Sandy Field

Cyril Connolly described Sandy Field as ‘an ex-provincial governor, an astringent Wykehamical civil servant who is excellent company. He could be head of a Cambridge college, or an unflappable chief secretary in an Edwardian comedy; he prefers people to animals (an amiable eccentricity) and seems a shade too Stendhalian for the brute creation which forms the bulk of his satray.’

On a lighter note, Hugh Lamprey was motoring near Seronera airfield one evening when he suddenly saw a strange green shape in the grass. A solitary hyena was circling it with interest at about forty yards range. Hugh drove over to investigate, and was astonished to find Sandy Field, the Chief Park Warden, lying curled up in the grass, clutching a large club and making gurgling noises. On hearing the car, Sandy hastily got to his feet and explained with some embarrassment that he had been carrying out an experiment. He had decided to lie down in the grass and moan like a man suffering a heart attack to see how close the hyena would approach. The strange shape seen by Hugh had been Sandy’s trousers in the grass. Sandy’s experiment was ruined, and he, Hugh and the hyena went their separate ways.

spent eight years with Myles as a Serengeti Warden in the 1960's

Sandy Field, who replaced Gordon Harvey as Chief Park Warden

Sandy Field, Chief Park Warden in the Serengeti from 1964 to 1967, once saw a lorry arrive from Arusha loaded with furniture covered with hessian and conceived the idea of having a suit made out of it. The Seronera tailor was commissioned and, after three fittings, the suit was completed at a cost of 25 shillings. The tailor threw in a hessian tie for good measure. Sandy used to wear the suit occasionally, looking quite extraordinary and purple with heat.

Serengeti National Park Warden

[Sandy Field] Replaced by John Stephenson as Chief Park Warden

Just before I arrived in Kenya, Sandy Field went missing. He was 78 years old and the oldest licensed pilot in the country. The weather was bad. He had waited several days for it to clear, then finally he thought he could make it. There is a saddle of rising ground between Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares that can block the way up to Nanyuki in bad weather. Sandy tried to swing around the east side of Mt. Kenya and was never heard from again. The whole flying community joined in the search for over a week. He disappeared in June, and it wasn't until August that his wreck was found. He had come down in the bamboo forest, and the plane was invisible beneath the canopy. Sandy's great fear was always the thought of ending his life in the Nanyuki Cottage Hospital. He loved hunting elephants, and he was interested in the Third Reich. It was strange that the person who finally found Sandy's remains was an Embu honey-hunter named "Hitler". All that remained was a piece of his skull and some hair. His body had been eaten by a leopard, and I am told that he would have been pleased that his body had gone to the animals he had loved so much.

Sandy Field . . . Died in a plane crash on Mount Kenya, in bad weather