Some of Africa's most famous books have been set in Kenya, and many are true stories of the early settlers' lives. They describe the dangers and delights of starting a new life in an inhospitable but ruggedly beautiful land.
John H. Patterson was an engineer on the Mombasa-Uganda railway in 1898, and his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo tells the true story of two man-eating lions that terrorized his team of laborers. They managed to kill 135 people over the course of several weeks, and Patterson tracked them down and shot them dead. This is the stuff of great adventure and brings the hazards of the African bush to life.
Danish aristocrat Baroness Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen) lived in Kenya from 1914 to 1931 on a coffee farm and wrote probably the most famous book there is about Kenya, Out of Africa, which is a collection of stories about her experiences and relationships. It's not so much a story of her life in Kenya, but her love story with Africa, which she lovingly and vividly describes.
A coming-of-age story and another book that celebrates a love of the African wilderness and its people is The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley, who at the age of 6 moved to Kenya (again on a coffee farm) in 1913. She writes about her childhood experiences of being a member of one of the pioneering settler families in early-20th-century colonial Kenya: building their own house, traveling by ox wagon, growing up with the Kikuyu and Masai, and encounters with wild animals.
A more modern take on the settler theme is I Dreamed of Africa, the memoir of Italian Kuki Gullman, who arrived in Kenya in 1972 at the age of 25 and settled on a farm on the Laikipia Plateau. Initially her life was plagued with tragedy -- her fiancé died in a car crash and her son died of a snakebite -- but later she started a foundation to help protect wildlife from poachers.
A must for readers from ages 9 to 90 and one of the greatest animal stories ever told, Born Free tells the true story of Joy and George Adamson and their relationship with Elsa the lioness in the 1950s. Joy recounts her adventures raising an orphaned lion cub and successfully re-releasing her into the wild. Her love for Elsa shines through on every page.
To get your tongue around the lingo, take along the Lonely Planet Swahili Phrasebook, which contains a comprehensive two-way dictionary with phrases for any situation. Words are spoken as they're spelled, so it's not too difficult to pick up, and having a go at the language is also appreciated by local people.
