About this episode

This episode explores the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, featuring personal accounts and historical analysis, alongside stories of wildlife and sports.

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes focussing on Kenya. We hear about Muthoni Kirima, one of the last Mau Mau fighters to come out of hiding and lay down her arms. Caroline Elkins, Professor of History at Harvard University, discusses the brutality of the conflict between Kenya’s Land and Freedom Army, the British and Kenyan loyalists. Next, when Princess Elizabeth became queen while staying at the Treetops Hotel, a lodge in the Aberdare National Park. In 1997, scientists travelled to Kenya, in search of a cave believed to have been the den of the man-eating lions that terrorised railway workers in 1898. Plus, we hear how Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga signed an unprecedented power-sharing deal to end a wave of violence that left more than 1,200 people dead. And the heartwarming story of the friendship between a baby hippo and a 130-year-old giant tortoise. Finally for our Sporting Witness story, we head to the first Ultimate Frisbee World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1983. Contributors: Caroline Elkins - Professor of History at Harvard University, and author of Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in…

People in this episode

Host: Max Pearson

Guests: Muthoni Kirima, Caroline Elkins

Topics covered

• Mau Mau uprising
• Kenya history
• colonial conflict
• man-eating lions
• power-sharing deal
• friendship stories
• sports history

Keywords

• Mau Mau
• Kenya
• colonial history
• man-eating lions
• power-sharing
• Ultimate Frisbee
• witness history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard University

Places: Kenya, Aberdare National Park

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