Wild life : adventures on an African farm

Five years ago, after the senseless murder of his closest friend in Nairobi, Aidan Hartley packed up his bags and headed for the hills with his wife and young daughter.

They bought a vast tract of dry land in Laikipia in Northern Kenya, with no fences, no phones, and no company other than the errant witchdoctor who cursed the dust of Aidan's footsteps.

But it wasn't long before Aidan discovered that his patch of wilderness was full of life: not just the farmhands spending their wages on drink, weddings and funerals, but a whole procession of curious people who wanted something, or felt they needed to investigate.

As Aidan and Claire struggled to build a farm from scratch, they had run-ins with leopards and elephants, and with their new neighbours.

Aidan grew up on a farm in Tanzania and thought he had farming in his blood, but nothing prepared him for how hard life would be.

But with the help of the locals, the farm developed, and all three of the family proved to have far more to learn from their neighbours than they had expected.

Aidan's story is an extraordinary book, by turns heartbreaking and wonderfully funny.