Life in the remoter parts of Kenya in the early pioneering days was hard but
nonetheless enjoyable.
Following her childhood and teenage years in Kenya where she was born the
daughter of a D.C. (later P.C.), the author led a hazardous and physically demanding
life, first on a ranch, then on a dairy farm, which would have exhausted the strongest
man.
It is difficult to associate the almost fragile looking woman whose photograph
appears inside the front cover with someone who has run, not only her own cattle
ranch, but that of an absent neighbour, when her husband and her neighboiur joined
up in World War II. Along with her African labour force she participated in all the
physical work, battling with the elements, the devastation caused by locusts and wild
animals, and pursuing African cattle thieves into the bush and outwitting them in the
bargain. How many women could claim to be able to oil and tan a skin, build a cattle
dip or a simple house, a bridge or cattle yards? But these were the tasks which the
woman living on her own during the war years in these remote parts of the Kenya
Highlands had to undertake.
There are some lovely descriptions of Kenya; an amusing account of a sunbird
nesting in a copper kettle on the sideboard, and skunks taking up residence in the
bathroom.
This is then the story of the hardships - and the joys - of those early days in Africa
which a few will still remember with nostalgic pleasure, while others will wonder at the
fact that anyone could enjoy a life of hardship such as this. One minor criticism: the
presentation of the book would have been improved by more assiduous proof reading.
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