Thesiger is one of my heroes. This is perhaps his most personal book. I remain very much in awe of his life and travels. ( )

The author has lived in Kenya since 1960. He first went not to the white highlands farmed by Europeans but to the vast, desolate Northern Province that borders Somalia, Abyssinia, the Sudan and Uganda. Lured by the space, silence and solitude, Thesiger made some very long journeys on foot, relishing the opportunity to observe teeming wild life, and unconcerned by the risk of raids from across the frontier which discouraged most people from travelling there. Later he spent many months among the Boran, the Turkana and the Samburu, and travelled with donkeys among the Masai on the other side of the border with Tanganikya. For the last 18 years he has lived in Maralal, a small town north of Nairobi, headquarters of the Samburu district. He has remained there principally as a result of the mutual affection and respect between him and Leboyare who is as dear to him as a son, Wilfred Thesiger, now aged 84, is the author of "Arabian Sands" and "The Marsh Arabs" as well as "Desert, Marsh and Mountain" and "Visions of a Nomad".