'All of the Swahili Coast north of Lamu in Kenya borders deep wilderness. Just inland from the coral cliffs, the mangrove swamps, and tidal flats there is a vast region of acacia scrub interspersed with dense coastal forest. This region is still inhabited by large numbers of wildlife. This coast has a long history of Arab occupation and everywhere there are the ruins of abandoned towns. Those Arab settlers have been gone for centuries and the wildlife soon reclaimed what they had left behind creating a fascinating blend of history, ruins, wildlife and an empty coastline that persists to this day because of it’s proximity to Somalia. Clarissa and I have made several dhow trips to this part of Kenya and on one of these we came across a beach with fresh lion tracks on it. On another night we heard some distant lion roars just above the sound of the surf breaking against coral cliffs. My father knew this region well and his business partner Bill Travis wrote a book about their time on Somalia’s Jubaland coast, a region that is just north of Kiwayu in Kenya.'
Bill wrote: 'I asked Sh’ali (the captain of the dhow he was on) if there was still lion thereabouts and he said they were sometimes as plentiful as chicken around a village, which I thought to be a gross exaggeration but said nothing. The next afternoon, coasting close to the shore twenty miles to the north (of a rocky premonitory called Lion’s Rock) I saw what I thought to be a group of donkeys on the beach most of which were lying down though some were wandering aimlessly about … I called Sh’ali’s attention to them. He took one look and hooted with laughter and said ‘Then I have seen asses that can eat men, for I would call your donkeys lions!’ And they were too, fourteen of them, right near the waters edge, lying around like heavy bodied dogs.'
The Voice of the Turtle, published by George Allen & Unwin, 1967.

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This is one painting of 200+ African, wildlife, Swahili Coast, bird and African landscape works featured in the archive section of this website.