Letters from Gilgil 1

This is the first volume of a series that reconstructs airmail letters back home from abroad tracking a two year journey of living, working and breathing-in of a new country, its immense variety, its culture, its language, its people and above all, their wonderful good humour and kindness.

It records the initial settling into a new life, the first steps to venturing out into a new terrain and the first local safaris to soda and freshwater lakes, confronting the first mountain range and delighting in camping out with the night sounds of forest elephants and colobus monkeys to send you to sleep.

As confidence grows in the first year, excursions further afield to steaming hot springs called the Devil's Kitchen and a taste of two methods of reaching the coast unfold. Their respective destinations and journeys are in sharp contrast with each other. The very first time your feet sink into the soft coral sand, with a consistency of finely-milled flour between your toes, is unforgettable.

This first year is also a time for striking out to the far north to the west side of Lake Turkana, where the impact of rain in a place that has not seen it for thirty-five years is brought sharply and wonderfully into focus.