Bush chef, author and consultant, Antonia ‘Tones’ Stogdale is a renaissance-type guide, the breadth and depth of her skills a boon to clients as keen to know the people of northern Kenya as they are its animal life.
Born in England, Antonia’s childhood incorporated many family safaris, eventually leading to a life-changing time at leading horse-riding safaris at Borana Lodge in Laikipia, where she remembers suddenly feeling most at home.
After undertaking chef training at the prestigious Leith’s School of Food and Wine, and graduating with a BA in English Literature, Antonia moved to Kenya for good, this time to run nearby Tassia Lodge, where she taught the Maasai community the art of fine cuisine in the bush, and wrote Tastes of Tassia (Scotforth, 2011). She would go on to found Antassia, a women’s group that makes and sells local crafts, which now employs and empowers over 100 women from the surrounding villages.
Having worked for some top safari operators in the ground in Africa, Antonia has just begun her own cookery school in the bush for chefs and guests to come and learn the complex art of bush cookery.