Mario’s JOURNEY

Mario lay in a long shaft of sunlight on the floor of the music room alcove in Windrush Hall.  Using his paws, he pushed himself into a sitting position and gazed out of the French windows to the garden his mistress had created. Those had been fun times.  He’d followed her outside and as she[…]

Chocolate Celebration Cake

In Hour is Come, Dotty makes a chocolate cake for Lucas, her husband’s young son. This is the recipe for the cake including the gooey fudge icing which tends to flow over the top of the cake and drip down its sides.

Mama Rose’s Christmas Gifts

“Is that everything, Kipto?” Mama Rose Hardie stood in the kitchen of her one-bedroom thatched cottage on the edge of Nanyuki, a market town in the shadow of Mount Kenya, three hours’ drive north of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.  In her early 60s, she was tall and thin, with a face lined from yours of working[…]

5 Interesting Facts About African Wild Dogs

# Fact 1 African wild dogs are known by several names including Cape hunting dog, painted dog, or their scientific name, Lycaon pictus, which means “painted wolf”.  ‘Painted’ refers to the wild dog’s dappled coat of black, brown, yellow and white fur.  Each animal’s markings are unique, like a human fingerprint. # Fact 2 African[…]

African wild dogs – the phoenix pack

In 2017, Laikipia’s entire Wild Dog population of over 300 individuals was wiped out by Canine Distemper. The Laikipia plateau straddles the equator and extends from the slopes of Mount Kenya to the rim of the Great Rift Valley. The vast open plains accommodate livestock farming, mostly cattle, and wildlife. Tourism, which is centred around[…]

5 Facts About Nanyuki, Laikipia County, Kenya

Nanyuki is three hour’s drive north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, and was founded in 1907 by British settlers.  It grew economically mainly due to the farms it served throughout Laikipia county.  There is still an old railway line that once linked the town with Nairobi.  Mount Kenya dominates the view to the south-east of the[…]

The Meaning of ‘Kanga’ in the Kenya Kanga Mystery Series

Fowl Murder is the first book in the Kenya Kanga mystery series. Where does the title for this series come from? ‘Kanga’ has two meanings in Kiswahili, the national language of Kenya. The first is ‘guinea fowl’. Most commonly seen in Kenya are flocks of red or blue-wattled helmeted guinea fowl, with white spots on[…]