author, guide, farmer, soldier, father, grandfather and gentleman

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David had an irresistible way of writing about East Africa that has you turning each page hungry for more. Steeped with the traditions and cultures of this huge and wild continent, it is his honest and open approach to experiences, friendships and emotions that bring David's books alive.

Covering a period that scans seven decades, his literary journey begins as a young boy adopted by the magnificent Masai tribe in whose footsteps he followed.

Through adolescence and manhood this irrevocable bond never tethered, and the intricate balance of nature's secrets and the ways of a proud tribe continued to unfold.

David Read was a fountain of knowledge on Masai history.  He knew the facts, he had lived the life of a “white Masai” and could speak their language before his own native English.

David in the  1930s

David (and Funza) 2010

“David and I have only one thing in common and that is that we both grew up in the heart of Masailand, a place now known as Loliondo in present day Tanzania.  But even in this one thing, there is a difference. He did so in the thirties and I in the sixties; he is white and I chocolate.”

        Ole Ntekerei Memusi, Tanzania