Wild Life: Adventures on an African Farm

Five years ago, after the senseless murder of his closest friend in Nairobi, Aidan Hartley packed up his bags and headed for the hills with his wife and young daughter. They bought a vast tract of dry land in Laikipia in Northern Kenya, with no fences, no phones, and no company other than the errant witchdoctor who cursed the dust of Aidan's footsteps, and set out to build a farm from scratch. But it wasn't long before Aidan discovered that his patch of wilderness was full of life: not just the farmhands spending their wages on drink, weddings and funerals, but a whole procession of curious neighbours, intriguing locals, and occasional run-ins with leopards and elephants. Although Aidan grew up on a farm in Tanzania and thought he had farming in his blood, nothing prepared him for how hard rural life would be.But with the help of the locals, the farm developed, and all three of the family proved to have far more to learn from their neighbours than they'd ever expected. "Wild Life" story is a remarkable book, by turns heartbreaking and wonderfully funny.