Inspiration Hunts

The City of No Contradictions

Cape Town owns its identity. There’s something almost aspirational about the imbalance and (lack of) contradictions in this particular city, and they are clear to me when I explore it on foot, on different days and times, and try to understand why my basic feeling is absolute discomfort.

Adventures|

How Kenya Lost Its Way

Dealing with corruption means admitting that the founding ideals of this country includes the creation of an elite through looting coffers and grabbing land. That corruption in Kenya, just like racism in America, it isn't an anomaly, but an inbuilt founding ideal of the country.

Musings • Quick Reads|

7 ‘Lost’ African Countries

In the last fifty years alone, the independence of the Republic of Ambazonia has been declared thrice. The fight to get it recognised is still ongoing.

Listicles • Quick Reads|

How Scientific Racism Shaped Kenya

In the 1930s, a group of scientists set about trying to use science to prove that Kenyans couldn't handle European ideas.

Features • Musings|

Why I Don’t Vote

The decision whether to vote or abstain should be a personal journey. The result of proper inquiry, and examination, not social coercion or the simple feeling of duty to one’s community or unit.

Features • Musings|

What Happened to Jomo Kenyatta’s Convertible?

One of the gifts Jomo Kenyatta got in 1963 was a white, 1961 Lincoln Continental. But the convertible has never been seen in public since. Where did it go?

Quick Reads|

The Assassination of Chief Waruhiu

At quarter to 1 on 7th October 1952, Senior Chief Waruhiu Kung'u was shot and killed. This is the story of the two men who hanged for it.

Features • Profiles|

The Kamba of Paraguay

How did a group of Kamba soldiers find their way to the heart of South America?

Features • Quick Reads|

Seeing Vintage Nairobi through a 1970s Porn Film

If your uncle worked at Kenol Ruaraka in 1975, you might want to ask him if he was featured in an Italian porn film.

Features|

Anatomy of a Health Crisis: A Photo Essay

What happens when a public healthcare system is designed to fail?

Features • Projects|

7 Most Interesting But Obscure Kenyan Laws

There's only one building in Kenya protected by a specific law, although there was once a bridge too. Back when it was illegal to be broke and unemployed. You could still, then, get your own coat of arms for your banners.

Listicles|

Rusinga Festival: A Photo Essay

The Rusinga Festival celebrates the colorful history of the Subanese, descendants of a dynastic war for the Buganda throne.

Adventures|

The War for Tatu City

For a few minutes, no one in the helicopter spoke. The three men sat in silence, looking outside. Below them, Ruiru opened up like a dream. A green sea of thousands of acres of coffee bushes, sometimes broken by empty, grassy fields. "Done. Let's do it." Then there was silence again.

Features|

7 Crazy Stories from Kenya’s Athletic History

60 years ago, Kenya entered the world of global athletics with a single mission, complete dominance. With such a rich history, there's bound to be unbelievable stories from the tracks, and from Kenya's checkered history at the Olympics. Here's a few of them.

Listicles|

Roughly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Kenyan Journalism

A reading list of some of the best works of Kenyan journalism available online. And a chance for you to join this curation project.

Listicles • Projects|

How the Monkey Did It

A week ago, a small vervet monkey switched off the most important of Kenya's power stations. In this fascinating "how not to go about your monkey business" manual, we study what exactly the monkey started. And why sometimes everything working too well is not a good thing.

Features • Quick Reads|

The Politics of Ivory and Fire

Little has changed in Kenya's 26-year-old headline-hungry, scorched earth policy towards elephant conservation.

Features|

The Space Center Kenya Doesn’t Own

When Italy first placed a space center in Kenya, they cunningly put it right outside Kenya's territorial waters. But that eventually changed. This is the story of how an Italian Space Center has operated on Kenya's waters for 52 years.

Features|

The Hoax of the Genius of Tsula Mwangi

Every few years, some internet user asks "Was the Kenyan genius, Tsula Mwangi, real?" The answer is no. She was completely made up.

Quick Reads|

The Sack of Imperial Bank

The first time Abdulmalek JanMohammed ever robbed Imperial Bank he had a gun to his head. Three short years later, he became the robber, carrying out a heist so elaborate its web is still being untangled, five months after his death.

Features|

The First Computers in East Africa –and what became of them

One of them ended up at the bottom of the ocean, because of a snake, a gun, and bureaucracy. Another ended up in China, somehow.

Features|

SIX HOURS ON FIGHT NIGHT: Makmende vs Wikipedia

Makmende had returned, and he was here to stay. Not that he reads books and Wikipedia anyway. He just beats them up to get the information he wants.

Features • Quick Reads|

6 Assassinations of African leaders (that were caught on film)

What is the difference between reading about an assassination of a prominent person, and seeing a video of their dying moments? There is something invariably powerful, and devastating, no matter the dying person’s litany of mistakes or crimes. The videos embedded or linked on this post are disturbing. 6. The attempted assassination of Henrik Vorwoed, …

Listicles • Morbid|

Pages

Support Us