There’s no one way to do spring break. Flee the cold and head to the beach. Embrace the snow and take a ski trip. Disappear off-grid to a remote locale. Settle into the heart of a big city. Let these ideas inspire your bespoke getaway.

Seek serenity at Hotel Belmar, Monteverde, Costa Rica

There is no rush at Hotel Belmar. Guests come here to slow down and enjoy the experience of living in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, taking in the views of the “lush natural landscapes” from their private terraces, said The New York Times. The 26 rooms and suites feature high ceilings and hand-carved furnishings made from tropical cedar and teak. On each bedside table is a Good Night Guide, with tips for unwinding, and an herbal tea sachet with botanicals from the family-run property’s garden.

Both “quiet and adventurous” activities are offered, added the Times, like forest bathing, birdwatching, low-impact hiking and naturalist-guided night walks. There are culinary options as well, including an organic coffee tasting and cocktail and mocktail classes, where guests use “infusions, syrups, teas and muddled herbs or flowers.”

Race down the slopes at Club Med Québec Charlevoix, Canada

Sure, you’re on spring break, but it's still a winter wonderland at Club Med Québec Charlevoix. This mountain escape offers “crisp air” and a “place to truly unwind,” said Fodor's Travel. You’ll spot “ski gondolas dangling every which way in the distance” on arrival. The slopes overlook the St. Lawrence River, and because the property is all-inclusive, lift passes, group ski lessons for kids, teens and adults and unlimited ski-in/ski-out access are included in every stay.

Accommodations are “stately-meets-ultra modern,” said Fodor's Travel, and when not in your room or skiing, chances are you’ll be in the central building. It’s home to the indoor pool complex, steam room, gym, fitness class studio, spa, wine bar, theater and the restaurants Le Marché and Le Chalet. Start with Le Chalet’s “killer” charcuterie board with local cheeses and meats.

Enjoy the great outdoors at Hotel Las Torres Patagonia, Chile

In the heart of Chile’s spectacular Torres del Paine National Park is Hotel Las Torres Patagonia, a family-owned lodge giving guests the chance to choose between dozens of different guided experiences, each showing a different side of Patagonia. The Baqueano Cultural Experience is a highlight, with Patagonian cowboys and cowgirls providing visitors a peek into their life, teaching them how to saddle and ride horses before sitting down for some maté herbal tea and pumpkin bread with fresh salsa.

Hotel Las Torres is an excellent base for those who want to bask in the natural beauty of the park while staying in comfortable accommodations. Torres del Paine’s “rugged wilderness” is a “dreamscape,” filled with grasslands, “jagged granite peaks” and “glacier-fed lakes,” making it a “rewarding” spot for hikers, said Afar. Hotel Las Torres guests can embark on the famous W Circuit trek or take the sustainable trail — recently restored by the property and volunteers — to Base Torres viewpoint.

Welcome wellness at Lefay Resort & Spa Dolomiti, Italy

If you’re ready for a “best-kept secret” wellness experience with a side of incredible views, Lefay Resort & Spa Dolomiti is for you, said Vogue. The hotel’s “seriously impressive” spa is one of the largest in the Alps, with saunas, steam rooms, sensory waterfalls, cold plunges, pools, a salt grotto and the complex’s centerpiece: an “enormous whirlpool of magnesium-rich salt.” Guests can also break up spa sessions by heading outside for adventures like guided “pulse-quickening” hikes that include forest bathing and birch sap tastings.

Keep the theme going by booking one of the Exclusive Spa Suites, equipped with a bio-sauna, jacuzzi, selection of herbal teas and infusions and a private terrace featuring valley views. When it’s time to eat, you have options, but be sure to dine at least once at Grual. This Michelin-starred restaurant serves dishes based on the different altitudes of the Dolomites, with courses focusing on ingredients found in the valleys, passes and peaks.

Delight in a desert getaway at Rancho de los Caballeros Resort, Wickenburg, Arizona

Sprawled across 18,000 acres of desert land is Rancho de los Caballeros Resort, one of the “last vestiges of the true dude ranch,” said Condé Nast Traveler. The recently-renovated property’s “authenticity” is apparent around every corner. There’s a “rustic charm” to the Western-inspired lounge and guest casitas, as employees “walk by in cowboy hats and Wranglers” and Saturday nights are spent at group cookouts under the stars. Rancho de los Caballeros is the “real deal,” complete with a herd of 125 horses that are central to the experience. Guests can sign up for rides, barrel racing and roping lessons and team penning and watch the daily horse run, a “rather remarkable sight.”

All stays include breakfast, and more robust packages are available that cover lunch and dinner. Because of how large the property is, there’s room for a “constant stream of activities,” said Condé Nast Traveler, like archery, trap and skeet shooting, desert nature walks and swimming in the new pool complex.

Have a big city adventure at Tribe Hotel, Nairobi

At this stylish property in Nairobi’s Gigiri neighborhood, you might ask yourself, “Is it a gallery or a hotel?” said The Independent. The Tribe Hotel is filled with 900 African artworks and artifacts, including bronze statues from Benin and leather work from Cameroon. “Even walking to breakfast is a cultural experience.”

Shining a light on African and Kenyan traditions is important to owner Shamim Ehsani, who founded the hotel in 2008. The menu at Jiko Restaurant “spans the African continent” but “pays homage to Kenya’s farmers” specifically, said The Independent. It features dishes like forest mushroom soup with baobab powder and spicy suya nundu skewers with cassava. In the 10,000-square-foot Kaya Spa, a signature treatment is the Kenya Gold, which includes a scrub made from fresh Kenyan coffee beans.

When booking your stay, go with one of the “lovely” garden terrace rooms, which look out over a protected wetland. When relaxing on these balconies, guests can spot all types of birds, from “hadada ibis to marabou stork,” The Independent added. To see even more wildlife, ask the staff to arrange a night game safari at nearby Nairobi National Park, with the glittering skyline in the background.

Hit the sand and links at Tryall Golf & Beach Club, Montego Bay, Jamaica

Everything you need for an “unforgettable tropical escape” can be found at Tryall Club, said Forbes. There’s a world-class golf course, a beach club, tennis and pickleball facilities and a luxurious spa, plus an untouched, private stretch of shoreline that’s more than a mile long. It’s the perfect location to splash around or plop down a chair, soak up the sun and watch the waves.

No two accommodations are the same; The Tryall Club has 74 independently-owned villas, “each designed to be your ideal vacation home,” said Forbes. Choose the size you need — a one-bedroom for a couple, two-bedroom for a small family or 10-bedroom for a multi-generational trip — and decide which amenities are essential. For true luxury, select a villa with over-the-top outdoor features, like a “jaw-dropping infinity pool” or “waterfall you can sleep under.”

The recent slew of protests in Kenya represent the culmination of anger at the country's government that has been brewing since June 2024. Prior protests at that time saw Kenyans breach the parliament building and clash with police officers, marking the beginning of wider disunion in the country. One year later, Kenyans are making their voices heard again, with some fearing the turmoil may be here to stay.

What did the commentators say?

These protests stem from "growing anger at alleged police brutality" after Kenyan police officers were recently "charged with the murder of a blogger in police custody," said Semafor. Much of this anger has been directed at Kenyan President William Ruto and his government, with protesters in the capital city, Nairobi, "vowing to march to his official residence" and chanting, "Ruto must go."

Many "young Kenyans were in the streets to demand justice for those killed in last year's protests," said Semafor. The 2024 protests were largely "demonstrations against a contentious tax plan, which ended last year with more than 60 people dead," said The New York Times. There was also agitation in the aftermath of those protests, as "dozens of people, including activists, medical workers and social media influencers, were abducted, interrogated and tortured, according to interviews with activists and rights lawyers."

Although Ruto's tax plan was eventually rolled back, anger over how those protests were handled by law enforcement remains. It is "extremely important that the young people mark June 25th because they lost people who look like them, who speak like them … who are fighting for good governance," Angel Mbuthia, the chair of the youth league for Kenya's opposition Jubilee Party, told Al Jazeera.

What next?

Protests devolved into chaos across the country on Wednesday but particularly in Nairobi, with "police firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse" the demonstrators, said Reuters. At least 16 people died during the initial round of protests, Kenyan officials said.

Many more people were hurt during the event, with at least 400 injuries reported between protesters, police officers and journalists, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. As with the 2024 protests, there were "allegations of excessive use of force" by police, including the "use of rubber bullets, live ammunition and water cannons," the organization said.

It is unlikely that the temperature will cool anytime soon, as these new protests have "become a lightning rod for Kenyans still mourning those who perished at last year's demonstrations, blamed on security forces, against a backdrop of dozens of unexplained disappearances," said Reuters. Kenyans are "fighting for the rights of our fellow youths and Kenyans and the people who died since June 25. We want justice," Lumumba Harmony, a protester, told the outlet.

Ruto himself has "urged protesters not to threaten peace and stability," said the BBC. Protests "should not be to destroy peace in Kenya," Ruto said during an address. "We do not have another country to go to when things go wrong. It is our responsibility to keep our country safe."

What happened

A court in Kenya charged two young Belgian men with wildlife piracy Tuesday for allegedly attempting to smuggle thousands of ants out of the country to exotic pet buyers in Europe and Asia. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the "landmark case," and a parallel prosecution of two other alleged ant smugglers, highlighted a "disturbing shift in trafficking patterns — from iconic large mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically critical species."

Who said what

The 19-year-old Belgian suspects were caught with 5,000 live ants, including queens and sought-after Giant African Harvester Ants (messor cephalotes), concealed inside modified test tubes "designed to sustain the ants for up to two months and evade airport security detection," the KWS said. The two other suspects, from Kenya and Vietnam, had about 400 ants.

Authorities said the 5,000 ants had a street value of about 1 million Kenyan shillings ($7,700) but would have provided invaluable ecological benefits to Kenya's forests and other ecosystems. Many people "see ants as a picnic-ruining nuisance," Reuters said, but "aficionados enjoy keeping them in formicariums, transparent cases where they can watch them building complex colonies." Messor cephalotes, native to Kenya, "are many people's dream species," said the British specialist retailer AntsRUs.

What next?

"We did not come here to break any laws," Belgian defendant Lornoy David told the court, asking for leniency. "By accident and stupidity we did." The court will reconvene next Wednesday

Think of safaris in Kenya and a few iconic locations are likely to come to mind: the vast expanse of the Maasai Mara, or the grandeur of Lake Nakuru. But the rugged, desert beauty of Shompole deserves a spot on this list, offering visitors the opportunity to go a little off the beaten path and into an unspoiled landscape far from the usual safari crowd.

Located between Amboseli National Park and the Maasai Mara National Reserve, this exclusive camp provides access to more than 350,000 acres of pristine savannah. With extraordinary wildlife sightings, comfortable accommodation, and a deep connection to local conservation efforts, a stay at Shompole Wilderness Camp promises an immersive stay in one of Kenya's most beautiful yet lesser known landscapes.

Why stay here?

Away from the overcrowded tourist circuit, guests will quickly find themselves taken by the semi-arid beauty of the Shompole Conservancy, just a short hop across the river from camp.

The conservancy is located on an important elephant corridor, giving visitors breathtaking sightings of the animals on their natural migration routes, as well as other exceptional wildlife encounters, such as lions, giraffes, African wild cats, bat-eared foxes, hyenas, jackals, kudu, hartebeest and oryx (to name just a few). Guests can also experience truly memorable overnight excursions to the camp's photography hide, just a short jeep ride away from the main camp.

Shompole Wilderness Camp is also closely connected to local community and conservation initiatives, and it works with the South Rift Association of Landowners (SORALO), a community-driven organisation dedicated to protecting the Shompole Conservancy.

A key community initiative supported by the camp is the Shompole Ranger Programme, which trains and employs local community members as rangers. These rangers conduct vital anti-poaching patrols, protect livestock from predators, and engage in community outreach to foster a culture of conservation. The programme currently employs 147 rangers, with Shompole Wilderness Camp directly funding two of these positions.

The camp's hosts, Sam and Johann du Toit, are staunch advocates of these conservation efforts. Sam, in particular, played a pivotal role in establishing SORALO and remains a key figure in driving its mission forward. Both Sam and Johann are involved in community-led conservation, and have a wealth of knowledge about the region's ecology, wildlife, and the importance of local conservation practices.

The accommodation

The camp sits along the peaceful banks of the Ewaso Ng'iro River, offering stunning views of the Nguruman Escarpment and Loita Hills. The camp, which can also be booked on an exclusive-use basis, has six spacious, stylish tented rooms to choose from, each set on a large wooden deck with a generous veranda overlooking the river, plains, or forest. Local materials have been used in the construction of the camp, which is comfortably furnished with tables, chairs and sofas made from local fig tree deadwood.

Here, mornings are spent sipping coffee on the veranda while watching small vervet monkeys play among the fig trees, or an intrepid troop of baboons cross the nearby river. Keep in mind that you are truly in a wilderness setting, and these curious creatures will show an interest in any snacks left unattended in your room or on the veranda! Yet for those who truly savour the sights and sounds of the bush, it is rare to feel so immersed in nature – and, even more happily, in such comfort and style.

Things to do

Game drives at Shompole Wilderness Camp take place a short hop across the river into the conservancy and offer an exclusive and immersive wildlife experience across thousands of acres of untouched wilderness. Away from the busy tourist trail, game drives here are a rare opportunity to enjoy Kenya's spectacular wildlife without other vehicles and tourists interrupting idyllic natural scenes.

For some truly up-close wildlife encounters, an overnight stay at Shompole Wilderness Camp's hide is unmissable. Here you'll get close enough to nature to be able to hear lions lapping water as you watch the animals at eye level, and experience stunning sightings of bull elephants, warthogs, zebras, buffalo, impalas, jackals, nightjars, goshawks and superb starlings. Designed for photographers of all levels, you're all but guaranteed to capture some stunning shots whether you're a professional or just a seasoned Instagram snapper.

For a more intimate experience of the African bush, guided walks are not only a chance to stretch your legs by exploring the conservancy on foot, but an opportunity to more closely examine Shompole's flora and fauna. Led by expert local guides like Nixon, who has been with Shompole Wilderness since 2008, these walks reveal the hidden details of this unique ecosystem that are harder to spot from a jeep. You’ll learn to identify the animal tracks of impalas, wildebeests, civets and hyenas, while discovering the traditional uses of native plants, like the Salvadora persica, which is used as a natural toothbrush. Guides also share their impressive bushcraft skills, including how to light a fire using nothing more than zebra dung and kindling.

The verdict

This truly special camp will charm all who visit; more than just a safari destination off the beaten track, it is an opportunity to truly immerse yourself in Kenya's desert wilderness. Whether you're a seasoned safari-goer or a first-time visitor to the area, you'll leave here with a wealth of knowledge about Shompole's spectacular landscape, and a wealth of memories to savour too.

Sorcha Bradley stayed at Shompole Wilderness Camp as a guest of Explorations Company.

Endless stretches of golden savannah, lush tree groves and some of the most spectacular wildlife the planet has to offer: welcome to Maasai Mara.

There's no better way to arrive at this spectacular location than by small plane, just a short 45-minute hop from Nairobi, which sees you soar above the elephant-dotted landscape before touching down in the heart of this iconic wilderness.

From here, the adventure begins with a thrilling drive by jeep to Roca River Camp, where the wonders of safari unfold long before we reach base.

The accommodation

Nestled on the banks of the Mara River, on the edge of Paradise Plains in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, this boutique tented camp offers classic safari charm combined with the laid-back appeal of a chic, bohemian hotel. Ten spacious ensuite tents afford views of the sweeping plains or Mara River with its gentle chorus of wallowing hippos. Complete with large, comfortable beds, solar power, hot showers (provided you give a little forewarning) and thoughtful touches such as a hot water bottle tucked into your feather-soft bed at night, the camp is a comfortable and peaceful haven in the wild heart of the reserve.

You are truly amongst nature at this luxurious camp, with animals – including elephants, giraffe, and warthogs – often wandering through the camp, or grazing nearby. Those lucky enough might find Eminem, the 'camp hippo' coming over to introduce himself as you enjoy an evening tipple by the campfire. As a young male, he has been temporarily exiled from his pod in the nearby river and enjoys spending his time at a watering hole close to Roca River. Camp owners and hosts, Ross and Caro Withey, suspect he enjoys the human company, too

Eating and drinking

Breakfasts here take place under the cool shade of the balanites trees, with a substantial spread put on by Chef Joel, including eggs to order, pancakes, bacon, sausages, omelettes, fruit, granola, coffee and a selection of fresh juices.

Lunch can be eaten at camp or as a picnic out on game drives. The latter is by far the more romantic option – tables and chairs are set out on the savannah at a picturesque spot, where you can spend the time watching giraffes loping by in the distance or grazing herds of wildebeest. Sundowners, an evening drink at sunset to the uninitiated, can also be taken out on the savannah or next to the Mara River, providing the most unique location you're ever likely to sip a gin and tonic.

Things to do

There is, of course, only one show in town when visiting Masaai Mara: safari. Each guest group staying at the camp is given their own vehicle with a spotter and guide (almost all from the local area). They are without doubt some of the best in the business, seeming to possess an uncanny ability to spot lions from impossible distances.

Days here are spent on the savannah and start as early as dawn – indeed, this is often the best time for sightings, especially for the big cats such as lions and leopards, who are most active at this time of day.

True to the ethos of the Explorations Company, Roca River Camp is involved in conservation, and guests can meet with experts and visit projects like the Mara Predator Conservation Programme and the Mara Elephant Project. Community programmes include the Anne K. Taylor Fund – an impressive initiative supporting local women to make washable sanitary pads, empowering them economically, and ensuring girls can stay in school, as well serving as an entry point to addressing issues like FGM and early pregnancy.

The verdict

Veteran safari-goers will well know the frustration of jostling for a glimpse of a leopard or other beast amid a swarm of vehicles, each battling for the best viewing spot. But thanks to the efforts of Ross and his team of expert guides, here you often find yourself alone with Mara's breath-taking wildlife, whether it's a pride of lions guarding its kill or a herd of elephants grazing under the shade of the elephant pepper tree. It's certainly a better experience for those peering out from the jeep, and, one hopes, a less disconcerting experience for the wonderful creatures peering back. And for that alone, a stay at Roca River is a must.

Being human (and not a wildebeest or lion), I expected to find it difficult to feel at home in the expansive wilds of Mara. But at Roca River, Ross and Caro welcome guests like old friends, creating a wonderful home away from home stay in this pristine landscape. I left already planning my next visit and promised to come back very, very soon.

Sorcha Bradley stayed at Roca River Camp as a guest of Explorations Company. A nine-night itinerary starts from £10,494 per person, including domestic flights, airport transfers, full-board accommodation and activities at all safari lodges.

Actively immersing yourself in a foreign culture and becoming a participant instead of an observer is a powerful way to travel. But if gaining access to new customs and traditions in an unfamiliar setting feels daunting, use hotels as a helping hand. These four properties offer authentic experiences sure to spark curiosity and leave a lasting impression.

Create your own jewelry with Alex Monroe and Shangri-La The Shard, London

London and fashion go hand in hand. This is, after all, where Vivienne Westwood pioneered punk, Mary Quant led the miniskirt revolution and Alexander McQueen embraced hourglass silhouettes and impeccable tailoring.

Shangri-La The Shard, London knows something about style. Occupying levels 34 through 52 of Western Europe's tallest building, this hotel makes a "jaw-dropping impression," Condé Nast Traveler said. Its rooms have exceptional views and are decked out in "opulent" silks and marble. Through the Shangri-La's Local Experiences program, guests can tap into their own creativity through a workshop with Alex Monroe, whose boutique is a few blocks away. Known for his nature-inspired designs, Monroe's "British heritage jewelry" is "quintessentially chic," said Who What Wear. Visitors will learn how pieces go from sketches to reality, and led by the experts, they will also transform recycled sterling silver into nugget pendants.

Learn traditional Maasai beading at Mara Bushtops in Kenya

Intricate beadwork is a fundamental part of Maasai culture in Kenya, with one generation of women teaching the next how to turn vibrant strings of beads into jewelry. The finished product "carries great significance," WE said, representing "beauty, tradition, strength and sometimes even social status." In recent years, this "cherished pastime" has also turned into an important source of income.

As part of its Bushcraft Challenge, Mara Bushtops on the Maasai Mara brings in local beading experts who share the history of their craft with guests and teach them to create their own pieces. Other Challenge activities include archery, spear throwing and learning how to bake mahamri, a fluffy Swahili donut. A bonus: Guests can "marvel" at the zebras, giraffes, elephants and "wealth of other fascinating fauna" that go by the camp, Forbes said.

Practice Chinese calligraphy at Amanfayun in Hangzhou

The art of calligraphy goes back thousands of years in China. It is still respected today, with modern adherents painstakingly moving their ink-dipped brushes across rice paper like their predecessors.

Guests at Amanfayun in Hangzhou learn about Chinese calligraphy and other traditional arts in Fayun Place, the resort's cultural center. Amanfayun is a "conversion of an entire village whose inhabitants once harvested tea," Condé Nast Traveler said, and remains steeped in history, with some rooms offering the "breathtaking sight of 13th-century bodhisattvas and Buddhas carved into the nearby cliff." Along with calligraphy courses, Fayun Place hosts concerts from local musicians and workshops on ancient skills like rubbing relics and learning how to play the chiba, a type of flute.

Waltz the night away with Almanac Palais Vienna

Ball season in Vienna is as "glamorous as you'd imagine," Marie Claire Australia said, a dazzling spectacle of "live orchestras, waltzing and, of course, tiaras." This tradition dates back to the 18th century, with 450 balls taking place November through February.

At Almanac Palais Vienna, guests have access to these festivities through the Night at the Ball experience. The palatial hotel is "positively beautiful," Travel and Leisure said, and the package includes private classical dance lessons. In preparation for the renowned Opera Ball, visitors will select an ensemble to wear from Juergen Christian Hoerl atelier, get their hair and makeup done, have a photoshoot, enjoy dinner and drinks at Donnersmarkt and arrive at the ball in a horse-drawn carriage. Straight out of a fairy tale.

Catherine Garcia was a guest of Shangri-La The Shard, London

On January 20, 2025, President Trump placed Cuba back on the State Department's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism just one week after the Biden administration had removed the country's designation. That puts Cuba back on a short list with just three other countries: Iran, North Korea and Syria. With a major regime transition underway in Syria following the abrupt resignation of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the country's controversial inclusion on the State Department's list may eventually be scrutinized.

Only eight countries have ever received the designation, which is distinct from the State Department's much larger list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. How did Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria end up on the list and why are they still there?

A short history of a short list

The State Sponsors of Terrorism list was created in 1979 for countries that "have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," said the State Department. Designation as an State Sponsor of Terrorims carries with it prohibitions on certain kinds of commerce, including the sale of weapons and potentially dual-use items like commercial airplanes and equipment, as well as a ban on U.S. economic assistance.

"Syria is the last country from this original list to remain so designated today," said The Atlantic Council. Its original designation in 1979 stems from the Syrian government's support for "U.S.-listed terrorist groups," including Palestinian guerrilla organizations and the decision to allow those terrorist groups "to maintain headquarters in Damascus," said the Council on Foreign Relations. Over the years, Syria's portfolio expanded to include a significant role in the arming, funding and hosting of the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, which was founded after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

Hezbollah also played a major role in landing Iran on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list on January 23rd, 1984. The action followed five years of escalating tensions between the two countries that began when dozens of U.S. diplomats and embassy workers were held hostage in Tehran for 444 days during the Iranian revolution and culminated in the 1983 Hezbollah suicide bombing of a Marines barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. military personnel. Today, Iran continues to back Hezbollah as well as "Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza and various terrorist and militant groups in Iraq, Syria, Bahrain and elsewhere throughout the Middle East," said the State Department.

North Korea was first designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1988. The bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 from Baghdad to Seoul, which killed all 115 people on board, was "later linked to North Korean agents" said The Washington Post. The designation was rescinded in 2008 "in the hopes of salvaging talks on its nuclear program," only to be reimposed in 2017 by President Trump, said The Atlantic. The pretext was the shocking broad-daylight assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, 2017. Analysts at the time warned that the designation would "make diplomacy more difficult without increasing Washington's leverage," said The New York Times. Despite Trump's subsequent summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the designation has not been lifted.

Cuba was initially placed on the list in 1982 for "providing advice, safe haven, communications, training and financial support to guerrilla groups and individual terrorists," said the State Department. The U.S. claimed that Cuba was aiding a number of armed insurgent groups trying to overthrow governments including in El Salvador and Guatemala, as well as providing "funding, training, arms, safe haven and advice to a wide variety of guerrilla groups, and individual terrorists" in the region, said the Congressional Research Service.

President Obama removed the designation in April 2015, only to see President Trump place Cuba back on the list with just days left in his first term. President Trump's decision to reverse the Biden administration's last-minute order to remove Cuba from the list "aligns with his administration's hardline stance on Cuba," said CBS News. But while the move was expected, the new Trump administration's "rationale for the policy reversal was not immediately explained," said Politico.

Could more places be removed?

After a country is designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, "it is hard to remove even if it does not support terrorism," said the Brookings Institution. Inclusion on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list is not permanent and can be rescinded if the country in question undergoes "a fundamental change in the leadership and policies of the government," as well as provides "assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future," said the Congressional Research Service.

Prior to President Biden's decision to remove Cuba from the list, the last time such a designation was lifted was in October 2020, when President Trump took Sudan off the list when its government agreed to "pay $335m in compensation for its alleged role in the bombing of two US embassies" in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, said The Guardian. Sudan had allowed al-Qaeda, which perpetrated the attacks, to operate out of its territory between 1991 and 1996.

I am so close to a lion that I can hear the snap and crunch of bones as it eats its kill. I've been told the carcass lying in a muddy puddle in front of me was once a male buffalo, but with little more than a ribcage and spine left, I'll have to take my guide's word for it.

Having arrived by light aircraft on the world-famous Maasai Mara only minutes ago, it's fair to say – as a mainly city person, frankly – that I am astonished to be confronted with the sight of two young lionesses finishing off the gristly remains of a two-day-old kill, as a male with a shaggy, golden mane looks on. With their faces smeared with both mud and blood, the two enjoying their lunch look almost comically gruesome. I can hear their sighs and pants as they gnaw through bone. Nearby, opportunistic jackals are biding their time, waiting for their chance to steal a bite of the buffalo. I should probably be terrified. Instead, as I sit in a jeep only a short distance away from the scene, I am totally transfixed.

It was an encounter that would set the tone for my week-long adventure through Kenya's most extraordinary wilderness areas, each stop revealing not just wildlife spectacles, but the intricate dance between conservation, community, and tourism.

Breakfast with the hippos at Roca River Camp

Life at Roca River Camp, just a 45-minute flight from Nairobi, flows along with the continual hum of the African bush. Mornings unfold beneath sprawling acacia trees, where hearty al-fresco breakfasts are accompanied by an unusual dawn chorus – the resonant grunting of hippos wallowing in the nearby Mara River. Hosted by Ross and Caro Withey, whose roots in Kenya are life-long, this luxurious retreat offers more than just proximity to one of Africa's most iconic safari destinations.

From July to October, the camp provides front-row seats for nature's greatest spectacle: the Great Migration, when millions of wildebeest, zebras, elands and gazelles surge northward from the Tanzanian Serengeti in search of greener pastures. Yet even in November, outside the migration window, the Mara's drama seems to unfold continuously. And the guests at Roca River camp are witnesses to it thanks to Roca River’s expert guides – such as eagle-eyed local guide Julius Naurori – who seems to have an almost uncanny ability to spot lions from staggering distances.

Perhaps slightly easier to spot were the elephant herds shepherding playful calves through quiet groves, and the giraffes loping gracefully across the horizon. Rarely seen – thankfully – are other visitors. Indeed, perhaps the most precious gift of a November visit is the sense of solitude on the Mara. While peak season can bring a parade of vehicles to each sighting, Ross and his team have perfected their timing, ensuring Roca's guests are often the first, and frequently only, witnesses to these remarkable wildlife encounters. In the quieter months, the Mara belongs to the animals and the rare few eager enough to seek them out.

Beyond serving as a gateway to wildlife encounters, Roca River Camp stands as a beacon of community engagement. Its relationship with the Anne K. Taylor Fund, which is dedicated to maintaining the delicate balance between conservation and community development within the Maasai Mara ecosystem, exemplifies how tourism can contribute to positive change.

The fund's initiatives include an innovative project supporting local women in producing reusable sanitary pads – a seemingly simple intervention that ripples outward, addressing broader issues of female empowerment, education retention, and economic independence in Maasai communities. Guests at Roca River Camp can arrange visits to meet these remarkable, pioneering women, and witness at first hand how tourism's pounds and dollars can flow beyond game drives and sundowners to nurture meaningful community projects.

Transformative travel

Behind all these extraordinary scenes lies the meticulous planning of Explorations Company, whose team has spent over three decades weaving together the threads of wildlife, culture and conservation across Africa, Asia and beyond. Long before "impact-led travel" became a fashionable idea, Explorations Company has been arranging ultra-luxurious adventures around the globe with the aim of giving back to the countries they are visiting. "Most people feel better when they know they're making a positive contribution, especially while enjoying themselves on holiday," says Explorations Company founder Nicola Shepherd, calling such an approach the "very essence of sustainable tourism".

The mastermind behind my safari adventure is Kate Pirie, a senior travel specialist who has worked with Explorations Company for more than 20 years and prides herself on having "never done the same trip twice".

Speaking to Kate, it's clear that what sets Explorations Company apart is its unwavering commitment to purposeful, transformative travel. That means more than just selecting luxury accommodations – though the camps and lodges they partner with are undeniably exceptional. Instead, it's about creating connections that touch Kenya's local communities as well as its wildlife. Each camp and lodge in the portfolio has been carefully vetted not just for comfort and location, but for their tangible contributions to conservation and community development. Otherwise, Kate tells me definitively, they're off the books.

Like Kate, each expert at Explorations Company has lived and worked in the destinations it operates in, which also includes Latin America and (particularly excitingly) Antarctica. It means they have the kind of expertise that can't be gleaned from guidebooks or websites, but from years of forging relationships with local communities, conservationists, and wilderness experts across continents.

The result is an unparalleled black book of contacts on the ground with visitors, for example, able to meet with top conservationists like Brian Heath, who has led conservation efforts at the Mara Conservancy for more than 20 years. And this deep regional knowledge also leads travellers away from well-worn paths to discoveries like the Shompole wilderness – still largely untouched by tourism.

Midnight theatre in the Shompole Wilderness

A short flight transports guests from the Mara's expansive plains to the intimate sanctuary of Shompole Wilderness Camp, a gorgeous family affair close to the Great Rift Valley.

The camp's true distinction lies in its ground-breaking community partnerships, such as the camp's collaboration with the SORALO ranger program.

Guests here can visit the rangers, and are invited to learn about the important community and wildlife protection work they do. Among these impressive guardians is Sylvia Nashipae, who broke barriers as Shompole's first female ranger. Today, she is one of 12, their presence challenging traditional gender roles in their communities while strengthening the bonds between wilderness protection and local communities.

But visitors looking to get their wildlife fix need not fear. One of the camp's most striking features is its hide, about three miles away, which is a haven for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers alike. Cleverly designed and backlit for optimal shots, the hide – complete with comfortable beds, and a well-stocked drinks cooler – brings you astonishingly close to the action.

From this privileged vantage point, nature's grand theatre plays out in startling proximity: the iridescent flash of superb starlings, a family of warthogs with their comical radio-antennae-like tails, all sharing space with elder bull elephants, whose tusks gleam in the moonlight as mountain peaks loom in the distance.

Even those armed only with a smartphone are capable of capturing remarkable images here – although a professional camera is advised for those wanting to capture the finer details of these incredible animals.

Spotting elusive predators at Lion's Bluff

My trip ends with an all-too-brief stay at Soroi Lions Bluff Lodge, where 12 luxury suites perch above the rust-red expanse of Tsavo National Park. The lodge maintains strong ties with nearby villages, supporting a digital lab at the local school and fish farming projects that help reduce pressure on wildlife, among other projects.

At Lion's Bluff we are treated to night drives which reveal a world hidden to safari-goers who explore only in the sun. Our spotlight catches movement in the grass, and we see an African wildcat, one of the continent's smallest and most elusive predators, freeze mid-hunt. We pass giraffes gently grazing in the dark (others appear to have mastered the trick of sleeping standing up), and later a barn owl emerges, its eyes glowing from within the grasses of the wilderness.

It's a side of Tsavo that some visitors never get to experience, and a reminder that some of Africa's most extraordinary moments come to life only after sunset.

In many ways, these nocturnal adventures mirror my time with the Explorations Company, revealing that beyond the well-trodden narratives of safari adventures lies a somewhat more hidden, complex story of communities and wildlife learning to coexist in an ever-changing landscape. And they're inviting visitors to help pen this next chapter for Kenya's extraordinary wilderness.

Sorcha Bradley travelled as a guest of Explorations Company. A nine-night itinerary starts from £10,494 per person, including domestic flights, airport transfers and full-board accommodation and activities at all safari lodges.

Seeing a majestic elephant in its natural habitat is special, yes, but being able to spend the night among a herd is priceless. At these five properties, you will be sleeping in an ethical, animal lover's dream, with wildlife given the freedom to wander and approach guests when they feel comfortable.

Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort, Thailand

Rescued elephants are getting a second chance at life deep in the jungle of Thailand near the border with Myanmar and Laos. These gentle giants live at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort, which "cares more about the rehabilitation of elephants than providing Instagrammable moments to guests," Lonely Planet said. For a memorable experience, book a night in one of the Jungle Bubbles. These transparent accommodations are in the heart of the camp, and guests watch and listen as the elephants move about. A stay in these bubbles feels like having a "front-row seat to nature's splendor," Travel and Leisure said, and the "one-of-a-kind" interactions, like joining the pachyderms for a walk along the river, "offer experiences that will stay with you for a lifetime."

Giraffe Manor, Kenya

Skip room service at Giraffe Manor. Here, you should eat in the dining room so you can enjoy a meal with the Rothschild's giraffes who "crane their long necks through the large open windows, signaling they want you to feed them grass pellets," Forbes said. Guests can also hang out with the animals during visits to the on-site Giraffe Center and an outdoor afternoon tea, with the brave placing a pellet between their lips to entice a giraffe kiss. Giraffe Manor is a historic boutique hotel with 12 rooms "meticulously designed to retain the property's original 1930s character," Condé Nast Traveler said, and includes "artwork inspired by the long-lashed creatures themselves." The grounds attract other wildlife too, like warthogs who try to snack on leftover giraffe pellets.

Paws Up Montana

There are tons of outdoor activities to take part in at this 37,000 acre ranch alongside the Blackfoot River, but the equestrian program "stands out for its progressive, thoughtful approach to horsemanship," Travel and Leisure said. Guests have the opportunity to admire the horses, which include rescued mustangs. That admiration can be from afar or by participating in guided rides, horse-whispering workshops, cattle drives, arena and horsemanship lessons, and team penning. After a long day of hanging with horses, guests can retreat to their comfortable accommodations, ranging from a luxury tent on one of six glamping sites to a spacious home with details like an "impressive stone fireplace with a giant tree trunk in its mantle."

Peabody Memphis, Tennessee

Make way for ducklings. At the Peabody Memphis, five resident mallard ducks rule the roost and waddle through this institution's grand lobby twice a day. This "whimsical" tradition dates back to the 1930s, when as a "simple gag," the general manager put ducks in the fountain, Atlas Obscura said. The animals were an instant hit, and to this day guests line up early along a red carpet to watch the ducks ride the elevator down from the penthouse for their "daily display of pomp and circumstance." Knowing how popular the ducks are, the Peabody created the Ducky Day package, which gives guests the chance to help Duckmaster Kenon Walker lead the morning march.

Tintswalo Boulders, South Africa

Guests at Tintswalo Boulders need not go far to see the beloved African penguins of Boulders Beach. The nine-villa property is mere steps away, and offers clear views of the water, sand and wildlife from its windows. It is a "delightful seaside escape," Time Out said, with the "soundtrack of the famous penguin colony to keep you company." There are nods to the tuxedoed animals across the hotel, including a tile icon above the outdoor pool and the Kids Penguin Package on the spa menu. Boulders Beach is open for swimming (it will be cold!) and has several boardwalks and viewing platforms for prime penguin-spotting, and visitors willing to take the plunge can also "brave the chilly seas to snorkel" with the birds, The Times said. There are rules in place, including not touching or feeding the penguins.

Few places have names more evocative than the Masai Mara. Long before I had been to Africa, those two words could summon up a dreamlike world of golden plains, acacia trees and big cats lying watchful in the shade. Long-held expectations often lead to disappointment, but when I joined a SkySafari tour of southwest Kenya in September, reality lived up to the shimmering ideal.

On most safaris, finding a lion is a hope rather than an expectation. They are few in number and spend their days lying low in long grass, so you can pass nearby and see nothing. If you are lucky, your guide will spot a pair of ears and bring you close to one, which might half-raise its head in curiosity, then lay it down again and lie still, while you watch and listen as its breathing deepens and it goes back to sleep. They are awesome animals, even in repose – but most of the time, they don't do much.

I may have been lucky, but in the Masai Mara I saw lions almost every morning and evening. The most dynamic sighting involved six of them, including a mother and her cubs, who were at a stream when we joined them. As the adults lapped at the water, the youngsters tumbled over each other on the river bank and paddled in the mud, emerging with darkened boots halfway up the dappled fur on their legs. Having drunk their fill, they all set out across the savannah towards us, scattering a nearby herd of zebras, which regrouped a little way off, ears pricked and snorting their alarm.

The lions weren't hunting, though – not yet. They knew they had been spotted, and a zebra with a head start is not a good bet. They kept walking straight towards us, dividing to walk either side of the 4x4 (one stopped to scratch its back on the bumper). Then our guide spotted a young warthog that might attract their attention. We stopped and watched as one, then two of the young lions froze, their eyes intent on the potential meal. The closer of the two sank low to the ground and inched forwards, trying to close the gap and shorten the sprint.

Much sooner than the lion would have liked, the little warthog raised its head and ran for its mother. The first lion gave chase, its body still low, swerving right and leaning into the bend as it tried to get between the youngster and safety. The second lion held back, knowing this was a lost cause. Lion versus warthog may sound like an unequal battle, but an enraged mother's tusk can put a predator out of action for a week or two – a dangerous furlough for an animal that must hunt to survive. Encounters like these are finely balanced, and this time fortune favoured the hunted.

Beyond the Masai Mara

Not every game drive will be this intense, but most include a moment that stays with you. Some of mine were tinged with sadness – the elderly antelope I saw one morning, grazing near a tree by the camp, and then again when I returned, under the same tree, having given itself up to the vultures – but others were full of joy. A clutch of young cheetahs, for example, tumbling over each other in the golden hour after sunrise, and trying to climb trees. Or a vast herd of zebra and wildebeest. To sit with them quietly and listen to their methodical chewing was unexpectedly restorative.

SkySafari's eight-day Kenya itinerary is capacious enough to introduce the wide variety of lives that play out in this corner of the country. It begins in Meru national park, a rich tapestry of habitats ranging from open grassland to swamps and riverine forests. I saw big groups of lions here too, as well as dozens of elephants and a pair of southern white rhinos. The latter symbolise a hard-won triumph: Meru was all but lost to poachers in the 1980s and 90s, but in recent years has been reclaimed, rehabilitated and repopulated. Tourists have been slower to return, and for now the park is in the goldilocks zone, beautiful, bountiful and peaceful. In the Masai Mara, you might have to share your best sightings with three or four other cars. In Meru, you often have them to yourself.

In between the two came the Loisaba conservancy, an idyllic private reserve high on a plateau beside the Great Rift Valley. Game drives take place in a crater-like depression surrounded by steep craggy hills, which makes Loisaba a more intimate experience than the big national parks. It was the greenest, prettiest landscape of the three, but the least willing to reveal itself. Elephants, giraffes and zebras were plentiful, but we searched in vain for rhinos. Other guests were luckier, seeing a pair of the critically endangered black subspecies – and, as they returned to the camp, a leopard stalking through the twilight.

Lodges and logistics

SkySafari has two itineraries in Kenya, one of eight days and one of 10, as well as a 13-day tour that visits Tanzania too. All include flights between camps in the company's own Cessna Caravan (which, instead of the usual 12 passenger seats, has a roomier layout of eight). That eliminates long, tiring road transfers, and allows more time in the bush. Instead of a full day spent travelling, you can head out for a morning game drive before your private flight, arriving at your next camp in time for lunch and a full afternoon of activities, or rest.

The lodges are all part of the Elewana Collection, a sister company of SkySafari. Each has its own character – from thatched stone cabins at Elsa's Kopje, the first camp, to classic canvas safari tents at Sand River, the last – but their common ownership allows for seamless transfers. You check in once and then have no further need for vouchers, forms, boarding cards or other intrusions from the world beyond the plains. The most arduous task awaiting you is to pick your sundowner – one of the loveliest rituals of safari. More than just a drink, it's the chance to stand in the twilight as the stars come out and reflect on what you have seen that day. I plumped for a gin and tonic, the customary choice, and drank a toast to the romance and reality of the Masai Mara.

SkySafari's eight-day Kenya itinerary starts from $10,000 (about £7,700) per person, including domestic flights, airport transfers and full-board accommodation and activities at all safari lodges. Visit skysafari.com for more information. British Airways flies from Heathrow to Nairobi from £704 return, including taxes and fees. Holden Frith travelled as a guest of SkySafari.

The murder of a Ugandan marathon runner returning from the Paris Olympics has "highlighted a horrifying trend in Kenya", said The Sunday Times. 

Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, died of burns last week in Eldoret, western Kenya. Dickson Ndiema, her ex-partner, had "poured petrol over her and set her alight" as she and her young daughters were collecting clothes from a washing line outside her home.

Ndiema was admitted to the same hospital after accidentally setting himself on fire, and has since died from his injuries. But killings of successful female athletes have become "a grimly familiar occurrence" in Kenya. 

Prizewinners become prey

Cheptegei, who came 44th in last month's Paris Games and was Uganda's marathon record holder, had bought property and land in the Rift Valley. The region's high altitude and traditional running culture have "helped to produce an army of medal-winning long-distance runners", said the paper. 

And women, whose role was "once limited to minding chickens and children", have emerged as "big local breadwinners". They have become "prey for unscrupulous suitors offering themselves as coaches, husbands or both".

"Women today dream of becoming top world athletes and they come home with a lot of money, while Kenyan men dream of exploiting them – they prey on them and their hard-won cash," said former professional runner and coach Godfrey Kiprotich. "It's becoming a norm now in Kenya and it must stop."

"This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to combat gender-based violence in our society, which in recent years has reared its ugly head in elite sporting circles," said Kenya's minister of sport Kipchumba Murkomen.

Cheptegei is at least the third elite female athlete killed by a male partner or ex-partner in Kenya since 2021, in what advocates describe as an "epidemic of gender-based violence", said CBC. 

Agnes Tirop, a 25-year-old Olympic runner and two-time world championship bronze medalist, was stabbed to death in her home in Iten, Kenya, in 2021. Her husband Ibrahim Rotich was charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. He was released on bail last year and is still awaiting trial.

The night before, 27-year-old runner Edith Muthoni was murdered with a machete in Nairobi, and her boyfriend was detained. The following year, Kenyan-born runner Damaris Mutua, 28, who had signed a contract to run for Bahrain, was found strangled in her home in Iten. Her boyfriend, Ethiopian runner Koki Fai, fled and is still wanted for her murder. 

"We are failing our women," said Zaina Kombo of Amnesty International Kenya.

Kenya's 'epidemic of femicide'

In Kenya, violence against women extends far beyond the athletic community. This year, thousands of women in cities all over Kenya took part in protests against the "epidemic of femicide", after a series of gruesome murders. 

More than 500 cases of femicide were recorded in Kenya between 2016 and 2023, according to Amnesty International, particularly during and since the Covid-19 pandemic. Femicide Count Kenya recorded 152 killings in 2023: the highest since the organisation began tracking femicide in 2018, although the organisation regularly stresses that the true number is likely to be higher.

At least one in three Kenyan women aged 15-49 have suffered physical violence in their lives, according to government data from 2022. For married women, the number was even higher. 

Nearly two-thirds of Kenya's female victims are killed by their partners or ex-partners, according to Africa Data Hub, which looked into the deaths of 546 women between 2016 and 2023.

Local rights groups have called on the government to declare femicide a national emergency and define it as a unique crime, distinct from murder, said the BBC. Despite Kenya's already "robust laws against gender-based violence, most perpetrators go unpunished". But commentators in Kenya's "manosphere" have been blaming murdered women for their deaths on social media.

Politicians have also been accused of victim-blaming. Senator Tabitha Mutinda "ignited rage" in February when she suggested that young women were being killed due to an obsession with money and expensive lifestyles, said openDemocracy.

"It's very sad that one of our women leaders has no inkling of what the real issue is or the root cause of violence against women and girls," said Audrey Mugeni, co-founder of Femicide Count Kenya. "She can't lead us with an attitude that enables misogyny and power imbalances."

There are 1,223 UNESCO World Heritage Sites around the globe, from the Great Pyramids of Giza to Easter Island to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. These landmarks have cultural, historical or scientific importance, and the World Heritage Site designation offers a level of protection — the program's goal is to keep these wonders around for future generations. For 2024, UNESCO granted World Heritage Site status to 24 new spots, including these seven highlights.

Beijing Central Axis, China

The Central Axis runs north to south through Beijing, showcasing imperial palaces, gardens and ceremonial and public buildings dating to the 13th century Yuan Dynasty. These structures "bear testimony to the evolution of the city" and exhibit "evidence of the imperial dynastic system and urban planning traditions of China," UNESCO said. The more modern areas of the Central Axis feature construction from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Dacia, Romania

During the Roman Empire, the Dacian Limes formed the "longest, most complex land border" of any former Roman province in Europe, National Geographic said. North of the Danube River, these 277 auxiliary forts, ramparts, watch towers and legionary fortresses traverse 16 counties, making up a "network of eerie-looking" sites that "still stand as witnesses to the strategic role Dacia once played."

Historical Town and Archaeological Site of Gedi, Kenya

For centuries, Gedi was one of the most important Swahili towns near the East African coast, with a great mosque, palace, well-constructed homes and impressive infrastructure, including a water management system. Experts believe Gedi was founded in the 13th century, likely rebuilt in the 15th century during its most prosperous era and then permanently abandoned in the early 17th century. No one knows for sure why Gedi was deserted, with guesses including an epidemic wiping out the population or a Portuguese attack.

Lencóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil

The white sand dunes and emerald and sapphire freshwater lagoons of Lencóis Maranhenses National Park create an otherworldly landscape in northeastern Brazil. Winds shape the dunes, and when it rains the lagoons change shape, depth, size and even color. More than 110 bird species and 42 reptile species call the park home, in addition to the endangered scarlet ibis, neotropical otter, oncilla and West Indian manatee.

Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites, South Africa

At these 14 sites representing "human rights, liberation and reconciliation," visitors can walk in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists. The locations include the University of Fort Hare, where Mandela studied, and the village of Mqhekezweni, where he got his start in political activism. The site of the Sharpeville massacre is a somber stop, a place to remember the 69 Black protesters killed here in 1960 as they protested pass laws.

Schwerin Residence Ensemble, Germany

Nearly 40 elegant buildings make up the ensemble, with the Schwerin Castle, once the grand duke's residence, the most opulent. Filled with parks and ornamental lakes, most of the structures in Schwerin were built during the 19th century, when the city was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Architectural styles include neo-Baroque, neo-Classical and neo-Renaissance with touches of Italian Renaissance.

Umm Al-Jimal, Jordan

The ruins of Umm Al-Jimal near the Jordanian-Syrian border showcase "unpretentious urban architecture," Lonely Planet said, with the buildings providing a "fascinating insight into rural life during the Roman Byzantine and early Islamic periods." This rural settlement primarily functioned from the 5th century CE to the end of the 8th century CE, but archeologists have uncovered structures dating to the 1st century. Although not much is known about those early days in Umm Al-Jimal, researchers have been able to study the site more than others in the region, as it was "rarely looted or vandalized, which has left much of the original layout intact," Lonely Planet said.

Prosecutors in Kenya say they've arrested a "psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life", with 42 alleged victims, but some have speculated whether the arrest might be an attempt by authorities to cover up the murder of anti-government activists.

'Vampire psychopath'

Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, 33, allegedly confessed that he lured in and then killed dozens of women before dumping their remains at a Nairobi quarry, which is used as a rubbish tip by residents of the surrounding Mukuru slums. Detectives, who described Khalusha as "a vampire, a psychopath", said they found several mobile phones, identity cards, a machete, industrial rubber gloves, rolls of Sellotape and nylon sacks similar to those in which the victims were found at the suspect's home.

"It is crystallising that we are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect for human life," said Mohamed Amin, head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

The discovery of the bodies has met with "shock and outrage" in Kenya, said The Times, and also made headlines outside the East African country. Indian news outlet Firstpost described the suspect as "Kenya's Ted Bundy", after the US serial killer who raped and murdered dozens of young women and girls during the 1970s.

The arrest is a "shocking development" in a country "wracked by political turmoil" and a "spate of violence against women", said The New York Times. Women have been trying to call attention to a "rising wave of gender-based violence" that is "often perpetrated by male partners and close relatives", it added.

But during Khalusha's first court appearance on Tuesday, John Maina Ndegwa, his lawyer, insisted that his client had been abused by officers and that it was "laughable" to suggest his confession was authentic.

His client has been "subjected to horrendous, inhuman mistreatment so that he can confess to issues which are alien to him", Ndegwa said, before asking whether Khalusha could see a doctor. The court has ruled that police can detain the suspect for another 30 days.

'Plunged into chaos'

Pro-democracy activists have "raised concerns" that, rather than being the victims of a serial killer, the bodies may be linked to the disappearances of people during recent anti-government protests, said The Times.

Kenya has been "plunged into political chaos" by the demonstrations, which started as peaceful rallies by Gen-Z Kenyans against planned tax rises, but have "spiralled" into a wider campaign against President William Ruto.

Police are accused of shooting and killing dozens of civilians during weeks of unrest and in the "latest flashpoint" on Tuesday, officers used tear gas and water cannon on demonstrators in the capital, Nairobi.

A statement signed by human rights groups has urged Kenya's security agencies to "expedite investigations into all reports of enforced disappearance". Many local residents have been "angered" by rumours that the bodies could be those of young protesters abducted by security forces, said Reuters.

Fuelling the rumours are inconsistencies and unanswered questions surrounding the case, not least how "after not apparently suspecting anything for two years the police then made an arrest in less than three days after the discovery of the bodies", said the BBC. The first body was found by searchers hired by the family of a missing woman, and lay just 100m from a police station.

Kenya's independent police watchdog said that it was exploring whether there was "any police involvement in the deaths, or failure to act to prevent" the murders. 

"Don't trust anyone over 30" was the rallying cry of the 1960s youth counter-culture movement. Now, 60 years on, anger at unemployment, debt and decades of corruption is fuelling a wave of youth protests in Kenya that have the potential to spread across the continent.

Considered one of East Africa's "more economically developed and democratically stable countries", Kenya has in recent weeks been rocked by a "political crisis that reveals the deep cracks in both sides of that stability", said Vox.

Many are now wondering whether it could herald the start of Africa's long predicted "youth rebellion", said The Sunday Times: "an Arab Spring-style uprising driven more by economic need than a hunger for democracy".

What did the commentators say?

Several economic factors have come together in Kenya, creating the "perfect storm" for mass protests in recent weeks, said Professor X.N. Iraki, a business professor at the University of Nairobi, on The Conversation.

Kenya's Gen Z have "borne the brunt of the country's slow economic growth", leading to higher unemployment rates, reduced income levels, higher levels of debt, and lower living standards overall. While corruption has been a long-standing problem, the figure of the "tenderpreneur" – those who make money by fraudulently getting government tenders and inflating the prices – looms large in Kenya. In addition, there are a high number of "frustrated, educated young people in the country" who, despite being more educated than their parents, are jobless.

Anger over this lack of job opportunities has been one of the "major driving forces" behind the recent disorder in Kenya, said The Sunday Times. The final straw was the government's plans to introduce more taxes – including levies on mobile money transfers and digital products that would have directly affected young people's online activities – to tackle the country’s crippling debts.

This is, however, "not an isolated upheaval", added the paper. "Much of Africa faces a major jobs crisis" driven by what Ladi Balogun, chief executive of Nigeria's First City Monument Bank Group, has called a demographic "ticking time bomb" on the continent.

With 40% of Africa's population under 15 – compared to just 19% in Europe – research suggests that the continent needs to create 18 to 30 million jobs annually through to 2030 to meet this growing demand. At the moment, it is generating only 3 million a year.

Another key factor driving disillusionment among Africa's youth is debt, said the United States Institute of Peace. Kenya is at high risk of debt distress, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and more than a third of its revenues go towards debt interest payments. The recent Finance Bill, which was dropped by President William Ruto on Wednesday following weeks of protests, was supposed to increase government revenue through taxes, satisfying a condition of the IMF loan.

Like many other developing countries, Kenya finds dealing with its debt burden is a vicious cycle that is hard to square, especially when so many young people see an "economic and financial system stacked against them", said Vox. If Kenya doesn't pay it, "the possibility of borrowing in the future will become more difficult in the short term; over time, it could mean more unemployment, more poverty, and overall worse outcomes for Kenyans".

What next?

With close to 30 people dead and the government severely weakened, the youth-led movement in Kenya, which has "little precedence in a country where protests are traditionally elite-led", finds itself at a "crossroads", said The Guardian.

How the "diffuse and leaderless movement", which largely organised via social media, pursues its objectives remains an "open question – and a source of internal debate", said Al Jazeera.

But with Africa set to account for a third of the world's under-25s by 2035 with a median age of just 19, the conditions for further youth-led unrest are only growing.

For many "the answer lies in private-sector growth" said The Sunday Times. This is the "key" to ensuring Africa's demographic surge becomes a "powerful tool for economic and social change and helps this continent boom as others face declining birth rates.

"The challenges we face are formidable. At the same time, the opportunities to be seized are bountiful," the president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, told its annual meeting in March.

The alternative could see what The Economist called the "whiff of revolution" in Kenya explode into an continent-wide call for political and economic structures that prioritise the young.

For years, Kenya has enjoyed the reputation of having one of the fastest-growing economies in all of Africa. Pandemic-era instability aside, Kenya has shown "considerable resilience in the face of recent shocks," and is expected to continue its upward economic trajectory "mainly driven by the private sector as business confidence strengthens and the public sector continues to scale back," The World Bank said this spring. Recently, however, the nation has been roiled by days of civil unrest and deadly riots over a sweeping set of steep tax increases passed by parliament, aimed at combating Kenya's ballooning national debt — and foregoing the possibility of crippling default. 

This week, just one day after nearly two dozen protestors were killed in a march in the capital city of Nairobi, Kenyan President William Ruto announced he would not sign into law the controversial tax bill he'd previously championed. "Having reflected on the continuing conversation" and listened "keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this," he said in a televised address on Wednesday, "I concede, and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill." Although muted in size and intensity, anti-government protests have continued in Kenya despite Ruto's abrupt about-face. 

'It pains me that we had to wait'

Ruto's decision not to sign Kenya's tax bill "will be seen as a major victory for a week-old, youth-led protest movement" that has morphed from "online condemnations of tax rises into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul," Reuters said. Throughout this crisis, the president has "scuppered a great deal of good will," said Kenyan analyst Nanjala Nyabola to The New York Times. Although Ruto very well "might survive this moment, he has pushed Kenya into such deep, uncharted territory."

Ruto's announcement rejecting the tax bill "should have come earlier," Kenyan analyst Herman Manyora said to CNN. "He has done today what he should have done two days ago" to avoid this week's deaths. "It pains me that we had to wait," Manyora said. 

Despite conceding defeat on this tax bill, "some protesters have turned their attention to Ruto's resignation, and are calling for the president to step down," Semafor said. Ruto "hasn't fired a single thief in his cabinet," said activist and protest leader Boniface Mwangi on X. "Even this 'reduced budget' will go into his people's pockets."

The 'Zakayo' president

Since his election in 2022, Ruto's tenure has been plagued by allegations of financial mismanagement and dishonesty from voters who claim he'd "betrayed his campaign pledge to champion the interests of 'hustlers' — those who struggle financially," the BBC said last year. In anti-Ruto circles, the president is referred to mockingly as "Zakayo," the Swahili term for the "biblical figure Zacchaeus, who is portrayed in the Christian holy book as a greedy tax collector." 

It's a term Ruto himself has embraced, if only partially in jest. "Since I have already been referred to as Zakayo in some areas, maybe we will have a tax collector day," he joked last year in remarks to the public after filing his taxes.

Given his embrace of the tax man moniker, why would Ruto reject his own tax bill now? "I don't believe it is genuine, I think he is just buying time," said Pan-African think-tank Institute for Security Studies senior researcher Willis Okumu to Al Jazeera. "I think he has been advised that this is politically damaging and most likely Western pressure has played a role." The "arrogance is gone, but the lies are still there," Mwangi seemingly agreed on X.

To effect real change in Kenya, simply pressuring Ruto to back down from this specific tax bill may not be enough. Instead, those protesting should "articulate what they specifically want, rather than just shouting that 'tax is modern-day slavery,'" Kenya's The Star newspaper said. 

The summer cookbook season is not as robust as the fall-winter one. Still, the number of exhilarating titles just out or imminent in the coming months is enough to make you want to blast your stove, heat be damned. 

"Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora" (out now)

Immigrants are always having to change how they cook in their adopted country, and some of the world's best, most creative dishes come from that acclimatization. Food writer Khushbu Shah knows this from personal experience, and her debut cookbook, "Amrikan", is a celebration of the ways in which Indian immigrants and their families spin new gold. Rice Krispies treats with candied fennel; saag paneer in a frittata and a lasagna; butter chicken pizza: You get the (delicious) idea. 

"Kismet: Bright, Fresh, Vegetable-Loving Recipes" (out now)

Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson, the owners of Kismet and Kismet Rotisserie in Los Angeles, revel in the stellar produce of Southern California and a flavor-influence oval that runs from the Levant and Middle East to North Africa to southern Europe. So in the pair's new cookbook, feta is marinated with garlic and coriander seeds then served with dates and shaved onions laced with rose water, and chicken thighs are roasted with paprika and grapefruit. There are chapters on labneh and tahini, and vegetables predictably play a starring role. Big flavors prevail. 

"Verdura: 10 Vegetables, 100 Italian Recipes" (out now)

There is a special corner of cooking heaven reserved for authors who offer readers the ability to do the most with the least. Discipline breeds resourcefulness, and Theo Randall conjures that welcome approach in his ode to a double-handful of vegetables. Eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes, beans, winter squash and potatoes: The centerpieces of so much seasonal Italian cooking, each with their own battery of complementary recipes to showcase their versatility. 

"Dolci! American Baking with an Italian Accent" (out now)

Malted tiramisu; mocha-orange whoopie pies; amaro root beer floats: The way baker Renato Poliafito considers Italian food is through an American lens. "Dolci!" is a handy compendium of familiar dishes upended and reconsidered.

"Freezer Door Cocktails: 75 Cocktails That Are Ready When You Are" (July 2)

Oh, dear, does one ever need a freezer cocktail in the dead of summer. J.M. Hirsch to the slushy rescue! A frozen espresso martini, Bloody Mary, and buttered rum. Many a classic cocktail makes an appearance in the book. The blessed trickery of Hirsch's tome is its reverse-engineering, which enables you to conjure the essence of your favorite cocktails but in a replicable frozen fashion.  

"Africali: Recipes from My Jikoni" (Aug. 13) 

Kiano Moju's debut cookbook sits at the intersection of Nigerian, Kenyan and American cooking. Moju grew up in California with a Nigerian father and a Kenyan mother. There are recipes for chapos (garlic-butter chapati), showing the influence of Indian emigration on the African continent, and peri-peri butter, a chile-kicked spread that upends the notion that peri-peri was born in Portugal. Hint: It was not. 

"Latin-ish: More Than 100 Recipes Celebrating American Latino Cuisines" (Aug. 20) 

The United States is merely one country in the Americas. But what happens to Latin American food when it's transplanted to the United States is the objective of this debut cookbook from Marisel Salazar. Born in Panama, Salazar dissects the origins of distinctly American dishes like Arkansas tamales, San Antonio migas and plantain upside down cake. She, of course, provides recipes, too.

"Dac Biet: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook" (Aug. 27)

Chef and cooking instructor Nini Nguyen is a child of both Vietnamese immigrants and of New Orleans. Of course her first cookbook is called "Dac Biet," which means "extra special" in Vietnamese. Whether from her fine dining training or from the singular way her Vietnamese heritage and New Orleanian roots intersect, Nguyen's recipes are lively, traditional and bursting with flavor and innovation. 

Multigenerational trips are special. Grandparents and grandchildren connecting over card games on the beach, cousins bonding while horseback riding and adult siblings reminiscing during a late night on the town: These simple activities turn into lasting memories. Here are seven ideas for vacations where hanging out with your family is at the top of the itinerary. 

Have the ultimate dude ranch experience at C Lazy U Ranch in Granby, Colorado 

Giddy up! The all-inclusive C Lazy U lets everyone in the family live out their ranch dreams. Activities change with the seasons. Come in the summer to try cattle pushing and fly fishing, visit during the winter for snow tubing and snowmobiling — with horseback riding offered year-round. Kids and teens have their own special program, with ranch counselors leading them on adventures from sunrise to sunset. This is a luxury dude ranch with fine dining, plush cabins and the group-friendly Midnight Trail Lodge, a 3,600-square-foot space fit for the entire family.

Go on an unforgettable African safari with Cottar's Safaris in Maasai Mara, Kenya

Few experiences can beat an African safari. What is better than being in the heart of the wild, knowing that any moment you might see a giraffe or hear the roar of a distant lion? Cottar's Safaris in Kenya offers educational and authentic adventures for families, with two luxe properties on the private Olderkesi Wildlife Conservancy in the Maasai Mara. The 1920s Camp has 11 canvas tents, including four designed for families, plus the private Bush Villa with five bedrooms, a pool and a dedicated chef and guide. Most activities are included, like wildlife drives, wilderness runs with Maasai warriors, stargazing, a foraging and medicinal walk and educational talks. Cottar's Safaris works with the local Maasai community on sustainability and conservation efforts, and families can get involved by planting seeds and joining rangers on their daily patrols.

Hit the beach at Grand Velas in Los Cabos, Mexico

At the all-inclusive Grand Velas, you never hear the dreaded words "I'm bored." Something is always going on. A typical day starts with morning yoga sessions, followed by Spanish lessons, cooking classes, poolside bingo, soccer games, ping pong tournaments and tequila tastings. Kids and teens can hang out in their own spaces for karaoke, gaming and arts and crafts (piñatas are great souvenirs). Families looking for a less structured vacation can hit the beach, lounge by one of the resort's infinity pools or relax in their suite — every suite boasts an ocean view and outdoor terrace.

Explore the rugged White Mountains in Lincoln, New Hampshire

Tucked in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is Lincoln, a town filled with natural wonders like the 800-foot-long Flume Gorge and peaceful Franconia Falls. This area attracts outdoorsy families that like to start and end a day with a hike and skiing in between. The boutique Launchpoint Lodge is a good home base. Designed for guests 12 and older, this six-suite hotel is for families with older kids. There are several common spaces, including the fully-stocked coffee lounge, sitting room and sunroom. If you have a big enough group, rent out the entire property and make yourself fully at home.

Take a cruise to Alaska with Princess

On a multigenerational trip, not everyone will have the same endurance levels or mobility. An Alaskan cruise levels the playing field, allowing families to gather together on one ship for the same experience, but with itineraries that work with individual needs. That might mean the whole crew gathers in the grandparents' room when the ship glides by Glacier Bay National Park, but only the parents and grandkids get off the boat to explore Ketchikan, with everyone regrouping at dinner. Princess cruise ships offer a good balance of family-friendly onboard activities and entertainment and experiences solely for adults, like the Sanctuary retreat.

Enjoy a wild west adventure at Palm Canyon Hotel & RV Resort in Borrego Springs, California

The spirit of the Old West is alive and well at the Palm Canyon Hotel & RV Resort. The resort resembles a frontier town, with colorful buildings, a general store and a saloon slinging burgers, shakes and spirits. Guests can reserve a comfortable, pet-friendly room, stay in a vintage Airstream trailer or hook up their RV in a pull-through or back in-site close to shower and laundry facilities. Families looking for an adventure can explore the nearby Anza-Borrego Desert State Park or walk by more than 130 massive metal sculptures scattered across Galleta Meadows. At night, look up. Borrego Springs is an International Dark Sky community, making stargazing a must.

Have an immersive experience at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Take a trip back in time with the whole family. Colonial Williamsburg is a living museum with dozens of original 18th-century buildings, from a courthouse to the Wythe House where Thomas Jefferson studied law. Visitors can stay in the Colonial Houses, accommodations where Williamsburg residents once lived. There are modern amenities too, like indoor and outdoor pools and daily fitness classes. Walking around Williamsburg, you might come across a carpenter using an old tool to show a traditional woodworking technique or a milliner working on her latest hat. Changes are afoot, with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation announcing it will introduce or expand on the stories told about Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ history. 

Haiti has declared a 72-hour state of emergency after armed gangs stormed the country's largest prison and freed around 3,700 inmates.

At least 12 people were killed during the jailbreak from the National Penitentiary in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where detainees included gang members charged in connection with the 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moïse. The assassination sparked ongoing unrest in the impoverished Caribbean country. 

The UN estimates that more than 8,400 people were victims of Haiti's gang violence last year, including killings, injuries and kidnappings, more than double the numbers for 2022.

This weekend's jailbreak came after Prime Minister Ariel Henry travelled to Nairobi to discuss sending a Kenya-led multinational security force to Haiti. In response, gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, nicknamed "Barbecue", declared a co-ordinated attack to remove Henry and bring down what remains of his government.

"All of us, the armed groups in the provincial towns and the armed groups in the capital, are united," said Chérizier, a former police officer.

What did the commentators say?

Haiti "spiraled into a state of extreme unrest" after Moïse's assassination led to "widespread gang violence and the near-complete collapse of security", said The New York Times.

Nearly 3,000 of the country's 15,000 police officers have abandoned their posts in the past two years, according to official figures. With no president or elected national officials, gangs have "seized control of much of Port-au-Prince" and "terrorise thousands of people every day", said the paper.

Haiti's police union had asked the military to help reinforce the capital's main prison, before the compound was stormed late on Saturday. As to how many inmates are now on the run, "sources close to the institution say it is likely to be an 'overwhelming' majority", said Sky News.

The prison in Port-au-Prince was built to house 700 prisoners, but held 3,687 as of February last year, according to rights group RNDDH. Among those held in the prison were 18 former Colombian soldiers who were jailed for their alleged involvement in the assassination of Moïse, as well as a small number of older and infirm inmates.

Henry visited Nairobi last week in a bid to secure the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to help get a grip on the violence. The Kenyan High Court had blocked the plan in January, ruling that an international agreement – finally signed on Friday – was required to send police to other countries. Along with the Kenyan officers, Benin has offered 2,000 troops; the Bahamas has committed 150 personnel; Jamaica and Antigua & Barbuda have said they are willing to help; and the US has pledged £158m ($200m) to support the deployment.

What next?

"It is unclear whether an international police force led by Kenya, which has drawn criticism from human rights groups, could help check the violence," said The New York Times. 

Many point to Henry as the problem. Under a political deal concluded after Moïse's assassination, Haiti was supposed to hold elections, and the unelected PM was to cede power by 7 February this year. But Henry has argued that security must first be re-established in order to ensure free and fair elections.

Haiti has not had a single elected government official since the term of the last elected senators expired in January 2023. This political vacuum, combined with "anger at the shocking levels of violence", have led to several demonstrations against the government, , said the BBC, "with protesters demanding the resignation of the prime minister".

On top of the widespread civil and political unrest, Haiti's "economy and public health system are also in tatters", added the broadcaster.

Claude Joseph was serving as acting prime minister when Moïse was assassinated and is now head of the opposition party Those Committed to Development. He told the BBC that, despite the "nightmare" Haiti was living through, Henry wanted "to stay as long as possible in charge".

While they may disagree about how to remove Henry, both Joseph and gang leader Chérizier agreed it is the only solution. The country can no longer cope with the situation, said Chérizier. With no leader, no food and no security, the "population is tired", he said. "It can't take it anymore."

Whether you are after a peaceful Polynesian paradise or prefer the bustling, samba-filled streets of Rio, the world is your oyster when it comes to 2024's hottest honeymoon destinations.

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil's historic capital city is made for couples with a spring in their step. 

During the day, "avoid the queues and see the sights of Rio de Janeiro on a private helicopter tour of the city," said Harper's Bazaar. Board your chopper from the peak of Sugarloaf Mountain, which you can reach via a short cable-car ride. Fly over the sandy expanses of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and enjoy jaw-dropping views of Christ the Redeemer. 

Check in at Copacabana Palace, the "undisputed grand dame of Rio de Janeiro", which has hosted the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Princess Diana. During Carnival in February, its "white-stone walls pulsate with energy" and "live samba music drifts across the open-air restaurant Pérgula as guests sway, sipping potent caipirinhas". Indulge at its Michelin-starred Italian outpost Cipriani, before heading out to "join 90,000 others for a night watching the parades at the Sambadrome".

Cartagena, Colombia

Colombia was once "a less obvious honeymoon destination", said CN Traveller. But tourism in Cartagena, on the Caribbean side of the country, has grown more than 300% in the past 12 years. 

The city's "deep-rooted romance" comes from an "old, walled town" that "woos with sun-yellow colonial villas and cathedrals, balconies with billowing bougainvillea, and slow ambles through cobbled streets to arcaded squares". But modern life is breaking through with "freshly experimental kitchens" to rival Lima's and a "savvy fashion crowd". 

Former president Juan Manuel Santos is "a fan" of Restaurante Donjuán in the upmarket beach resort of Bocagrande. Things get "steamier" in the area's late-night salsa bars, or an hour’s boat ride away at the "protected Rosario Islands – ideal for a castaway canoodle".

Tokyo, Japan

The "capital of good taste", Tokyo has more Michelin stars than any other city, making this the perfect destination for enamoured foodies, said CN Traveller. After dinner, head to one of the city's tucked-away drinking dens, where "mixologists blend craft cocktails with laser precision at intimate 10-seater bars" or if the bean is more your thing, the capital's "narrow back streets bristle with slow-drip coffee bars". For post-dinner entertainment, "sumo wrestlers scuffle in stadiums" and "kabuki performers peacock around theatres". 

And once you've had your fill of the high life, "neon-soaked thoroughfares thrum with restaurants staffed by robots and cafés filled with goats". Time your honeymoon for October and November when sunny days and "autumn colours lend a certain romance".

Tahiti

The largest island in French Polynesia has "soaring peaks, tranquil lagoons and crystalline waters", which have together drawn honeymooners to the island's South Pacific shores for years, said CN Traveller. Tahiti's "black-sand beaches and two extinct volcanoes" characterise its "rugged scenery", giving the remote island an "off-grid appeal". The Papenoo Valley is a favourite of British tourists, who come for the "luxuriant jungles" and "string of waterfalls". Book in at the InterContinental Tahiti Resort, which has its own "natural aquarium" and views "across the volcanic peaks of Moorea Island" and an "overwater gourmet restaurant".

Kenya

"Nights spent under swoon-worthy skies that twinkle with stars, accompanied by candlelit bush dinners," give Kenya the wild factor for adventurous couples, said The Independent. The East African savannah’s exclusive glamping sites are "purpose-built to escape the crowds" with awe-inspiring wildlife views and sophisticated lodges that provide the perfect viewing spot from which to see lions, leopards, rhinos and elephants "mere metres away". 

The Angama Mara's "elegant tented suites" even have freestanding bath tubs to wash away the dust of the day. Hold hands with your loved one on a 4x4 game drive that will give you the chance to witness the "dramatic Great Migration", the journey of around two million wildebeest across the Maasai Mara. 

With its glorious old town, "spectacular" beaches and "laid-back" atmosphere, the Kenyan island of Lamu is one of the world's most bewitching places. I first visited as a "scruffy backpacker" in 1992, said Jeffrey Gettleman in Travel + Leisure, and over the course of 20 subsequent visits, I have watched as "sparkling white vacation villas" have sprung up along its shores, and celebrities from Madonna to Mick Jagger have discovered its charms. But it is still unspoilt. There are very few cars, the island's fragile mangrove creeks and sand dunes are intact, Lamu Old Town (the world's oldest Swahili settlement, and a Unesco World Heritage Site) is well preserved, and the atmosphere is still warm and welcoming. 

The best place to stay is the family owned Peponi Hotel, which opened more than 50 years ago. Set on a breezy stretch of beach two miles outside town, it has the "classiest" rooms ("airy and white") and the "liveliest scene" on the island. Its chef is a master of Swahili cuisine (which is delicious, "relying heavily on coconut milk, ginger, cardamom, Indian masala spices and fresh fish"), and its owner arranges excellent itineraries for guests, from lunch reservations to sunset boat trips. It also has plenty of watersports equipment, including two ski boats. 

"A maze of snaking alleys, small squares, mosques and tucked-away shops", Lamu Old Town was founded as a trading post seven centuries ago, and "reflects the influence of people from all over – Indians, Omanis, Persians, Portuguese". In its "friendly" market, the fragrance of ripening mangoes mingles with "the scents of crisping samosas and salty sea air". And the walk back to Peponi's from the town is beautiful. Along the way, children might invite you to join in a game of football on the beach, and at the hotel, "barefoot boat captains in their prayer caps" often patronise the bar, making for good company in the evenings, if you want it.

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Kenya will scrap visas for all African nationals by the end of the year, a move it hopes will open up trade and travel on the continent.

Speaking at a climate change conference in Congo-Brazzaville, the country's president William Ruto said the removal of barriers was needed to realise the dream of a continental free trade agreement, adding that "it is time we…realise that having visa restrictions among ourselves is working against us".

Kenya joins The Gambia, Benin and Seychelles as the only countries to offer unrestricted travel on the continent despite the long-held dream of a borderless Africa.

How would a borderless Africa work?

"Costly and time-consuming" visa requirements – 32 out of 54 African countries still require the nationals of at least half the continent's countries to obtain a visa – combined with high air fares, have "long created barriers to inter-African travel for African passport holders", said The Guardian.

To address this, the African Union (AU) has aggressively "pursued the goal of facilitating visa-free travel within the continent", Africa News reported, but although there have been bilateral and regional agreements, progress towards completely unrestricted travel has been "slow".

2018 saw the AU assembly adopt the Protocol to the Treaty, establishing the African Economic Community relating to the free movement of people and rights of residence and establishment. While hailed as a landmark document, five years later little over half the countries in Africa have signed it, and just four – Rwanda, Niger, São Tomé and Principe, and Mali – have ratified it.

This shows that the "political determination to fulfil the widely shared aspiration for a borderless Africa is still inadequate", said Al Jazeera columnist Tafi Mhaka.

What are the obstacles to integration?

The primary fear among leaders is that implementation of the protocol would "trigger political instability", said Alan Hirsch, Professor at The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town, in The Conversation. Several of Africa's richer countries appear concerned that free movement could precipitate the "sudden influx of low-skilled economic migrants from poorer countries".

Meanwhile in West Africa, "where borders are porous, easy movement through states has contributed to the crossing of borders in the region by terrorists such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State", said The Republic.

In the post-colonial era African states have "had to consider the myriad of challenges including terrorism, economic meltdown, poverty and unemployment", said the news site. These pose a "unique challenge to states who must choose whether to shed their ability to control and dictate the internal affairs of their countries or abide by ideology and international agreements".

What are the ways forward?

There have been conflicting views about how to achieve Pan-Africanism since the end of colonial rule in the middle of the 20th century. While some leaders believed the objective should be continental integration from the start, others favoured an incremental approach starting at a regional level.

Regional blocs – most notably the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) – have already made huge strides in lifting restrictions in cross-border movement and in some cases even allow passport-free cross-border travel within their respective regions.

One possibility, wrote Hirsch for the Global Government Forum, would be to try to follow the "European model". Europe is "unique in achieving internal freedom of movement, residence, and establishment for all citizens of EU countries", he argued, but this was achieved over 40 or so years, meaning that the road to free movement "would be long".

A second example would be South America, where "there was the attention given to common documentation, border management systems and bureaucratic procedures, even before there was significant border opening", said Hirsch. Only after this were systems developed "to facilitate business travel and the mobility of skilled people". Then "when the decision was made to liberalise further in the 2000s, reliable systems and practices were already in place".

Another, more radical solution, is an African Union passport. First mooted a quarter of a century ago, an "AU passport" was launched in 2016 to allow unrestricted travel for Africans within the continent.

However, concerns about security, smuggling and the impact on the local employment markets meant the "roll-out has been limited and the passports are mainly used by diplomats and high-ranking officials", said The Guardian.

King Charles will become the first member of the royal family to convey "sorrow" over Britain's handling of the Mau Mau uprising when he visits Kenya this week.

According to his deputy private secretary, Chris Fitzgerald, the King will "acknowledge the more painful aspects of the UK and Kenya's shared history”, including the so-called "Emergency" period from 1952-1960, in which Britain violently suppressed an uprising against colonial rule.

The Mail on Sunday reported that the King "will acknowledge that Kenyans were tortured during the reprisals for the 1950s revolt" but will "stop short of issuing an official apology". 

A royal source told the paper that Charles would "be working on his speeches for the state visit up to the last minute and always has sensitivity in mind", adding: "He will be mindful of expressing deep sorrow."

In 2013, the government agreed to pay almost £20 million in compensation to the Kenyan victims of torture during the uprising. The Kenya Human Rights Commission has estimated that 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during Britain's crackdown after the rebellion.

King should 'cough up' official apology

King Charles should "stop choking on those two words, 'I apologise'," said Caroline Elkins in The Observer, and just "cough them up". An official apology "will probably trigger all sorts of liability issues" for the King and the British government, but the monarchy could use its £20 billion of wealth "to cover this".

And there would be "no better place" for a "first formal apology for colonial crimes" than Kenya, continued Elkins. It was there that Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in February 1952 "and where, just a year later, her picture, in full regalia, hung in the detention camps where thousands of Africans were tortured, often while being forced to sing God Save the Queen."

King will be 'walking a tightrope'

As the King's first state visit to an African nation, and his first to a Commonwealth member, since he ascended the throne last year, the trip will be "closely watched" around the world, said The Associated Press. The King "has already shown a willingness to address difficult issues" such as by "opening the royal archives to researchers studying the monarchy's links to the slave trade", and before succeeding his mother, acknowledging the "appalling atrocity of slavery" during a speech in Barbados.

Yet, the King should avoid turning the trip into a "misery tour", said Richard Eden in the Daily Mail's Palace Confidential newsletter. "Our Royal Family should be optimistic, joyful ambassadors for Britain" and not "miserable apologists for empire".

Royal visits to former colonies have "long been delicate", said The New York Times (NYT), "but in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement, they have become fraught". King Charles will be "walking a tightrope" during the visit, said Nic Cheeseman, professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham. "He wants to say something strong enough to show that he gets it", but not so strong that it would open the British government, and the monarchy, to "calls for more reparations".

Buckingham Palace will also be trying to avoid the "public relations donnybrook" of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's tour of the Caribbean last year, from which the "lingering image was one of William, in a white dress uniform, riding in the same open-top Land Rover that had carried the queen and Prince Philip in 1962", an image that, for many Jamaicans, resembled "a caricature of a colonial proconsul inspecting his troops", continued the NYT.

Haiti has a long history of violence and chaos. It also has a long history of outsiders coming in ostensibly to bring order, but instead creating even more problems for the country's people. Will that history continue? CNN reported this week that the United Nations has given approval for Kenyan police to lead a multinational force to help get Haiti's gang violence under control. But critics say the Kenyan police force has a pattern of brutality that includes "extrajudicial killings and arbitrary execution of protestors."

There's no doubt that Haiti is in dire need of help. "Gangs have terrorized civilians" for two years, committing thousands of murders since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, Ellen Ioanes of Vox pointed out. Haitian police are "outgunned and underpaid," so many observers believe "an external force of some kind" is necessary. But previous interventions by outsiders are remembered mostly for their exploitation of the country — along with more killings, a cholera epidemic and widespread sexual abuse. All of which raises a question: "Will this be different from previous international interventions?"

Kenya does have a history of peacekeeping operations, Al Jazeera reported. And the African country stands to gain prestige if the Haiti mission is successful. "On the global stage, sending its forces to Haiti gives Kenya ... very serious political capital," said one analyst. Those gains could be undercut, though, if this intervention ends up as yet another disaster. 

'Kenyan police are rogue'

Human rights groups say that "Kenyan police officers have shot and beaten hundreds of protesters this year," The New York Times reported. That raises concerns that the ostensible peacekeepers "will put civilians in harm's way" as they combat Haiti's gangs. Kenya was chosen for the mission to avoid "what might look like a Western occupation of a developing country." And Kenya's leaders say the country's peacekeeping missions have an "impeccable" record. That's questionable. Said one victim of the alleged brutality: "Kenyan police are rogue." 

"Haiti has been treated as a ward of major powers … for decades," Daniel Larison argued at Responsible Statecraft. The Kenya-led intervention has "even less support and fewer resources than previous efforts," which makes it "foolish" to think that it can end up with a better outcome. A Haitian-led solution is needed, not another intrusion by outsiders. "No matter how well-intentioned the Kenyan-led mission may be, it is a mistake."

"As strange and unsavory as a Kenyan-led multinational force sounds, it's a solution that deserves a chance," The Boston Globe editorialized. The U.S. can't play a direct role — the American "history of ill-fated interventions in Haiti" means it has to step back and be supportive of other efforts. Backing Kenya's mission "may represent the most realistic way" for the U.S. to help Haiti. It's necessary to try. "Unfortunately, as bad and unprecedented as things are in Haiti right now, they can always get worse."

No U.S. troops

The U.S. is backing Kenya's mission, The Miami Herald reported. The State Department and Department of Defense have pledged $100 million each to the effort, though the particulars of how that money will be used is "not immediately clear." One thing that is clear: The U.S. won't be sending any of its own troops to Haiti. "The U.S. military will provide some enabling support," a White House spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan police deployment isn't fully supported within Kenya. The Associated Press reported that opposition lawmakers are insisting that parliament approve the mission to Haiti. Assuming the deployment goes forward, though, Kenyan forces face a difficult task under the best of circumstances: "neutralize the armed gangs, protect civilians, and bring about peace, security and order," BBC pointed out. Haiti's history, a past filled with disastrous interventions, and the questions regarding Kenyan police only add to the challenge. The outsiders "will need to be careful to avoid innocent civilian casualties," BBC noted, "and also to win the 'hearts and minds' battle too."

Paul Mackenzie is “public enemy number one” in Kenya, said Le Monde’s Noé Hochet-Bodin, and the reason for the description is as tragic as it is terrifying.

Mackenzie, a taxi driver turned religious leader, is standing trial on charges of terrorism, child trafficking and inciting followers to starve to death. So far, more than 300 bodies have been found in mass graves, with the number expected to rise as “more exhumations are planned”, said The Associated Press.

Kenyan police received a tip-off that dozens of people were starving to death after their pastor told them this was “the way to meet Jesus”, the news agency added. However, officials were unprepared for the horrific scene they found at the Shakahola forest near the coastal resort of Malindi.

“Children were targeted as the first to be starved to death,” reported the BBC. They were ordered to “fast in the sun so they would die faster”. The children were followed by women and men. Official autopsies showed signs of death by “starvation, suffocation and beatings”.

The story of Mackenzie’s Good News International Church began in 2002 with a small, unsuspecting congregation in a “stone courtyard opposite a Catholic primary school in Malindi”, said The New York Times. It has now culminated in “one of the worst cult-related disasters in recent history”, according to Al Jazeera.

Mackenzie was able to cultivate followers through his preaching at church and on his own television channel, Times TV. It was his doomsday rhetoric that drew the most attention, often inspired by the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, which speaks about the day of judgement and the end of the world for Christians.

He preached stark warnings about “an omnipotent satanic force” that he claimed is at play in the “highest echelons of power around the world”, the BBC said. It is alleged his followers were told the world was coming to an end on 15 April, and that they were instructed to take their own lives to become “the first to go to heaven”, Al Jazeera reported.

Mackenzie, who closed the Good News International Church and his TV channel in 2019, “denied he had forced his followers to starve themselves”, the BBC reported. His mother, Anastacia Mwele Mackenzie, pleaded the innocence of her “obedient and very generous” son when speaking to the Nation, while Robert Mbatha told the newspaper he “still cannot fathom” the accusations levelled against his brother.

The trial against Mackenzie continues. Should he be found guilty, he may go down in history as one of the worst cult leaders in the world, “joining the likes of Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, Shoko Asahara and David Koresh”, said the Daily Mail.

However, religious groups “with a cultic flavour” are not new in Kenya, Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen wrote for The Conversation, likening the latest movement to “violent extremist groups such as Al-Shabaab or Daesh [Islamic State]”. Kenya’s President William Ruto “has likened Mackenzie to a terrorist”, said the AP news agency.

Freedom of religion and belief is enshrined in the Kenyan constitution, and Ruto – himself a “fervent believer whose wife is an evangelical preacher”, said The New York Times – has sought ways in which the country’s “chaotic faith sector” can be governed. The Church and Clergy Association of Kenya, for its part, has condemned Mackenzie’s alleged actions as “unbiblical, unscriptural and unholy”, said The Star.

Badurdeen said that an “honest discussion” must now take place to safeguard religious expression while preventing “fake religious leaders” from exploiting the law.

In the meantime, the search for more bodies connected to the tragedy continues. Victor Kaudo, a rights activist from Malindi, visited Shakahola in March and saw emaciated followers of Mackenzie. They “cursed him as ‘an enemy of Jesus’” while in the “throes of death”, The New York Times said.

“I wanted these starving people to survive, but they wanted to die and meet Jesus,” he told the paper. “What do we do? Does freedom of worship supersede the right to life?”

Travel has opened up so many amazing experiences, but have you ever woken to the sight of baboons squabbling in a tree just a stone’s throw from your bed? Or stared down a pair of passing cheetahs, or lions guarding their latest kill?

Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve sounds like the stuff of fiction, yet this land of big game and spear-wielding warriors is real and it’s truly spectacular. And while sticking a luxury camp in this magical wilderness might easily strike the wrong note, the recently opened JW Marriott Masai Lodge is entirely in tune with its surroundings, as I discovered during a three-day trip of a lifetime.

The lodge

Set beside the Talek River on the edge of the Mara, as locals call it, the global luxury brand’s debut safari venture has been welcoming guests since the start of April, in unforgettable fashion. After touching down at the reserve’s Keekorok Airstrip in a teeny 12-seater plane from Nairobi, our group was greeted with champagne to refresh us for the half-hour drive to the lodge, where chanting Masai warriors lined the path to the entrance – a wobbly wooden suspension bridge crossing the river.

These local warriors are employed to patrol the camp around the clock and to guide guests after night descends. With an animal path cutting through the otherwise enclosed grounds, walking around alone in the dark is a definite no-no for non-warrior types, as one of the experts explained after spotting a hippo stomping along close to my “tent” (think amped-up glamping rather than camping).

The lodge accommodation comprises 20 of these canvas suites which, like the rest of the interior spaces, are decked out in natural materials and calming neutral tones that echo the surrounding landscape. All of the suites have indoor and outdoor showers, canopied balconies with hot tubs overlooking the river, and of course, Wi-Fi. There are no TVs, but a turf war playing out between baboons in a tree on the opposite bank acted as my, far superior, in-room entertainment.

The housekeeping signs are equally unusual, taking the form of “do not disturb” spears to plant at the suite entrances. There are also plenty of more conventional features that align with JW Marriott’s focus on well-being including a pillows menu and fragrant toiletries from African skincare brand Healing Earth. And fluffy hot water bottles are placed in the beds to counter the evening chill in this extremely changeable climate – a welcome unexpected touch, though guests might get a scare when they first feel something warm and furry beneath the sheets.

Those in need of a bracing drink can raid the well-stocked mini bars or head to the full-size version in the camp’s Fig Tree Lounge. The massive namesake tree towering in the centre of the lounge’s outdoor patio area provides much-needed shade during the day. Come dusk, the seated area around the patio fire pit is a cosy spot for guests to gather with cocktails garnished with herbs from the JW Garden.

Set at the heart of the camp, this garden produces an array of ingredients that are also used in the lodge’s Sarabi Restaurant. Here, I and fellow guests tucked into feasts of Indian foods (reflecting the culinary influence of Kenya’s sizeable Indian community) and traditional Kenyan dishes including roast meats, tasty stews and my personal favourite, ugali, a doughy form of maize or corn flour that is ideal for dipping.

Sarabi’s chefs deserve much praise for producing consistently excellent meals despite ever-shifting deadlines owing to the local relaxed attitude to time (a guesstimate “45 minutes” is the stock answer to any scheduling query). The chefs’ patience may also be challenged by non-human visitors, such as a very cheeky monkey that tried to steal croissants from our breakfast buffet.

The long-suffering cooks might benefit from a relaxing treatment at the lodge’s Spa by JW, where I enjoyed a tension-busting massage. The lodge’s other wellness-boosting amenities include an open-sided gym and an outdoor pool area where guests can join evening “yoga beneath the stars” sessions. Or to flex their grey matter, they can read the many books in the Adventure Lounge, which sits beside what will be a photography studio.

The lodge is pitched as a “retreat for the mind, body and soul” and with so much on offer, it lives up to the hype. But the highlight of my transformative trip was, of course, the region’s star attraction – the wildlife.

The safari experience

Spanning around 580 square miles, the Mara is home to more than 100 mammal species including the Big Five: lion, leopard, elephant, African buffalo and rhino.

Four of these five kindly put in close-up appearances during my group’s game drives, with just the last proving elusive. A fellow safari-goer swore she saw a retreating rhino from afar, but that might have been what our knowledgeable and witty guide Festus referred to as “Alts” (animal-like trees). Either way, we maintained a careful watch during stops to “pick a flower” and “walk the dog” (Festus-speak for al fresco loo breaks).

The first half of the reserve’s name honours the area’s ancestral inhabitants, while Mara means “spotted” in the Masai language (Maa), a reference to the area’s savannah plains speckled with riverine forests‚ mountain ridges and natural springs. This richly varied ecosystem attracts millions of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles that flood into the Mara each June in search of food during the annual Great Migration.

My visit took place shortly before the stampede was due to arrive on the 1,800-mile round trip from Tanzania’s Serengeti. But thanks to Festus and his “Bush CNN” (CB radio network with the lodge’s other guides), our group saw an A to Z of creatures ranging from antelopes, giraffes and hyenas to warthogs and zebras.

A breakneck dash across the savannah resulted in a once-in-a-lifetime encounter (from a safe distance in our open-sided Jeep) with one of the estimated 40 remaining leopards in the Mara, as the sun dropped towards the horizon. And after frantic messaging on the Bush CNN, we tracked down what Festus informed us were a pair of almost equally rare cheetah brothers padding along a grassy plain as the sun rose the following morning.

The big cat sightings continued with a pack of lions feeding on the carcass of a buffalo, a bloody spectacle with a soundtrack of tearing and crunching that no TV documentary can fully capture. This gory scene failed to kill our appetites for our subsequent bush breakfast, with the lodge’s chefs cooking up top-notch eggs and the like in a pop-up kitchen.

The unflappable team also staged a picture-perfect finale for our last journey into the savannah, setting up a mini bar and bonfire for a sundowner drinks experience. The Mara had other ideas though, with a sudden storm triggering a human stampede to our Jeeps. Following a rain-lashed race back to camp along the pot-holed roads, our day ended with equally enjoyable but less Instagram-worthy drinks under the shelter of canvas – a fitting reminder that in this vast wilderness, nature ultimately calls the shots.

The bigger picture

Witnessing the wonders and sheer beauty of the Mara in the flesh can be a life-changing experience for visitors, but questions about the potential impacts of this tourism merit answers. JW Marriott is addressing these tricky issues through initiatives including providing a water treatment plant for the area, and by pumping investment back into the community by employing locals, who currently make up more than 60% of the lodge staff.

The brand also offers hospitality apprenticeship programmes aimed chiefly at local women, who traditionally marry in their early teens and often struggle to access education. One staff member, Tito, told us how she was helping to pay to educate her siblings after becoming the first girl in her family to go to school. The pioneering mother of two also campaigns against female circumcision and against the poaching that has threatened many animal species in the Mara.

JW Marriott is getting in on the conservation action as well, through tie-ups with groups including The Maa Trust, a non-profit with a focus on environmental protection that empowers local people by promoting small business start-ups. Guests can visit The Maa Trust to meet local artisans, some of whom sell their work at the lodge.

My group was also invited to visit a nearby Masai village to learn more about their culture. Named after the acacia trees that ring the circular encampment of small mud houses, Ololchurra is home to an extended family of around 60 people who fund their recently launched community school by selling cattle and crafts. We got a lesson on Masai life from an elder who had learned English alongside Kenya’s other official language, Swahili, as a child after braving daily ten-mile treks to the nearest school.

The insights into the lives of the Masai were fascinating and numerous, from their staple diet (meat, milk and cattle blood, drunk warm) to the meanings behind traditional rituals and chants. But the key takeaway message was this community’s respect for their lands and its wildlife. After even the briefest visit to the Mara, any visitor will surely share that respect.

Kari Wilkin was a guest of the JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge. Rates start from £1,420/$1,750 per person per night or £2,355/$2,900 for two people per night, including accommodation on a full-board basis, two shared game drives per day and return air transfers from Keekorok Airstrip; marriott.com

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Kenyan police investigating a suspected starvation cult exhumed dozens of bodies over the weekend.

Investigators have so far “recovered 47 corpses from shallow graves” near the southern coastal city of Malindi, after Christian preacher Paul Makenzie Nthenge “is thought to have encouraged his followers to starve themselves to death to ‘meet Jesus’”, reported The Times. The bodies of “entire families”, including children, have been found, and an 800-acre forest in Shakahola has been cordoned off.

A tip-off led police to arrest Nthenge earlier this month and raid his property, where they found 15 emaciated people, four of whom later died.

According to Kenyan daily The Standard, Nthenge had renamed three “villages” Nazareth, Bethlehem and Judea, and each had a pond in which he allegedly baptised his followers before they embarked on their fast. “In every village, the ‘man of God’ chose security teams and named them ‘disciples’,” the paper reported.

Nthenge – who was previously arrested and bailed in March over the deaths of two children in their parents’ care – denies wrongdoing and claims he shut down his Good News International Church in 2019. He remains in custody, pending a court appearance.

Authorities “finally acknowledged the horrific scale of the atrocity as a massacre” at the weekend, said Nairobi-based newspaper The Nation. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki tweeted on Sunday that the “unfolding Shakahola Forest Massacre” was the “clearest abuse of the constitutionally enshrined human right to freedom of worship”.

This “horrendous blight on our conscience” must lead to “severe punishment” of the perpetrator or perpetrators, he wrote, but also “tighter regulation of every church, mosque, temple or synagogue”.

A police source told Agence France-Presse on Saturday they had “not even scratched the surface”, with exhumations still ongoing. Yesterday, Kenya Red Cross said 112 people had been reported missing in relation to the investigation.

Thousands have taken to the streets in Nairobi, Kenya to protest against President William Ruto’s government and rising living costs, even though police chief Japheth Koome declared the protests illegal.

Opposition leader, Raila Odinga, seems to be “leading the protests”, said The Washington Post, as Odinga called for Ruto’s resignation and the lowering of food prices, while also encouraging people to “take to the streets twice a week”, on Mondays and Thursdays.

Last week’s protests turned violent and were met by police who used tear gas and water cannons to “disperse protesters”.

The marches resulted in the death of one person and the arrest of more than 200, reported Al Jazeera. Some of those arrested were lawmakers associated with Odinga’s One Kenya Coalition Party.

Odinga, a former prime minister, has lost five elections in a row and believes Ruto cheated in last year’s election, even though the results were upheld by the Supreme Court.

A gas-cylinder factory linked to Odinga has been vandalised in the last few days, and a family farm, owned by Odinga’s ally, the former President Uhuru Kenyatta, was partially set on fire, according to the BBC.

“Post-election violence is nothing new in Kenya,” said the BBC, “but attacks on the property of political leaders signals a big shift.” Usually, there is some sort of “gentleman’s agreement”, the broadcaster added, but these recent attacks “call that general understanding into question”.

Over the weekend Ruto asked Ordinga to “face him directly”, said The Washington Post, and to “stop terrorising the country”.

Intensifying violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is raising fears of a wider conflict in what has been one of the most volatile regions of Africa for decades.

Tensions are growing between the DRC and neighbouring Rwanda after the Rwandan army shot at a Congolese fighter jet last month. The Rwandan government said “defensive measures” had been required because the plane violated its airspace, but the DRC denied that claim and said the shooting was “an act of war”.

The jet “landed safely”, said the BBC, but the attack marked a “major escalation” in hostilities between the two nations that followed months of internal conflict in eastern Congo.

Why are tensions high between DRC and Rwanda?

UN experts, Western governments and DRC officials have accused Rwanda of backing a rebel group called M23 that has seized swathes of territory in Congo’s North Kivu province over the past year.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame denies the allegation and has accused his Congolese counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, of allowing a security risk to neighbouring nations by failing to take action against the violence.

Rwanda says its “biggest concern” is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), one of the “more than 120 armed groups” active in eastern Congo, The Washington Post reported.

The leaders of DRC are alleged to back the FDLR, which was created by ethnic Hutus from Rwanda with links to the 1994 genocide in which almost a million people were killed, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The M23 rebel group is fighting the FDLR, claiming it needs to “protect Congolese Tutsis who face discrimination”, said the paper.

Have other countries intervened?

The East Africa Community (EAC) sent thousands of troops from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan to DRC in November to quell the fighting, just months after the nation joined the regional bloc.

The majority of the EAC force is made up of Kenyan soldiers, and with eastern Congo “facing its gravest crisis in a decade”, the show of Kenyan leadership “could not have been more timely”, said The Economist. But it has “not taken long for the mood to sour”.

Last month, police dispersed a demonstration in the DRC’s capital city of Goma that was called to “denounce the perceived inaction of Kenyan troops since they arrived there”.

And further riots this week have again “paralysed” Goma, Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor reported. The protesters are calling on the regional force deployed in the city to either counter M23 rebels or leave.

Will the crisis lead to war?

The ongoing unrest is the “closest the two countries have come to a direct confrontation in recent years”, said the BBC. The tensions are a “spill-over” of the 1994 genocide, the broadcaster continued.

After some of the killers fled into what is now DR Congo, Rwanda sent troops to the neighbouring country to stop attacks being carried out by Hutu militias. But the Rwandan troops were also “accused of looting the region's mineral riches”, as were other intervention forces.

Over the past year, more than half a million people have been displaced by clashes between Congolese armed forces and M23 fighters, according to a UN situation report published last month.

The UN, which has “thousands” of peacekeeping troops in Congo, has joined the US and other nations in “voicing serious concern about deteriorating humanitarian conditions”, said The Washington Post.

The last “full-scale” war in the region was in 1998, when Rwanda and Uganda invaded after Hutu armies were allowed to regroup in eastern Congo. The invasion triggered a conflict that drew in several other African nations and claimed millions of lives before a peace deal was agreed in 2003.

Most of us rarely if ever spend time in proximity with wild animals, and the average African safari holiday preserves that distance. Get out of the vehicle and strike out on horseback in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, however, and you’ll become aware of every rustle in the savannah, said Sophy Roberts in the FT. You may feel “vulnerable”, or “high on adrenaline”, but you’ll definitely feel part of something larger than yourself. It’s a pursuit for “competent and confident” riders only – particularly during the wildebeest migration, when the game is so ubiquitous you need to be ready to “turn on a dime”. Of course it helps to have excellent guides – such as those with Offbeat Safaris.

Offbeat was founded in 1990 by ex-soldier Tristan Voorspuy and his wife Cindy, and is still going strong despite Tristan’s tragic death in 2017: he was shot by Pokot pastoralists during that year’s election-related violence in Kenya. The company leads small groups on week-long journeys through the conservancies that border the Maasai Mara National Reserve (in the reserve itself, riding is banned).

You cover up to 50km per day – which is testing; but the experience is “softened” by having people to tend the horses and set up camp each night. Accommodation is simple but comfortable, with decent camp beds, long-drop loos, and oil lanterns for light. Fires burn all night, to help keep predators away from the horses.

You might spot the great tide of wildebeest arriving from the Serengeti as you climb the Oloololo Escarpment, or see a smaller migrating herd at the foot of the Loita Hills. But it scarcely matters if you miss them. In “the authentic pulse of the Mara ecosystem”, there are a hundred other thrills, from riding alongside a herd of giraffes (a curiously “mesmeric” experience) to sleeping in a forest “presided over” by lions – and, if necessary, galloping away from a charging elephant.

A seven-night trip costs from $8,970pp, excluding flights (rideworldwide.com).

William Ruto has become Kenya’s president after the nation’s Supreme Court ruled that allegations of election fraud were unsubstantiated.

After being sworn in last week, Ruto attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London on Monday, before travelling to the US for further official engagements. The former deputy president and self-described “hustler” will also face a packed agenda when he returns home, having “inherited an economy saddled with debt, inflation, joblessness and national pessimism”, said X.N. Iraki, an associate professor of the University of Nairobi, in an article on The Conversation.

Who is William Ruto?

The new president’s “humble beginnings” appear to have helped win over voters in Kenya’s recent elections, said Deutsche Welle (DW). Ruto “says he sold live chickens to make ends meet in his youth”, the German news site continued. But today “he is one of the wealthiest Kenyans, boasting a 2,500-acre ranch, a massive poultry farm, and investments in the hotel industry”.

“A confessed Christian”, Ruto studied botany and zoology at the University of Nairobi, before beginning his political career in 1992. He was “mentored, he says, by then-President Daniel arap Moi”, said the BBC, and “was part of the youth wing of Mr Moi's once-dominant Kanu party”.

By 2007, he was backing Raila Odinga, his main rival in the recent vote, in the centre-left Orange Democratic Movement. The ODM narrowly lost the 2007 election but the result was disputed and violence erupted after Mwai Kibaki was declared president. Around 1,200 people were killed and “hundreds of thousands of others” displaced, said DW. The International Criminal Court in The Hague accused Ruto of committing human rights abuses; the charges were dropped 11 years later.

Uhuru Kenyatta, accused along with Ruto of human rights abuses following the disputed election result, won Kenya’s presidency in 2013 and again in 2017, with Ruto serving as his deputy for both terms.

It’s “still not clear” why the two would later “fall out”, said DW, but they “parted ways in 2021”. The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party then backed Ruto to run for the presidency this year.

How tight was this year’s election race?

“Clinching Kenya’s top job was difficult” for Ruto, said DW. His campaign was marred by a “public repudiation by his boss”, Kenyatta, who backed Odinga’s campaign for re-election and said that Ruto was “not fit for office”, said Reuters.

It was thought that Kenyatta’s endorsement of Odinga would “draw in support” from the Kikuyu communities, said The Guardian. Around one in five people in Kenya belong to the ethnic group, which has “been at political odds” with Odinga’s Luo community “for decades”. But a “reconciliation” between Odinga and Kenyatta “was ultimately not enough to bridge the divide”.

“Both sides hurled accusations of corruption during a deeply personal, acrimonious campaign,” said Reuters. The “outspoken” Ruto “defied all odds” to secure 50.49% of the vote, compared to Odinga’s 48.85%.

Odinga challenged the result, alleging that there had been cases of election fraud. But Kenya’s Supreme Court handed down a “scathing ruling” in early September that unanimously confirmed the result, said the BBC.

“Perhaps the biggest success of the 2022 elections is the fact that Kenyans demonstrated commitment to move past the country’s history of electoral violence,” said an analysis by the United States Institute of Peace.

What will Ruto’s leadership mean for Kenya?

Ruto promised “radical” economic “transformation” during his campaign, with a bottom-up approach to tackle unemployment and improve living standards for the poorest people, said Iraki at The Conversation.

Lowering the price of fuel and food are two “key challenges” Ruto faces, said Al Jazeera. But days after taking office, Kenya “scrapped” subsidies on petrol, which Ruto had described as “unsustainable”.

Higher prices have been set for fuel, with the cost of petrol increasing by 13% and diesel by 18% compared to the previous month, which analysts warn could “push inflation even higher”.

On social issues, Ruto “is not shy of publicly professing his faith”, said the BBC. He is “expected to take a tough stand on gay rights” and “the chances of his government relaxing abortion laws are slim”.

Ultimately, “overcoming the country’s legacy of ethnic politics and building national cohesion” could prove to be the “biggest challenge” Ruto will need to tackle, said the United States Institute of Peace.

What will his leadership mean for international relations?

Less than a week after taking office, Ruto has already “embarked on a diplomatic charm offensive”, said Kenyan newspaper The Star, joining world leaders at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

He will travel from London to America on Monday, and is set to make his first presidential address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. The US has “massive” interests in expanding Kenya’s infrastructure, and has invested “millions of dollars” into “education, environment, rule of law and democratic governance”, said the paper.

A host of meetings with “the world’s influential leaders” will put Ruto “in a strong pole position to push for his agenda”, said The Star. Tweeting on Sunday, he said: “Strengthening ties with the international community will catalyse the transformation of our country.”

“Save for a few mostly inconsequential skirmishes, and one unfortunate murder”, Kenya’s presidential election campaign had passed pretty smoothly, said The EastAfrican (Nairobi). The race, which pitted deputy president William Ruto against the veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, was largely free of the violence that has marred previous polls in Kenya. “There was no overt abuse of incumbency” or “harassment of opponents or their agents” as the ballots were cast and counted, slowly, over six days.

But when Ruto was declared the winner, “chaos erupted”, said Peter Fabricius in Daily Maverick (Johannesburg). “Fistfights broke out on the stage of the official counting centre, two electoral commissioners were injured and four dissociated themselves from the results, saying the final counting had been ‘opaque’.”

It was a narrow victory: Ruto, representing the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, won 50.5% of the vote, while Odinga, of the One Kenya Coalition Party, was awarded 48.8%. Odinga will challenge it in court but, barring any shocks, Ruto looks set for the presidency. In a victory speech, he vowed to “look to the future”, and thanked his “boss”, outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta, who had turned against him and backed Odinga during the campaign.

This “knife-edge” race was cast as a battle between “hustlers” and political “dynasties”, said Maureen Kinyanjui in The Star (Nairobi). While Odinga and Kenyatta are sons of Kenyan independence heroes, the triumphant Ruto is a rags-to-riches figure. As a barefooted schoolboy, he sold chickens by the side of the road; yet he later became one of Kenya’s wealthiest businessmen, acquiring a massive chicken plant and a luxury hotel.

“On the campaign trail, Ruto skilfully avoided ethnicity, a major factor in Kenyan politics,” said Eromo Egbejule and Immaculate Akello on Al Jazeera (Doha). Instead, the God-fearing teetotaller “framed the narrative as a class war between the haves and have-nots”.

He pushed a populist “Kenya First” programme, and weaponised his country’s high unemployment, promising to grow the economy from the bottom up. His strategy of getting “Kenyans to vote to protect their bellies and not their blood ties” has paid off: for the first time, millions of voters crossed ethnic lines.

An eloquent politician with a “prodigious ability to organise and inspire”, Ruto may prove a capable leader, said The Economist. “But he also has the whiff of the strongman about him.” After disputed elections in 2007, he was charged by the International Criminal Court with helping to instigate violent clashes that killed more than 1,300 people. And while the case was later suspended, the court “pointedly declined to acquit” Ruto, noting claims of witness intimidation.

He has also been “dogged by allegations of corruption”. Kenya has been on the up in recent years, said Charles Onyango-Obbo in Nation (Nairobi). Access to education and electricity is rising, and economic growth has been steady. But most Kenyans aren’t yet feeling the benefits. Ruto has convinced voters for now – but as food prices soar and a debt crisis looms, he has a very tough job ahead of him.

A presidential candidate in Kenya said marijuana and hyena testicles are the answers to the country’s economic woes. George Wajackoyah has emerged as a wildcard candidate, with his vow to erase the country’s debt with his “ganja solution”. Sky News said the “grave-digger-turned-law-professor” has promised to wipe out Kenya near $70bn debt by establishing a medical cannabis industry and exporting animal parts to China, where he says hyena testicles are considered a delicacy.

Utah man takes excavator for a joyride

A man in Utah was arrested after he allegedly stole an excavator from a construction site and drove it a mile to a grocery store in Salt Lake City, where he used it to tear up the parking lot. Police said the suspect caused significant damage after hitting a water pipe and ripping out fibre optic utility lines that were recently installed. Fox News said the suspect was taken into custody without incident and was expected to be booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on charges of felony theft and felony criminal mischief.

Calls for ‘offensive’ Dick Turpin ride to be renamed

Parents are calling for a York tourist attraction to change the name of its new Dick Turpin carriage ride to Richard Turpin because they find the word “Dick” offensive. Turpin was a notorious highway robber in the 18th century and leisure giant Merlin Entertainments said it had received “a number of requests for the character to be renamed to Richard due to the apparent rude nature of his nickname”. However, York Dungeon’s general manager gave the requests short shrift, said The Telegraph. “Despite any potentially rude connotations, we’re here to say that Dick is here to stay,” he said.

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Would you love to go on a “slow, mindful walk through a vanishing wilderness, unencumbered by the heavy load of modern civilisation”? On the fringes of Kenya’s Laikipia plateau, you can do exactly that, though to enjoy it in comfort will take planning: you’ll need a helicopter, men and camels to carry equipment and set up camp, and a wildlife expert or two to guide and keep you safe.

But happily, you don’t have to organise any of this yourself, says David Pilling in the FT, with Journeys by Design running four-day “camel-supported” treks through this spectacular landscape. Homo sapiens have resided here for 300,000 years, and you might see some stone-age cave paintings, but you won’t come across any signs of modernity.

The silhouette of Mount Kenya dominates the view, but most of the walking is on level ground through arid acacia scrubland punctuated by red granitic “upthrustings” called kopjes. When big game – elephant, eland, zebra, waterbuck – appears, it’s usually far off, but there’s much of interest to see up close if you know where to look, and your guides – local pastoralists – can read this landscape like a book.

The camp, set up in a different spot each night, is luxurious, with tents you can stand up in, spongy mattresses with sheets and blankets, hot showers, and a raised-box toilet seat over a freshly dug pit.

Closely examined, small animals – a hairy baboon spider the size of a satsuma, a rhinoceros beetle, the ant-devouring larvae of the dragonfly-like antlion – become fascinating “monsters”. There are medicinal plants to find, and signs (paw prints, scuff marks, dung and so on) telling of recent dramas – a leopard kill, a mongoose raid on a tortoise nest. And a ride in a helicopter with huge windows, swooping over elephant herds and seeking out eagles’ nests perched high on kopjes, makes for a thrilling finale.

A four-day walk, including flights within Kenya, costs from $5,950pp (journeysbydesign.com).

Most of the time, the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, is an innocuous grasshopper: a green or brown short-winged insect that lives a solitary life in the deserts of Africa, Arabia and Asia. But in certain conditions – when there’s lots of moisture and vegetation flourishes – these locusts enter a “gregarious phase”, and undergo a remarkable transformation.

Their brains change, they turn yellow and black, and their wings grow. Most importantly, they become attracted to each other and start joining together in swarms which can reach a density of 15 million insects per square mile, and travel up to 90 miles in a day. Since late 2019, vast clouds of these locusts have devastated parts of the Horn of Africa, devouring crops and pasture, triggering a huge operation to track and kill them.

Where did the locusts come from?

In 2018, two unusual cyclones – linked to climate change – deposited rain in the remote Empty Quarter of the Arabian peninsula, which led to an 8,000-fold increase in locust numbers there.

In 2019, strong winds blew the growing swarms first into Yemen, then across the Red Sea into Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya, where their populations were further boosted by a wet autumn, and a cyclone in Somalia – paving the way for a major emergency last year. Billions of the insects swept on, into Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania, going on to affect a total of 23 countries, from Sudan to Iran to Pakistan.

How big were the plagues?

In Kenya, they were the worst in 70 years. When they arrived in East Africa, witnesses said it was “like an umbrella had covered the sky”. “The first swarms we saw were massive – three or four kilometres wide and a thousand metres deep,” Mark Taylor, a farmer in the Laikipia region of northern Kenya, told The Sunday Times.

When the locusts settled on trees, there were “so many of them that branches broke under the weight”. Locust swarms can vary from less than one square kilometre to several hundred square kilometres. There can be at least 40 million and sometimes as many as 80 million locust adults in each square kilometre. One swarm in northern Kenya was reported to have reached 2,400 square kilometres in size – an area the size of Luxembourg.

How bad was the damage?

Locusts eat their body weight in food every day; a small swarm covering one square kilometre can eat the same amount as 35,000 people. So when they descended on East Africa, vast swathes of vegetation were consumed within minutes. “They attacked everything,” says Mark Taylor. “Fifty-four hectares [133 acres] were destroyed just like that.”

In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia alone, 19 million farmers and herders suffered severe damage to their livelihoods. Some 200,000 hectares of land were damaged in Ethiopia alone between January and October last year. And without intervention by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the consequences could have been far graver.

What did the UN do?

When the crisis first hit, countries in East Africa were woefully under-prepared to deal with an invasion on such a scale. The FAO, too, was caught off guard by the size of the challenge. Yet it quickly gathered resources and before long began a massive aerial and ground assault. It assembled a “locust fighting force” made up of 28 airplanes and helicopters, 260 ground units, and some 3,000 newly trained spotters and control operators.

Planes and teams of young volunteers armed with knapsack sprayers doused an area of two million hectares with almost half a million gallons of chemical insecticides, at a cost of $219m.

The FAO estimates that this action saved the livelihoods of 40 million people, and crop and livestock production worth $1.7bn. Yet the response has raised alarm bells among experts, who warn it could have dire consequences for the environment.

Why might the consequences be dire?

Because of the pesticides being used – in particular, three organophosphates: chlorpyrifos, fenitrothion and malathion. Sometimes referred to as “junior-strength nerve agents” because of their kinship to sarin gas, these pesticides are banned in Europe and much of the US.

There are also concerns about another, deltamethrin. All four chemical insecticides are classified by the FAO itself as posing a high risk to bees, at least a medium risk to ants and termites, and a low risk to birds; it recommends that they should be used only as a last resort.

The FAO’s list of pesticides hasn’t been reassessed in six years, despite the world becoming more environmentally conscious in that time. Activists claim that, as well as causing extensive damage to biodiversity, these chemicals harm livestock and have led to increased cancer rates in villages near where they have been used. They question why (more expensive) organic products that lose their potency within 24 hours of use haven’t been employed instead.

Has the risk gone away?

No. Kenya declared itself locust-free on 1 November, but there were reports of a re-invasion in parts of the country just a day later. Two weeks earlier, the FAO had warned that swarms could migrate to other areas of East Africa as dryer weather sets in. And though the situation isn’t as severe as it has been, locusts remain present in countries including Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The FAO is maintaining its surveillance and control missions. There are particular fears that locust swarms forming in northern Ethiopia could aggravate severe food shortages in the country’s war-torn Tigray region, where some 900,000 people are estimated to already be at risk of famine. And in Somalia, an FAO-led operation has already begun spraying again – using the same cocktail of insecticides as in the past.

The Ministry of Defence is facing calls to investigate allegations that a British soldier was responsible for the brutal murder of a 21-year-old Kenyan woman almost a decade ago.

The battered body of Agnes Wanjiru was discovered in the septic tank of a hotel in the town of Nanyuki in central Kenya in June 2012. She had last been seen two months earlier leaving the hotel bar with one of the dozens of British soldiers who were there drinking and dancing with local women.

Wanjiru was a hairdresser but had recently turned to sex work to provide for her five-month-old daughter, according to The Sunday Times, which has spearheaded the investigation into her death.

She “loved music and dancing”, and lived with her sister, Rose, in a single room in Nanyuki’s Majengo ghetto.

“Agnes was a cheerful and friendly girl, just like her daughter, Stacy,” Rose told the newspaper. “On the day she disappeared, she was just as happy as ever.”

Murder suspects

When Wanjiru’s badly injured body was discovered, she was naked “except for a white bra with an unopened condom packet shoved down one of the bra cups”, The Sunday Times reported. She had a 2cm stab womb in her abdomen, a blunt force injury to her chest and collapsed lungs.

Her body had decomposed and “was almost unrecognisable”, the paper said. Her sister identified Wanjiru but said: “The only way I knew it was her was because of her hair braids.”

However, after examining Wanjiru’s remains, a pathologist concluded that her injuries might not have been enough to have killed her – meaning she could have still been alive when her murderer dumped her in the septic tank.

A local police investigation into her death was launched, led by Corporal Ramadhan Jabali, who established that at least four witnesses had seen Wanjiru leave the hotel bar with a British soldier and go to a bedroom.

After going to the British army base in Nanyuki to ask for assistance, Jabali – who has since died – obtained a list of the names of the nine soldiers who had paid for a hotel room that evening. They were all from the same regiment and had returned to the UK within six days of the murder.

Jabali then wrote to the Royal Military Police asking for the nine soldiers to be questioned and to have DNA samples taken from them. But no such samples were provided and three of the nine soldiers confirmed to The Sunday Times that they had never been questioned about the case. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) denied receiving the request.

Fresh inquiry plea

The murder case was lost for years in what the paper described as “Kenya’s bloated bureaucracy” before an inquest into Wanjiru’s killing finally began in 2018. By then, the hotel was under new ownership, records weren’t available and key witnesses couldn’t be found.

The inquest concluded that “one or two” British soldiers were responsible for Wanjiru’s death. The judge demanded a new police inquiry into Wanjiru’s murder and another into the alleged cover-up.

But the British Army has yet to launch an investigation into Wanjiru’s death or to take any other action to seek justice for her family. One soldier told The Sunday Times that he was told to keep quiet by his superiors after trying to reveal what really happened.

The unnamed man, referred to only as Soldier Y, claimed to know the identity of Wanjiru’s murderer – and that the killer had shown him her body in the septic tank. “I told the proper people,” he said. “Everyone. All the lads, all the senior command that were there. I went to higher up, hierarchy, people that should have dealt with it. I got called a liar. They basically just said, ‘Shut up and get out.’”

Three other soldiers from the same unit also gave the same name for the alleged killer, referred to by The Sunday Times as Soldier X.

Soldier X did not feature on the original list of nine possible suspects. “In reality, dozens of soldiers from the regiment had been there using the bar, and had access to the rooms,” the paper added.

In light of the recent claims, a new murder inquiry has been launched by the Royal Military Police, and pressure is growing for the MoD to investigate both the murder and ensuing cover-up claims. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is thought to be communicating with the Kenyan authorities over the matter.

Labour shadow defence secretary John Healey said in a statement that “justice must now be done for Agnes and her family”. He added that Wallace “should pledge the fullest cooperation to Kenyan detectives and launch an inquiry into any possible cover-up from commanding officers, military police or the MoD”.

A spokeperson for the MoD told The Sunday Times that the department is “currently in discussions with the Kenyan authorities to determine what support is needed”, but that it would “be inappropriate to comment further” while the investigation into Wanjiru’s murder is ongoing.

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

To get six free issues of The Week magazine and a moleskine notebook visit theweek.co.uk/offer and enter promo code: pod25

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

Marxism today

Members of Generation Z - people younger than millennials - seem to be more open to Marx than their predecessors. Penguin has seen a 30% increase in physical sales of The Communist Manifesto - as well as a 1,366% increase in audiobook streams. This, alongside the big TikTok trends and Marxist meme accounts suggest that the pandemic may have encouraged young people - especially those less aware of the violent consequences of Marxism - are rethinking ideas of work and collective action.

Kenya on the rise

As Covid-19 began spreading around the world, apocalyptic predictions about how the pandemic could devastate Africa were not hard to find. But it was Europe and the US who bore the brunt of the pandemic. Kenya has seen more than 94,000 cases, but just 1,600 deaths. The third largest economy in Africa looks set to make an impressive economic recovery in 2021, but has been criticised by human rights groups for its harsh restrictions. So can it be considered a surprise Covid success story?

Safety vs. freedom

In 2020, “safety” seems to have emerged as a priority at the expense of freedom, on multiple fronts. In seeking protection from Covid, we have readily given up the right to protest, dance and even just see friends and family. But there has also been a trend towards safety from ideas and opinions on issues as diverse as trans rights and radical anti-racism.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped on the Global Player, Apple podcasts, SoundCloud or wherever you get you get your podcasts.

Scientists have discovered a microbe carried by some mosquitos that prevents the insects from being infected with malaria parasites - and by extension, from transmitting the deadly disease to humans.

The malaria-blocking bug, Microsporidia MB, was identified by researchers at Kenya’s International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, and appears to occur naturally in around 5% of the mosquitos studied, the i news site report.

“The data we have so far suggest it is 100% blockage, it’s a very severe blockage of malaria,” the team’s Dr Jeremy Herren told the BBC.

The parasite is responsible for the deaths of around 400,000 people every year, most of them children aged under five, but scientists hope the new findings could “be investigated as a strategy to limit malaria transmission”, says the researcher in a newly published paper in the journal Nature.

Scientists could infect male mosquitoes with Microsporidia MB and then release them into the wild, where the insects would pass it on to females and their offspring. Once at least 40% of a region’s mosquito population is carrying the microbe, malaria infection rates in humans should start to fall, according to experts.

Professor Steven Sinkins, from the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, told The Times: “It is a very exciting finding, and we very much hope that we can translate it into a new malaria control tool.”

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The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Philip Johnston in The Telegraph

on filling the fuel duty gap after 2035

There is a £28 billion black hole in plans for an electric car revolution

“The revenue consequences of a move to electric vehicles are considerable. There is an answer but it is not one that people warm to: road pricing. Charging motorists for how many miles they drive was advocated as long ago as 1964 by the Smeed Committee but not taken up... Apart from public hostility, the biggest problem with road pricing schemes is that they will inevitably cost a fortune to set up and administer. There is another option, which is to sell off the motorways and the trunk roads, raising about £100 billion, and charge a toll to use them. We could call them Boris boulevards.”

2. John Gray in the New Statesman

on the relevancy of an ancient Chinese military general

What Sun Tzu knew

“In Britain The Art of War is known to be one of the inspirations of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings. Removing the Conservative whip from Tory rebels last September provoked shock and horror in the liberal commentariat – not necessarily a disadvantage from Cummings’s point of view – while securing the party against further damaging divisions. A Conservative majority of 20 following a general election would be of little use if it could be undone at any point by a faction of 21 Tory Remainers. Sun Tzu writes: ‘The only way to manage the troops consists of making them equally resolute, so they act as one.’ As if illustrating this point, Johnson’s withdrawal bill has gone through the Commons without a single Tory dissenter or abstainer.”

3. David Howell in The Japan Times

on a soft new world

Is the world growing softer or just becoming wiser?

“The world is still a hard place — very hard indeed for millions of suffering refugees and displaced families, and oppressed minorities. And there is still North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with his ridiculous rockets, or China with its dodgy combat aircraft on its even dodgier South China Sea instant islands, to remind us that some people think hard power gesturing remains the winning way. But it is becoming slowly recognized that violence backfires and that soft methods, rather than harsh and confrontational measures and battle plans, now stand the best chance of stabilizing societies and alleviating the conflicts out of which suffering comes.”

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4. Patrick Gathara in Al Jazeera

on revisionism in Kenya

Singing the song of Daniel arap Moi

“Today, in death, the former dictator has not only escaped justice but has left behind a country that still sings his song. More than 17 years after he was forced from office, Kenya remains a country where power is primarily exercised for the benefit of those who wield it rather than for the sake of its citizens. It is a nation of nearly 50 million disposable people where the richest one percent, the vast majority either politicians or closely linked to them, may control anywhere between half and two-thirds of the nation's wealth. It is a country made in his image where a Kenyan official, who gets one of the highest salaries for a member of parliament in the world, can brazenly shoot a citizen in a nightclub.”

5. Kawther Alfasi in The Atlantic

on the changing nature of friendship

What happens to your social life when you have a baby

“I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that the structure of my life has indelibly changed - I can momentarily step outside of my parental identity, but I can never entirely cast it off. I have to work harder than I did pre-kids to make my old friendships work. For now, my benchmark for social fulfillment isn’t a state of pre-child ‘normalcy’, but a constant negotiation: I do my best to make room for the friendships that matter to me while accepting that I - at least occasionally - might have to comply with my child’s dubious taste in playmates.”

Vast swarms of locusts are devouring crops across large areas of East Africa and parts of the Middle East, leaving millions of people at risk of famine.

The insects have already destroyed 175,000 acres (70,000 hectares) of farmland in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), with further damage reported in Oman, Yemen and Eritrea.

In a single day, an average swarm of locust can destroy crops sufficient to feed 2,500 people for a year.

Even before the infestation began, the UN had warned that as many as two million people in Somalia were at risk of starvation in the wake of the country’s worst drought since 2011.

Humanitarian information portal ReliefWeb says that what was already expected to be a large-scale invasion was “further exacerbated” by heavy rains and floods that fell in early December, providing ideal breeding conditions for the swarming grasshoppers.

The FAO says spraying pesticides using aircraft is the “ideal control measure”, but wars, infrastructural deficiencies and government inaction in countries across the region have left desperate communities searching for other solutions.

In Somalia, members of militant terrorist group Al-Shabaab are shooting at the insects, The Telegraph reports.

Footage emerging from Kenya also shows police officers and soldiers firing bullets wildly into the swarms, as well as attempting to disperse them with tear gas.

Civilians, meanwhile, have banged pots and honked car horns in an effort to scare off the winged invaders.

A number of Kenyan lawmakers have criticised their country’s government for not sufficiently preparing for the invasion, which experts had predicted months ahead.

“There was a warning,” MP Adan Keynan told Nairobi-based newspaper The Standard last week.

“Our neighbour Ethiopia heeded it and intervened with the help of the international community. Here, nothing was done and nothing is being done now and if it continues, we shall not be having any vegetation in a few days to come.”

In some parts of Somalia and nearby Yemen, locals have begun eating the locusts as a replacement for the lack of crops, reports Al Jazeera, which says the insects are a “valuable source of nutrition”.

All the same, “aid agencies now say that the locusts mean that many Somali farmers will face starvation unless relief reaches them over the next few months”, adds The Telegraph.

The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Kate Maltby for CNN

on a PM under pressure

Boris Johnson owes the Queen an apology

“The morning didn’t go according to plan for Johnson. Instead he found himself stammering out a response to a different crisis: a Supreme Court ruling that has sent yet another earthquake through the already fractious landscape of British politics.... There was the usual bluster from Johnson in his reaction - an assertion that he ‘respects’ the judiciary was followed immediately by an insistence that he ‘strongly disagrees’ with the legal findings of Britain’s preeminent judges. Notably, there was an apology missing. At no point in Johnson’s speech did he apologize to Britain’s people, or to the Queen.”

2. Gloria Steinem and Akeel Bilgrami in The Guardian

on undue glorification of a controversial nationalist

The Gates Foundation shouldn’t legitimise Narendra Modi

“It is one thing for a political leader to come to power in his country by exploiting the darkest nationalistic instincts of its electorate. It is quite another thing for such a man to be awarded an international prize and embraced as a statesman by the most powerful and influential country in the world. The former reflects a familiar and vexing paradox of democracy – its deliberate subversion from within. The latter is entirely gratuitous and speaks to the collapse of any sense of international political morality.”

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3. Editorial board in The New York Times

on the potential impeachment of Donald Trump

Congress steps up, Trump blinks

“Come Monday, and rolling into Tuesday, Washington was buzzing with a nervous energy. Everyone was on high alert, frantically scanning for signs of where things were headed next. Ms. Pelosi was canvassing her members about impeachment. With every House Democrat who stepped forward to speak about Ukraine — Debbie Dingell, Rosa DeLauro, John Lewis — the scramble to analyze the odds of impeachment began anew. In a Monday op-ed in The Washington Post, seven freshman House Democrats, including some from districts Mr. Trump won in 2016, came out in favor of a formal impeachment investigation. Twitter was awash in clichéd metaphors describing the shifting politics — the dam was breaking, the tide was turning, the winds were shifting.”

4. Patrick Gathara in Al Jazeera

on ethno-politics in sub-Saharan Africa

Dynasties vs hustlers in Kenya

“Historically, Kenya’s politicians have fought to control, rather than to undo the system of extraction and exploitation inherited at independence. Ethnic mobilisation has been a useful tool in keeping the people blind to their own interests and substituting them for those of the politicians. Politics has thus been a route to wealth for a few at the expense of the many. In turn, wealth, however ill-gotten, has become the justification for political power, underpinned by an ethnicised colonial system built on extraction, corruption and patronage.”

5. Daniel Moss in The Japan Times

on the future of automation in the workplace

Robot wolves and bionic suits might just save Japan

“Robots have long been a fixture of Japanese popular and commercial culture: Astro Boy, an android, first appeared in manga in 1952. That probably helps explain why I met few Japanese who were troubled about jobs being taken from humans, or the idea that machines may one day enslave us. ‘You mean like the Terminator movies? Japanese people aren’t so concerned,’ said Ohta. The policymakers running Japan’s economy need to be equally open-minded. Regional banks need more, not less help, especially given the emptying of the countryside. Financing greater use of automation that can assist everyday lives ought to be a no-brainer.”

A US couple will go to court this week in Kenya over claims that the authorities have kidnapped their three-year-old adopted son.

Matt and Daisy Mazzoncini were made legal guardians of Kiano by the Children’s Court of Nairobi in April 2017. The couple had been caring for Kiano since he was six months old, after he was found in 2016 as a newborn “abandoned along with another baby believed to be his twin”, who later died, says CNN.

The Mazzoncinis say their problems with the Kenyan authorities date back to when they first applied to adopt Kiano. The couple met with Irene Mureithi, CEO of the Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWSK), who they say “made it clear” that there were already more than enough Kenyan mothers to care for Kenyan children.

In a sworn affidavit submitted to court by the CWSK in February, Mureithi claimed that the matter “appears to be a case of child trafficking” - a charge that the couple strenuously deny.

In a telephone interview with CBN News, their lawyer, James Singh, asked: “If Daisy and Matt had done anything wrong, why were they not arrested?”

Singh and his team have filed an emergency application in the criminal division of the High Court of Kenya.

Fellow advocate Austin Ayisi told CNN that the Kenyan police had acted illegally. “They had no court order to take the child,” he said. “Someone has to file an application in court to revoke my client’s guardianship and our client has rights to respond. There was no search warrant. They are illegally detaining the child right now.”

The case has been delayed twice, with the next hearing scheduled for 15 May.

What has happened to the child?

Surveillance footage obtained by CNN shows two cars pulling up to the Mazzoncinis’ apartment home on 5 April. Two groups of people exit the vehicles and shortly after, “two women, their faces obscured by headscarves, can be seen carrying the boy downstairs and out of the building”, says the US broadcaster.

That was the last time the couple saw Kiano, whom Daisy first met while volunteering at the Nairobi orphanage where he was taken as a baby.

“I had just finished putting Kiano to bed and he had just fallen asleep and I walked out of his room and saw Matt’s face and all these people and I just knew something was really wrong,” she told CNN.

No one in the group offered any identification, search warrant or court order, according to the couple.

“I just stood up and I started yelling and I said, ‘Is that Kiano?’ I just started screaming, ‘You are kidnapping a child right now, you’re kidnapping our son’,” said Matt.

According to US news website Heavy, the couple claim they were targeted “because they refused to bribe anybody while seeking to adopt baby Kiano”.

“We believe this is happening because we have refused to be extorted. We have refused to bribe,” Daisy said. “At every turn, we’ve done everything through the court – through the government.”

“We believe there are other people out there that have experienced this same sort of intimidation and harassment and extortion,” her husband added. “We’ve had people reach out to us anonymously and say this happened to me and they’re totally afraid to talk about it. So to those people I would say have courage.”

What have the authorities said?

Plainclothes police who attended when Kiano was taken from the Mazzoncinis told the couple that their guardianship order was fraudulent.

The Kenyan Police Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) subsequently tweeted that they they had “rescued” #BabyJohnKiano from the US couple in order to prevent them from taking him back to their home land.

“The child is well & in safe hands,” DCI said in the tweet, which was later deleted at th request of the US embassy, reports Kenyan newspaper The Star.

CWSK boss Mureithi told CNN that Kiano was now in “safe custody ... with other children”. She denied that her organisation was involved in the young boy’s forced removal from the Mazzoncinis’ home, calling it a “security operation”.

But Susan Otuoma of Little Angels Network, a child protection organsation and licensed adoption agency in Kenya, told CNN that CWSK had no grounds to take Kiano from the couple.

“The state cannot out of nowhere decide to remove a child from a guardianship arrangement,” Otuoma said. “Only the court has the powers to revoke a guardianship order and this can only be done on the request of any parent or guardian of the child, the child concerned or a relative of the child.”

At least 21 people have been killed and more than 50 are still missing following a major terrorist attack in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

An American and a Briton are among those confirmed to have died when militants armed with guns and grenades stormed the DusitD2 hotel and office compound on Tuesday afternoon, CNN reports.

The five attackers are believed to have been members of Somali terror group al-Shabaab, which immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Gunfire between security forces and militants continued into the early hours of Wednesday. This morning President Uhuru Kenyatta told reporters police had brought the situation under control and that all the terrorists had been “eliminated”.

The official death toll, initially reported as 15, rose to 21 yesterday as authorities recovered more bodies from the scene.

A total of 16 Kenyans, one Briton, one American and three unidentified people of African origin are confirmed to have been killed.

At least 28 people have been hospitalised with injuries, and investigators are attempting to trace a further 50 people who remain unaccounted for, reports the BBC.

The jihadist attackers stormed the complex at around 3pm local time on Tuesday. Surveillance footage showed one of the militants detonating a suicide vest in the foyer of the hotel.

In the moments after the explosions, “flames and plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the parking lot of the compound where several vehicles were on fire”, says Al Jazeera, which reports that “scores of people” were seen fleeing on foot, some of them injured.

“One man came out covered in blood,” and an image of the aftermath circulating on social media “showed what appeared to be a human leg” lying on a path outside the hotel, reports Reuters.

According to the news agency, al-Shabab issued a statement calling the attack “a response” to US President Donald Trump's decision in December 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The group said that its fighters stormed the complex on the instructions of al-Qa'eda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, adds South-Africa based website News24.

“It is a response to the witless remarks of the US president, Donald Trump, and his declaration of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel,” the statement said.

“Al-Quds will never be Judaised. Know that we will hold you to account for every Muslim blood spilt in Palestine; ounce for ounce.”

Meanwhile, in a televised address, President Kenyatta vowed that the Kenyan government would “relentlessly” pursue “every person that was involved in the funding, planning and execution of this heinous act”.

Gunmen have kidnapped an Italian volunteer working for an aid organisation in southeast Kenya, police have announced.

The raiders reportedly stormed into a trading centre in the coastal town of Chakama and opened fire on fleeing people, before abducting 23-year-old Sylvia Constanza Romano. Five other people were injured, including a ten-year-old shot in the eye and a 12-year-old hit in the thigh.

One of those injured is in a serious condition following the attack, at 8pm local time (5pm GMT) on Tuesday.

According to The Guardian, this is the first abduction of a foreigner in Kenya “since a series of raids blamed on Somali Islamist militants six years ago”.

Witnesses said the attackers spoke Somali and had targeted Romano, a volunteer with charity Africa Milele Onlus, which helps vulnerable children.

One bystander told Associated Press that six men, some armed with guns and others with machetes and clubs, had specifically “demanded to know where is the mgeni”, the Swahili word for “visitor”.

“I told them she had left to go and get a power bank but they didn’t believe me and surged into the room where they found her,” the witness added.

The attackers then proceeded to “slap her very hard until she fell”, he said.

Another witness told Kenyan TV channel KTN News: “Their aim was to get money but they took off with her to the river and, before leaving the village, they started shooting in the air and they shot one woman and four boys.”

The National Police Service confirmed the abduction in a post on Twitter.

A message on the website of Africa Milele Onlus said that there are “no words to comment on what is happening”, adding: “Sylvia, we are all with you.”

Environmentally conscious travellers face an increasingly awkward dilemma: seeing the world undoubtedly increases our understanding of its glory and fragility - yet unthinking mass tourism can also cause great damage.

Now, though, responsible tour operators and hotel companies are paying more attention to the environmental impact of their own and their guests’ activities. Some are cutting waste, others cleaning up their own surroundings, others still reducing their dependence on fossil fuels - and sometimes to nothing.

The most proactive travel companies have turned the problem on its head, inviting guests and staff to join activities that actively benefit their surroundings, and the people and wildlife who share them.

Bali: cleaning the ocean with Alila Manggis

David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II focused attention on the plight of the oceans, specifically the damage done to them and their inhabitants by discarded plastic.

The Alila Manggis in Bali is taking action to clean up its patch - with the help of guests, who can join monthly “dive against debris” expeditions. Trained divers lead tours of a nearby reef and show visitors how to safely remove plastic bottles and other debris that pose a threat to sea life.

Alila’s Bali resorts have also set themselves the target of sending zero waste to landfill by the end of this year - an approach that will be replicated throughout the company. Other environmental initiatives include a tree-planting programme involving children from schools around the Alila Jakarta hotel.

Alila Manggis, from £105 per room, based on two people sharing, including breakfast and a snorkelling trip. To book visit alilahotels.com/manggis

Kenya: lion conservation at Ol Donyo Lodge

As well as spectacular game drives and luxury dining, Ol Donyo Lodge in southern Kenya offers the opportunity to spend time with the Lion Guardians, who promote a sustainable and harmonious relationship between people and big cats. Fear of the predators - and loss of livestock - is a big reason for illegal hunting of the animals across Africa.

To counter these concerns, the Lion Guardians tap into the cultural values of the Maasai people, who own the 275,000-acre Mbirikani Group Ranch on which Ol Donyo Lodge is situated. Guests are invited to help with their work tracking and naming lions, as well as reinforcing bomas (enclosures for farm animals) and recovering lost livestock.

Ol Donyo, from £4,000 per person for four nights, all inclusive. To book, visit theluxurysafaricompany.com

Tanzania: rhino patrol at Singita Grumeti

The Luxury Safari Company offers an even more exclusive “conservation safari” in neighbouring Tanzania, at the Singita Grumeti reserve. Guests are asked to make a donation of £42,000 to Singita’s conservation fund - a sum which would, for example, pay for two anti-poaching scouts for a year and fund the local Environmental Education Centre for six months.

During their six-night safari, guests will spend time at the Singita Sasakwa Lodge, an Edwardian manor overlooking the Serengeti, and the 1920s-inspired Sabora tented camp. Private guided tours will be led by a renowned conservation specialist, who will explain and illustrate the Serengeti’s complex ecosystems.

Singita Grumeti, from £6,200 per person for a six-night all-inclusive stay, plus a contribution of £42,000 per person to fund the Black Rhino Programme and Environmental Education Centre. To book, visit theluxurysafaricompany.com

Mexico: off the grid at Casa Xixim

“The best air conditioning is nature’s breeze,” says the husband-and-wife team behind Casa Xixim, an alluring private villa in Mexico. The name derives from the ancient Mayan word for “zero” - a reference to their ambition to minimise the environmental impact of their property.

Screened and louvered wooden walls allow in cool air, while vegetation on the roof insulates the rooms below from the heat. Solar panels provide a high-tech boost when required - and excess energy can be sold back into the Mexican grid, helping to power other homes in the area. Plastic is kept to a minimum and waste water is sent to a neighbouring artificial wetland.

Casa Xixim, from £910 per night, including chef service and housekeeping, for the four-bedroom villa. To book, visit casaxixim.com

China: history on the move at Amanyangyun

As an act of obsessive conservation, it would be hard to beat Amanyangyun, a luxury resort on the outskirts of Shanghai. It was built by a Chinese entrepreneur, who restored and reassembled 50 historic Ming and Qing dynasty dwellings which would otherwise have been destroyed.

They, along with a 1,000-year-old camphor forest, were saved from inundation by a new reservoir when Ma Dadong embarked on an ambitious scheme to dismantle the houses, move them more than 400 miles to their new location, and rebuild them brick by brick. Thousands of trees were also transported.

“My instincts told me what to do: to rescue everything from the area destined for the reservoir,” he told CNN. The project took 15 years and opened to guests in January. Accommodation includes 13 “antique villas”, which incorporate the ancient village homes.

Amanyangyun, from £570 per room per night, including breakfast. To book, visit aman.com

Rwanda: working for the common good at Nyungwe House

Set to open in October, the One&Only Nyungwe House resort (see also top photo) gives guests the chance to recharge amid the natural splendour of southwest Rwanda’s mountainous Nyungwe rainforest.

Trekking with chimpanzees - the country’s principle tourist attraction - is part of the draw, but so too is the chance to take part in Umuganda - a nationwide initiative in which Rwandans spend the last Saturday morning of the month working in their local communities. Roughly translated, the term means “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome”.

Guests at Nyungwe are invited to join the common purpose by contributing to local infrastructure or environmental protection, thereby deepening their experience of a unique location.

One&Only Nyungwe House, from £470 per room per night. To book, visit oneandonlyresorts.com

Canada: sustaining a way of life at Ocean House

Tucked away in a tree-draped bay on the Haida Gwaii islands, a remote archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, Ocean House is pioneering eco-cultural tourism in Canada. Owned and operated by the indigenous Haida Nation, the luxury resort and spa - accessible only by seaplane - helps to protect and sustain their way of life.

Activities at the lodge encourage guests to explore the land and culture of the Haida people, who will conduct excursions via seaplane and kayak to settlements dating back thousands of years. Amid an untamed wilderness teeming with wildlife, cultural interpreters are on hand to tease out the details of Haida history and mythology, handed down through the generations in the oral tradition.

Ocean House, from £2,699pp including three nights’ accommodation, most meals and drinks, tours by local guides, flight and helicopter transfers from Vancouver. International Flights excluded. Departures, early Jun to early Sep with Trailfinders.com

Two people have been killed in separate hippopotamus attacks in Kenya, according to local officials.

A Chinese tourist, identified as 66-year-old Chang Ming Chuang, was reportedly attempting to photograph a hippopotamus at a wildlife resort on Lake Naivasha, 90km (56 miles) north-west of the capital, Nairobi.

Witnesses say the tourist got too close to the animal, which fatally bit him on the chest. A second Chinese tourist was also injured in the attack and is recovering in hospital.

Separately, a local fisherman was also mauled and killed by a hippopotamus only a few kilometres from the site of the first attack.

Local official David Kilo told Kenya’s Standard Media that a “rise in water levels had contributed to hippo attacks”, as the animals sought pasture closer to resorts around the lake.

The deaths are the sixth due to hippo attacks in the area this year, and the BBC says that hippos “kill an estimated 500 people every year in Africa”.

Elephant poachers were shot dead by rangers as they tried to kill the animals at a national park in Kenya.

Wildlife troopers had been on a routine patrol at Mount Elgon National Park, which straddles the border of Kenya and Uganda, “when they encountered a gang of five men last Thursday”, reports The Independent.

The rangers, from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) exchanged fire with the poachers, who were reportedly armed with AK-47 rifles.

Equipment associated with poaching was later found at the scene, the wildlife service said.

“KWS officers were on patrol inside the park when they spotted the poachers,” Trans Nzoia county police commander Samson ole Kine told Nairobi-based newspaper The Standard.

“A fierce shoot-out ensued and three of the poachers were gunned down while two others escaped. AK-47 rifles were recovered.”

Police county commissioner, Erastus Mbui, said authorities had stepped up security and surveillance operations along the Kenya-Uganda border to deter poachers.

“More officers have been deployed to conduct regular security patrols at the park and ensure wildlife is protected from the poachers,” he said.

“We urge communities around the park to report people they suspect to be on a poaching mission.”

Poaching has declined sharply in Kenya from a peak in 2012 but “it remains a problem, with some 69 elephants and nine rhinos killed last year”, says Metro. Despite a ban on the international trade in ivory in 1997, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers.

“Their tusks are the most sought after, with the ivory being carved into ornaments and jewellery”, adds the paper.

China remains the biggest consumer market for the tusks.

At least 47 people have been killed after a dam burst its banks in Kenya’s Rift Valley.

Officials say the Patel dam in Solai, 190km north-west of the capital Nairobi burst around 9:00pm Wednesday local time, sending a deluge of water that has displaced thousands of people from their homes.

The floodwaters also swept away power lines and other buildings, including a school, according to local witnesses.

The BBC says that the full extent of the damage is “not yet clear”, and that local officials fear that the death toll could continue to rise as the search and rescue operation continues.

Lee Kinyanjui, the governor of Nakuru County where the incident took place, told CNN recent heavy rains were to blame for the incident, and that the victims were “mostly workers and small-scale farmers”.

In a statement, The United Nations Unocha disaster agency said that the flooding could worsen, as more heavy rain is set to hit the Rift Valley and the Lake Victoria basin in the coming weeks.

Heavy rains have opened up a giant chasm in Kenya, leading to predictions that the African continent will split into two.

The crack in the Great Rift Valley, which appeared mid-March, measures more than 50ft in depth, 65ft across and several miles in length, reports National Geographic.

The sudden appearance of the chasm, which caused part of the Nairobi-Narok highway to collapse, was exacerbated by seismic activity in the region, PBS reports.

A witness said the opening appeared so quickly he was able to watch it form and run through his home, reports Reuters. He only just managed to collect some of his belongings before his house collapsed.

The crack appeared along the 3,700 mile-long East African Rift, where the Somali tectonic plate in the east and the Nubian plate in the west move away from each other, adds National Geographic.

“Eventually, the Somali plate may completely separate from the Nubian plate and form a separate land mass comparable to Madagascar or New Zealand. Fortunately for those who live there, that separation isn't expected to happen for another 50 million years,” it continues. “It does mean, however, that the physical effects of that separation will continue to be felt.”

According to a paper published in Nature, the East African Rift System “remains one of the least monitored tectonic plate boundaries, which makes it challenging to constrain present-day seismic hazards”, meaning further damage to infrastructure in the region may take place unless authorities “plan [the region’s] infrastructure accordingly, saving lives and livelihoods in the process”, Slate adds.

It is expected that an enormous section of East Africa will break away from the main continent, but not for tens of millions of years.

Once regarded as the most stable economic and democratic power in East Africa, Kenya is showing worrying signs of authoritarianism under President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Human rights groups accuse his government of using the political crisis stemming from last year’s controversial elections as an excuse to crack down on opposition groups, the press and the judiciary.

“Police killings committed seemingly with impunity, and threats and attacks on election officials and judges, suggest that Kenya may be veering off its democratic path,” Neha Wadekar writes for The Atlantic.

Political stand-off

Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term in November following two disputed election polls. The original result was annulled by the country’s Supreme Court owing to voting irregularities, but a second poll saw Kenyatta win 98% of the vote after the main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, boycotted the election.

The nation’s highest court later rubber-stamped Kenyatta’s victory, sparking violent clashes between opposition supporters and security forces. Live ammunition was fired at demonstrators, killing at least 30 people, according to the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights.

Defying government warnings that he would be charged with treason, Odinga went ahead with a mock presidential inauguration in January and declared himself the “people’s president” of Kenya.

His oath “had no legal or practical significance, but the government has essentially suspended constitutional order in reaction to it”, reports the National Public Radio (NPR) website.

Crackdown on opposition

Dozens of opposition figures have been detained since the elections, among them Miguna Miguna, a vocal government critic who has been deported from the country twice this year. He claims he was beaten, drugged and deported to Dubai by Kenyan security forces this week.

“I woke up here in Dubai and I have nothing. I need the international community and everyone on this case,” Miguna said from his hospital bed, according to Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.

The Kenyan Interior Ministry denies any crackdown on opposition opponents. The government is just “becoming more disciplined and focused on ensuring that discipline is followed”, spokesman Mwenda Njoka told Bloomberg last month.

Attacks on the press and judiciary

In January, the government shut down several television and radio stations that were planning to broadcast Odinga’s mock inauguration. President Kenyatta is also reported to have personally threatened news editors during a meeting at his residence in Nairobi ahead of the event.

Eight journalists working for the Nation Media Group, Kenya’s biggest media organisation, handed in their notice earlier this week, citing government meddling and diminished editorial independence.

The government has also taken aim at the judiciary, issuing direct threats and refusing to implement a number of court decisions, Human Rights Watch reports. After the Supreme Court annulled the first election, Kenyatta publicly called the judges “crooks” and vowed to “fix them”.

The president appears to following in the authoritarian footsteps of his father Jomo Kenyatta, says W.O. Maloba, a professor at the University of Delaware who has written biographies about Kenya’s first leader.

“My sense is that what is happening in the country should be seen as worrisome by all those people who believe in democracy and the rule of law,” Maloba told NPR.

Herman Manyora, a political analyst and linguistics lecturer at the University of Nairobi, said Kenyans won’t easily relinquish their democracy.

“One thing they are not willing to let go is their fundamental rights and freedoms,” Manyora told Bloomberg. “We have been there and we know what it is like.”

The last male northern white rhino in the world has died in captivity in Kenya, bringing the subspecies closer to extinction.

The 45-year-old rhino, named Sudan, was euthanised by vets after suffering age-related complications that that left him with painful open wounds, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy said.

“His condition worsened significantly in the last 24 hours; he was unable to stand up and was suffering a great deal,” it said.

His death leaves only two females of the subspecies alive - his daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu, who remain at the Kenyan wildlife centre.

Sudan made headlines last year after conservationists signed him up to the dating app Tinder to try and raise money for fertility treatment.

The only hope in preserving the subspecies now lies in developing IVF techniques. “Luckily, we have plenty of rhino semen,” Ol Pejeta’s Richard Vigne told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme.

The process would involve using eggs from the two remaining females, stored northern white rhino semen from males and surrogate southern white rhino females.

Poaching has brought the northern white rhinos to the brink of extinction. Their horns are sold for up to £50,000 a kilo on the black market.

“Sudan was the last northern white rhino that was born in the wild,” said Jan Stejskal of Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic, where Sudan lived until 2009. “His death is a cruel symbol of human disregard for nature and it saddened everyone who knew him.”

But there is good news elsewhere, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says.

The southern white rhino has recovered from a population of fewer than 100 in the late 19th century to just over 20,000 today, and rhino poaching in Nepal has been reduced to almost zero, it reports.