INDEPENDENT I’m not what you’d call an adrenalin junky, macho thrills’n’spills aren’t my thing. But when the ratchet shrieked and yards of fishing line zipped out across the waves I was beside myself with excitement. Adrenalin rush? I was faint with it… time to eat my words… Continue reading
ORYX MAGAZINE IT’S HARD NOT TO FEEL OVERWHELMED WHEN FIRST ENTERING THE RAINFOREST. This secretive, primeval world, with its dark, brooding vegetation wreathed in tendrils of mist, is alive with incessant insect chatter and shrill birdsong. Continue reading
SUNDAY TIMES Thomas Cholmondeley, son of lord and Lady Delamere is facing a second murder trail after another violent death on his estate. Nick Maes, who spent time with him on his farm, unravels the disturbing background to a case that has captivated Kenya. Continue reading
GUARDIAN I guessed argan was a rare gas or a spear-carrying lard-arse in Lord of the Rings. It is, I discovered, a slow growing thorn tree similar to the olive that’s found in just one place on the planet, southern Morocco’s coastal strip. Continue reading
INTELLIGENT TRAVELLER Ibo Island was once the thriving Portuguese capital of Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique. But over the last century it has gradually flexed into ruinous beauty becoming – to my mind – one of the most haunting towns in East Africa. Continue reading
INTELLIGENT TRAVELLER I was dropped off on Kenyatta Road just as a call to prayer wheeled out from a nearby minaret and spiralled into the sky. I stood besides the car half listening, half hunting for change when an old friend greeted me. Continue reading
GUARDIAN The ceiling fans in Mombasa airport were barely able to paddle in the heat. What air they churned up only served to make the place welter some more, so I was pleased to escape it and travel a couple of hours north up the coast road to Kilifi and spend time in Baumontia House. Perched high on a ridge overlooking an enormous creek, it captured small breezes that came trickling out of nowhere. Continue reading
GUARDIAN Uganda has had a bad press for too long – reaction to my recent visit was predictably cliched, homing in on guerrillas and gorillas. I guess this is the only place on Earth where a country’s reputation is held to ransom by terrorists and primates – Joseph Kony (of The Lord’s Resistance Army) and Dian Fossey’s charges have a lot to answer for. It’s time to set the record straight, as there’s much, much more to the very heart of Africa. Continue reading
GUARDIAN I swung in a hammock and looked across to the neighbouring islands – but my view was partly obscured by a man who sprawled in his chair like a waxwork in the tropics. He drawled: “I’ve been given the nod, the job’s in the bag … High Commissioner. Not bad eh?” Continue reading
GUARDIAN I’ve had indolence ingrained in me, laziness taught as a masterclass and torpidity thrust on me as the norm. In other words, I’ve been thoroughly chilled-out at a very comfortable thirtysomething degrees celsius in the little visited Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique. Continue reading
Nick Maes 