Thanks to some savvy planning (if I do say so myself), my recent journey to Rwanda began in Uganda and ended in Kenya. That resulted in the best deals on flights and gave me just enough time to get a tiny sample of the countries at either end.
Your choice! Here – and in life.
After a lazy night in Nairobi doing basically nothing, it’s time to get moving. From all accounts, Uber works well here. However, since I don’t want to risk losing my flight, I ask the hotel reception to organise a driver for me for the next 6 hours. A few minutes later, Fredrick pulls up.
My first stop is the Giraffe Centre, a sanctuary for Rothschild giraffes, a sub-species found only in East Africa.
On the way, we drive through a stretch of Nairobi National Park, which is a part of Mount Kenya National Park, briefly touching upon one of Kenya’s World Heritage sites. I decide it’s too little to count.
Notice their pattern? The Rothschild Giraffe has brown patches with dark spots, and their legs are white from the knee down to their hooves.
Back in 1979, the Rothschild giraffes had lost most of their habitat. With only 130 of them left, they were about to become extinct. Fortunately for the long-legged beauties, Betty and Jock Leslie-Melville came to the rescue. They set up the Giraffe Centre, and started a breeding programme. Today, there are more than 300 Rothschild giraffes around in Kenya’s national parks, safe and sound and breeding.
The Giraffe Centre also educates Kenyan children on the environment and local wildlife, and gives them – and me – a chance to get up close and personal with these magnificent animals.
We wash our hands, and one of the parks educators give us a shell filled with pellets made of corn, wheat, grass and molasses.
Then it’s up to the feeding platform.
I feel very privileged to be able to be so close to these fascinating creatures.
What a treat!
There are other animals here as well. Warthogs mingle with the giraffes or nap in the morning sun.
Sadly, I have to forfeit the nature trail, since I want to see one more thing before I have to be at the airport. However, I do make time for a quick stop in the gift shop to buy some souvenirs for the kiddos. Giraffe chop sticks.
My next stop is the Karen Blixen Museum, located in a Nairobi neighbourhood aptly named Karen.
Karen Blixen’s farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills in Kenya – front entrance.
Danish author Karen Blixen and her husband Baron Bror von Blixen moved to the estate in 1917 and set up a coffee farm and the Karen Coffee Company.
When the couple split up 4 years later, Karen stayed on and ran the coffee mill on her own, quite an unusual thing to do for a single woman 100 years ago. But she found freedom here, Karen – much more than in contemporary European society.
Here at long last one was in a position not to give a damn for all conventions, here was a new kind of freedom which until then one had only found in dreams!
Karen Blixen
The coffee mill at the Karen Blixen Museum
But life here wasn’t easy. Karen fell in love with big-game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton and the two began a passionate relationship that lasted until he was killed when his small plane crashed in 1931. At the same time, the Great Depression hit, and the Karen Coffee Company went bankrupt.
And so Karen Blixen went back to Denmark where she lived out the remaining 31 years of her life, writing books about her experiences in Kenya, often under the pen name Isak Dinesen. She never returned to the farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
I read Out of Africa decades ago, and the teenage me was enthralled by the romance. By romance, I’m not referring to Karen’s relationship with Finch-Hatton, but more the idea of living on a farm in Africa, writing books.
The farmhouse, seen from the garden
A guide is included in the ticket price, but it’s not obligatory. I already know a bit about Karen Blixen and prefer to walk around on my own. Inside the museum, photography is not allowed.
Ambling through the museum is like a walk through the past. The library has a gramophone in a corner. On the dining room table is the menu from a dinner held for Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales. The bedroom is light and airy with a large lion skin on the floor and Karen’s jodhpurs and riding boots in the wardrobe. Shelves with Karen’s books, as well as her paintings, are on display around the house.
The kitchen is in a separate section, across a small courtyard. Inside is a wood-fired stove, similar to the one we still use at our cabin.
Roaming about the green, verdant grounds is a tranquil experience on a Tuesday afternoon. I wish I had time to lie down in the grass for a while, doing nothing but watch the clouds slide past. I would also have liked to travel the short distance to Finch-Hatton’s grave up in the Ngong Hills. Rumour has it, a lion and a lioness are frequently seen at the grave.
A ticket to the Karen Blixen museum cost 1250 Schilling (as per March 2024). Buying it turns out to be a bit of an ordeal, though. Cash or credit cards are not accepted, you have to do everything online, so make sure you have working wifi. First, you have to register for the National Museums of Kenya at the eCitizen app. As it turned out, this involved a malfunctioning QR code, filling in a comprehensive, cumbersome form, uploading your passport and then some. And even after all of that, I was not allowed to buy a ticket. Several people in the queue gave up and left.
After ca. 20 minutes of trying, as a last resort, I asked one of the friendly girls at the counter if she could perhaps buy the ticket for me with her phone, then I could give her cash. She complied, and I took a photo of the receipt on her screen. All’s well that ends well.
For you, dear reader, I suggest buying your ticket in advance when you have reliable wifi. For you, Kenyan government, well… even the tasty cappuccino in the tea room can’t really make up for the insane ticket purchasing process. I suggest a more customer-friendly approach. You do want visitors at this fine institution, don’t you?
Quickly into Kenya is a post from Sophie's World