News from Jupiter
From My Notebooks In 1974: Turkana in Lodwar, Kenya
February 15, 2026
Nairobi, Tuesday, January 8th Mike Pearson, the bluff and hearty boss of Lucas, Nairobi, says: “I say! We just bought a plane. Where would you like to go?” So I told him I’d got a postcard from a doctor working with the Turkana tribe in Lodwar. [Before I left London a few letters from readers arrived at the Sunday Times wishing me well. One was […]
From My Notebooks In 1974: Kenya
February 8, 2026
The road from Moyale, on the border, to Nairobi had a bad reputation. It was unpaved, of course, and boasted a rich variety of stones of all colours and sizes but I found it relatively easy. There was game of all sorts – I saw my first wild ostrich and giraffe – but no traffic, and it was dry. The vibration, however, finished the job […]
From My Notebooks In 1974: Ethiopia
February 1, 2026
On my way south from Lake Hawassa, the first stop was Yavello where I had an extraordinary dinner with two drunken teachers who tried to stuff their food into my mouth. I recorded none of this. Happily, when I came to write the book I remembered every detail, but not with pleasure. January 1st, 1974 New Year’s Day. Leave Yavello for Mega. Road is […]
From My Notebooks In 1973: Ethiopia
January 25, 2026
The five hundred or so miles from Gedaref to Gondar were the toughest five days of my entire journey – in part because I was still new to the game. When I returned 28 years later it was virtually unchanged. Then the Chinese came. Today, I’m told, it is paved. December 17th By the fourth day I was ready to contemplate the possibility that […]
From My Notebooks In 1973: Sudan to Ethiopia
January 18, 2026
From the desert to the mountains. Those days crossing the desert in Sudan were among the most influential of my life, an apotheosis. After my abject performance on that first day, running out of fuel and water and burying myself in sand, the schoolteachers of Kinedra lifted me up and made a hero of me, and from that day on I was treated with the […]
From My Notebooks In 1973: Sudan continued
January 11, 2026
After two more days as a guest of the boys’ school in Kinedra the teachers finally gave me permission (because that’s what it felt like) to continue my journey. I was confided to the care of a government official on his way to Kassala, 200 miles away, from the neighbouring village, Sedon. Wednesday, December 12th From Kinedra in morning. Thermos flask of tea prepared. […]
From My Notebooks In 1973: Sudan
January 4, 2026
On December 5th the ferry from Aswan came ashore at Wadi Halfa or, more correctly, at a ramshackle assemblage still growing to replace the town, which now lay below the waters of the lake. I had hoped to get back on the bike but was refused permission and petrol, so I had to take the train. With the Dutch couple I had befriended, I […]
From My Notebooks In 1973: Aswan and Lake Nasser
December 21, 2025
Thank You Very Much First of all, I want to acknowledge the response to my offer of a One-time Subscription. It has released a small flood of generosity which makes it plain that over time I have established a place in many lives. Not just through this series of travel notes, but in some cases going back through decades. Although I deliberately avoided pinning my […]
From My Notebooks In 1973: Cairo
December 14, 2025
To my readers… My quixotic notion to offer you an opportunity to reward me for the pleasure you have already enjoyed has provoked some interesting confusion. A few seem to feel it’s almost immoral. “If I’d known I was going to be asked for money I would never have started reading your pieces in the first place.” Well, nobody actually said that, but I got […]
From My Notebooks In 1973: Alexandria and Cairo
December 7, 2025
Before we get to the notebooks… Listen, I know you’ve been enjoying these notes. At various times I’ve asked for feedback, and some of you have been very articulate. I don’t have a very large email list but it’s stayed fairly steady for the three years I’ve been doing this – and of course a lot more people have been reading me through social media. […]