Book Review: Rift Valley Fever

Rift Valley Fever – A British Vet in Africa

After training as a vet in Edinburgh, Hugh Cran set off to Kenya and spent the next 50 years at the sharp end, treating the cattle of Maasai herdsmen, wild animals, the horses and pets of ex-pats and the military and the government, and of everyone in-between. He dealt with creatures great and small, from mice to elephants. Traveling miles on rough roads, performing impromptu surgery by torchlight and with dirty water. Hugh fell in love with the chaotic life and the colourful people he worked for, from dawn to dusk, seven days a week.

He married his wife Berna, and all his three daughters were born in Kenya, enjoying an exciting childhood. Hugh is a keen mountaineer and much of his spare time has been spent in the wilds of the Africa he loves.

Hugh Cram has an unparalleled personal insight into the vagaries of life as a vet in the tropics. With wit and penetrating perception, he describes and dissects, in this, his third book, life dealing with patients and people he supports every day. This is no pampered-pooch memoir, with affluent clients wheeling in their cuddlies for over-the-top surgery, but a back-to-the-basics epic of toil and trouble in one of the most exciting and stimulating, if at times frustrating and turbulent, countries in the world.

To add to this heady mix, the author finds relaxation by pitting himself against the elements, battling his way to the summits of some of the most inhospitable mountains in East Africa.

A compelling account of the trials and triumphs of a veterinary life in Africa.