I had dinner with Fuzz Dyer and Ross Withey last night at one of my favourite London restaurants, Champor-Champor near London Bridge. ttp://www.champor-champor.com/

I thought the spicy and very aesthetic Malaysian food might appeal to these Kenyan bods and it did. These guys come from 4th generation Kenyan families and own places like Manda Bay on Lamu and Samatian Island on Lake Baringo in the Rift valley and Borana lodge in Laikipia. It reminded me of how well you get looked after by these owner-managers when you visit their places. Fuzz told me that Ross stood up for a young lady on the tube on their way to the restaurant which you don’t see happen ( shame - faced to say) too often these days. There is something about the way many Kenyans are brought up to host people who are staying with their families. They seem to be just very good at giving guests a great time and making them feel

part of the scene.

Above a couple of pics showing the view from Samatian island and one of those great vistas taken from a sundowner spot on Borana ( from my first visit there in the mid 1990’s)

First visit to Africa 1986

Someone said that as I have been travelling to sub Saharan Africa for well over twenty years and organize amazing safaris as well as holidays to off the beaten track beach places I should start a blog. Maybe I should start at the beginning:

I went to Africa for the first time in 1986.

About forty of us who had gone out to Kenya for a wedding ended up on a real “out of Africa” style safari in the Chyulu hills which is a couple of hours drive north of Amboseli National Park and a six hour drive or plane-ride south of Nairobi.

On the way into the camp we kept pace with lolloping giraffes. My first wild animals.

On Christmas night we were served a full scale Christmas dinner with all the trimmings in the middle of nowhere. We slept under canvas and it was simple but authentic. The next day I seemed to be in rather a happy mood.

Some of us took land rovers and climbed much higher into this range of green hills. We stopped after an hour or so of climbing and a massive panorama lay before us. Layered hills to plains below and the mighty Kilimanjaro in the distance.

Before leaving for Kenya I was rather nervous about bugs, dirt and generally unsure. After that safari I was hooked and I had got another sort of bug. A wonderful yearning to be in the bush. Well over twenty years later I keep going back and visit various countries south of the Sahara a few times a year.

1n 1992 my close friend Kate Theobald set up a small safari company which I took over the day to day running of a few years later.

I have stayed small and nearly all our clients come from referrals. So I take a very keen interest in making sure my clients have a good time on holiday. Because if they don’t they may not refer us to family, friends and colleagues!

http://www.theobaldbarber.com/