Hugh Cran – And Miles To Go Before I Sleep A British Vet In Africa

 In early December 1966, while Britain lay blanketed in snow and darkness, I boarded an East African Airways
jet and was flown, in moderate discomfort, from London to Nairobi.

I had never flown before and perhaps it was fortunate that I hadn’t, as the novelty of the experi- ence had the concentrating effect of preventing me from brooding on whether I was really doing the right thing. Most people back in Scotland thought I was mad to be going off to the land of the Mau Mau, to a country hissing with man-eating lions, gin-swilling colonials and machete-swinging natives, abandoning a solid, safe career in solid, safe Scotland.

I told people that I was only going for a trial period, perhaps a year at most, just to test the waters. They laughed. They were right to laugh. I remain a vet in Kenya over 40 years later, and I love every minute of it.

Excellently written and in turns laugh-aloud funny and deeply moving. – Farmer’s Gus