One Life

Richard Leakey’s first official job as the administrative director of Kenya’s National Museum began the very week that he contracted a serious kidney disease–one which would affect his life from that moment onwards. In January 1969, he was told by doctors in London that his own kidneys would last no longer than ten years. As it turned out, the doctors were correct; but in 1979, as a result of a kidney donated by his brother Philip, a new life began for him. And it was while he was in hospital awaiting the kidney transplant that he began his autobiography.

Like his father Louis, Richard was born in Kenya and raised as an African. His extraordinary childhood is described with many of the colorful incidents that undoubtedly shaped his life. Richard and his broters had anything but a conventional childhood, growing up in a land that was itself in transition from a British colony to an independent African nation.

Richard learned from both his parents, Louis and Mary, about prehistoric Africa, and he relates how he finally became involved in the study of human ancestry. This involvement ultimately led to his leadership of Kenya’s museums; and these, together with his development of laboratories in Nairobi, have made Kenya one of the world’s major centres for the study of evolution and human origins.

Richard Leakey has lectured widely, written a variety of books, and contributed popular and scientific articles for numerous magazines and journals. He has appeared on television screens all over the world, and his most recent contribution to the media was a 7-part television series ‘The Making of Mankind’. His book of the same title has become a worldwide bestseller.

He lives now with his wife Meave and two of his three daughers in Nairobi. He continues to be deeply involved with the search for early human ancestors, as well as with the many facets of science which he encounters as director of Africa’s leading museum.