Meet Trip Mackintosh
Trip Mackintosh has loved the people and places of Africa since his service as a Peace Corps volunteer (1979-81).
Following an international legal career, he turned his passion to telling stories of Africa that needed to be heard. He is now an award-winning adventure thriller author of three novels set on the continent.
His first, Rebuke the Wind, is a tribute to the courageous, ordinary people of the Sahel who confront Boko Haram, the world’s largest terrorist organization. He takes readers to a place too dangerous to visit, portraying with compassion the innocent lives impacted by the terrorists’ violent ideology.
His second book, Rebuild the Moon (Pegasus 2023) is a compelling story of redemption and forgiveness set in the Kalahari. The novel is a metaphor for racial relations in sub-Saharan Africa, telling the story of an aged South African seeking absolution for having persecuted San Bushmen.
His third, Defend the Sunrise (Pegasus 2026) is a tribute to brave rangers, women and men, who protect Africa’s wildlife and our legacy from traffickers. It tells the story of Charity, a young female ranger in Zambia who disrupts a Chinese cartel early in her career, only to pay the ultimate price.
Trip during safari guide training in the Okavango Delta. Rifle for last resort purposes only.
Becoming a Writer
I came on writing accidently, literally.
I was on a dirt bike traveling up from Cape Town through Namibia when I flipped in deep sand. That put an end to my career as a lawyer. To recover, I traveled back to Botswana to people and places I love. I wrote an essay about my trip that year across the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and a spiritual moment I experienced on Kubu Island.
Friends and family encouraged me to write more. So, I dug into my experience with anti-terrorism controls and corruption to provide readers with a legitimate view into life of people in the Sahel. Rebuke the Wind got good reviews. That led to the next two novels.
Pegasus kindly published Rebuild the Moon and Defend the Sunrise. I am now working on number four about the San People of the Okavango Delta and the Delta itself.
A Career in Law, But A Heart in Africa
After his time in the Peace Corps, Trip built a career as an international lawyer, specializing in anti-terrorism controls. His work took him around the world, but Africa never fully left him. Over the following decades, he kept returning, gathering the true stories and experiences that would one day shape his novels.
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THE MISSION
Purpose Beyond the Page
Today, Trip channels decades of experience into his novels, writing stories rooted in the real people and places that shaped him. His commitment to Africa doesn't end on the page. All royalties from every book goes back to frontline conservation and educational initiatives across the continent, helping protect the very communities and landscapes that inspired his work.