Kenya : a natural history

This is one of the best and most interesting natural history books I have seen for a very long time.  And this is not just because I am an avid Kenyaphile!

It is very wide-ranging with chapters on geology, fossils and hominids, the people, landscape, climate and weather, vegetation and habitats, and all the main animal groups, including birds obviously, as well as one on the marine environment and another on conservation.  Each chapter is self-sufficient and can be read in isolation but the whole is very well-written so you can actually sit down and read it from beginning to end.  Each contains sections on what can be seen and where, and always putting these into the context of biogeography and ecology but each also has a section on the history of the study of the subject in Kenya and another on relevant literature to point  to more detail if wanted.

The whole is well illustrated with many excellent, and usually pertinent, photographs (many by Stephen Spawls) and a few line drawings, and concludes with a fairly comprehensive bibliography and an 11-page index.

Anyone planning to go to Kenya will gain some really interesting and useful background from having a good look at this book, and I would be astonished if even those who may have been many times will not learn a fair amount.  Heartily recommended and not a ridiculous price either.

Book reviewed by Peter Lack