28 Comments
Aug 2, 2020Liked by John Kamau

Fantastic piece you've put down John Kamau. As usual, your articles meet the seldom-reached threshold for journalism in Kenya. Keep them coming!

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Aug 1, 2020Liked by John Kamau

Great article! I visited the Zimmerman factory shop in 1975 with my Mom, who bought me a pair of black leather sandals. I remember having nightmares of the grotesque snarling animal heads and the elephant stools.

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author

Thanks Violet for this.

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Aug 1, 2020Liked by John Kamau

Such a historical story. Mhhhh very interesting

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May 21·edited May 21

This pretty much says it all: " we're after dollars. Kertell once said: “We are not in this for fun, we are in it for money. But I don’t want you to get the impression we’re in the slaughter trade. We don’t look at it that way." Thank you for this article.

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In early the 1980s i used to see what was like remnants of animal enclosures and other buildings in that area as i travelled on Thika Road

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Your articles leave me mesmerized. Some of them are like reading a fictional book. Keep up the good work 👏.

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Great article. My grandpa Joachim Schweinoch met Mr Zimmermann in a prisoner of war camp in South Africa during WW II, where all “German speaking” men living in East Africa got interned.

Returning to Kenya after the war they both started the business again.

I still remember the adventures times visiting the taxidermist workshop and seeing the workers / artists modulate the trophies.

It was also very impressive walking into the main hall of the Nairobi museum seeing all the animal preparations made by Zimmermann Ltd.

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Great article. My grandpa Joachim Schweinoch met Mr Zimmermann in a prisoner of war camp in South Africa during WW II, where all “German speaking” men living in East Africa got interned.

Returning to Kenya after the war they both started the business again.

I still remember the adventures times visiting the taxidermist workshop and seeing the workers / artists modulate the trophies.

It was also very impressive walking into the main hall of the Nairobi museum seeing all the animal preparations made by Zimmermann Ltd.

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A good article, the place is spectacular; and who is the proud owner of the property?

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After finding a vintage zebra stool in very good condition in a thrift shop for $3, I decided to do some research. It’s a ZEBRA HIDE FOLDING TRIPOD 'CAMP' STOOL POSSIBLY BY ZIMMERMAN. It’s beautiful! Wish I could post a picture of it.

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Loved reading your article!

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Asante Sana. Found this page recently and am enjoying every bit of it

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This is a fabulous piece. You're articles are one of a kind, even the ones in the newspaper.

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The man died before his factory closed?

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Excellent article. Your breed of journalists is fast becoming very rare indeed. Please produce a compilation of all your key articles into a book.

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Nice! I will read the other posts to be up to date as I wait for a new post

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Great piece John. Looking forward for more.

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Thank you Daktari.

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