you. But they are gre

In September 2021 I wrote a couple of articles for Only Connect* looking at the arguments for and against hunting by rich Westerners in Africa. In the first I mentioned that I had been encouraged to do so by a friend:   A few days later I got a call from another old Africa hand. He had just left Zambia for the UK after forty-three years of work there – cattle-ranching, fish-farming, pig-rearing, and game-farming. He had also been a volunteer game guard. I had first met him

"Excuse me, Sir" asked the controller of the baggage scanner at the airport as he viewed a large mass of something opaque, "What are you carrying in your luggage?" "Soil", I replied.  "What are you doing in Rwanda?" "I am the dendrologist for Victory." That tends to be a conversation stopper so he shrugged and went back to his screen. In fact, I had tree seedlings in bags of soil in my suitcase for reasons which I shall explain...

Some people will fly from London to LA for a Taylor Swift concert; others will fly across the planet to follow their sports hero or favourite team but as a tree-hugger I am always keen to travel to look at a tree I have never seen before, particularly when it is new to science...

When I started my tree project 20 years ago it was almost unheard of that an indigenous Kenyan would come and buy native trees. The combination of knowledge, increasing wealth and concern about the environment has meant that in recent years, more and more Kenyans come and buy seedlings of East African trees. A couple of months ago a man appeared looking for unusual tree species. His name was Michael Mwangi Muthee and he invited my assistant and me to visit his shamba in Karen