Bill Bryson goes to Kenya at the invitation of CARE International, the charity dedicated to working with local communities to eradicate poverty around the world. Kenya, generally regarded as the cradle of mankind, is a land of contrasts, with famous game reserves, stunning landscapes, and a vibrant cultural tradition. It also provides plenty to worry a traveller like Bill Bryson, fixated as he is on the dangers posed by snakes, insects and large predators. But on a more sober note, it is a country that shares many serious human and environmental problems with the rest of Africa: refugees, AIDS, drought, and grinding poverty.

Travelling around the country, Bryson casts his inimitable eye on a continent new to him, and the resultant diary, though short in length, contains the trademark Bryson stamp of wry observation and curious insight. All the author’s royalties from Bill Bryson’s African Diary, as well as all profits, go to CARE International.

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'Bryson sends himself up merrily enough, and even manages to slip in hard information about aid, tourism, corruption, disease and development in between his customary cracks.'
Independent

'Fixated by snakes and predators but the underlying purpose is very serious. The man wanted to observe - and we, by the vicarious nature of our reading, gladly follow.'
Sunday Express

'His quirky style ensures a beguiling lightness of touch.'
Mail on Sunday

'Britain's most popular travel writer, Bill Bryson, made his first writing trip to the African continent as a guest of the non-denominational charity CARE International…finds plenty of scope for his familiar wry observations, but also confronts the problems of disease, drought, poverty and post-colonialism.'
London Magazine

'The diary describes visiting shanty towns, refugee camps and other deprived areas where the charity's schemes have provided wells, loans for businesses and food. Bryson says the subject is more "worthy" than his usual books…"Travel should not just be about being comfortable, happy and luxuriating in plush surroundings. The more people who go out into the world and see some of the less well-off areas, the less inclined we will probably be to go about dropping bombs on one another”.'
The Times