Promises to Keep

Working at the sharp end, Scottish vet Hugh Cran describes his daily and nightly challenges working in Kenya as he encounters rabid dogs, a horse pageant that goes horribly wrong, missing tortoises, entire herds of sick cattle and corrupt policemen: he even witnesses how a witchdoctor successfully identifies a thief. Busy from early morning to midnight, Hugh never turns down a call to help an animal in distress, even if this means driving across floods or deserts, surviving vehicle break-downs or insanitary operating conditions on arrival. In this book, Hugh falls in love, marries and starts a family, climbs Kenyan mountains, survives a life-threatening health crisis, a surgery fire and a serious legal accusation. Throughout it all, he remains a dedicated and hardworking local vet, serving his African community, no matter what. He has promises to keep...

Hugh Cran qualified as a veterinary surgeon in Edinburgh in the early 1960s. In search of adventure and more sunshine than Aberdeen could offer, he answered a small ad. in 1966 to work in a rural practice in Kenya. As well as working as a general vet in Nakuru, he kept diaries, and explored the wild mountains of Kenya. After a colourful and exhausting 50-year career in Africa he has just returned to the UK and now lives in Castle Carey, Somerset with his wife Berna.