” I had a farm in Africa at the foot of Ngong Hills.” Isak Dinesen, alias Karen Blixen.

Karen Blixen. A woman who really has set her footmarks in Africa. We will not try to compare ourselves with here, but we want to find out more about why she loved Kenya.

The poet, the author, and the storyteller Karen and her four siblings had a safe and warm childhood in Denmark. Art was one of her interests and she studied both in Copenhagen and Paris. She moved to Africa to marry Bror von Blixen-Finecke, the twin brother of the man who she first thought was the love of her life. Here, in Kenya, they bought a farm and established Karen Coffee Company in 1914. The area where the farm was situated is called Karen today.

Her life as a farm owner ended in 1931. Then her marriage had broken, her new love of her life, the hunter Denys Finch Hatton had crashed his private plane and died, and her economy was not strong enough to continue to keep the farm going. She buried her beloved Denis at the foot of her beloved Ngong Hills and moved back to Denmark.

We know that she treated her workers with respect and that she helped the needed ones to get medical help. That is possibly the reason why we find the Karen Blixen Museum here in Nairobi. The house where she and Bror lived was bought by the Danish government in 1964 and were given as a gift to the Kenyan government. After the movie “Out of Africa” The Kenyan National Museum wanted to make it a museum and in 1986 it became a reality. Everything is organized to be identic with how it was when Karen inhabited the house and because of her special interest in art we also find Karen`s Art Corner in this museum. It is a place where local artists can have their exhibitions.

Karen Blixen called Kenya her second homeland, so does Nina, so she orders a Tusker (a Kenyan beer) when we have passed Livingstone in Zambia on our 7 hours flight from Cape Town to Nairobi. That is to feel the taste of her second homeland where she lived for two years while she worked as a journalist in Daily Nation. Harriet has never been in Kenya before, so Nina has a couple of places she wants to show her.

On the airport in Nairobi Nina’s friend Juliah picks us up and takes us to her home where we can stay overnight. She is a very friendly person and has made dinner for us even if it is soon midnight when we arrive.

The next day Duncan, who owns the apartment we have been offered to stay in for two days, and who cooperates with Destination Africa the Norwegian tour operator who gave us tips for our trip, welcomes us to Bonsai Villa. And what a wonderful place!

Nina is going to have a speech at the University of Nairobi so most of the day is centered round this session, but when she has finished, we have a delicious lunch at the Thorntree Café in New Stanley Hotel with some interesting friends of hers. In the evening we go to Carnivore with Juliah`s children and husband to celebrate her daughter`s 10 years birthday. There we have a real good time and eat a lot of meat from crocodile to ordinary chicken.

 Up early, before sun rise. Duncan is ready to take us out for a game drive in Nairobi National Park just outside the big city. Juliah joins us and we have a wonderful time in the wilderness where we are close to crocodiles, zebras, wildebeest, rhinos, hippos, gazelles, lions, impalas and a lot of birds.

We had planned to take the Chinese train, the Madaraki express from Nairobi to Mombasa on Friday, but it was full, so we must take the night train from Nairobi at 22:00. That means we must get ready quick as ….!

In a hurry we get an Uber and just in time, after having passed through a lot of security stations we can sit down on hard benches where we will spend the next five and a half hour. It is hot, it is uncomfortable, and it is noisy. Totally exhausted we leave the train at Mombasa station at 03:30 and try to find an Uber which can get us to a hotel. It is not easy at all, but after more than one hour we finally find someone who can take us to Reef Hotel. Here we are so lucky to get a room, finds a sun bed by the pool and sleep for an hour or so. After breakfast Nina has a nice time by the pool while Harriet stays in bed and tries to sleep.

In the afternoon we go to Tamarind to wait for the sun to set behind the houses on the other side of Mombasa River. We have a real good lunch, share a bottle of vine, and just relax on the terrasse watching small boats on the river, monkeys in the trees and on the rooftops and birds flying all around. We are still tired after a sleepless night, so we go home for dinner at the hotel after sundown.

There we go to bed and find out there is no use trying to keep awake for dinner, so we sleep to half past seven the next morning.

The last day in paradise. We sleep late, go for breakfast, and decide to just stay at the hotel for the whole day. We read, write, bath both in the pool and in the Indian Ocean, take a camel ride and just enjoy being here.

In the evening, after dinner, we sit outside under the lights by the ocean watching the stars above us and the boats passing by on the horizon. It is a wonderful night. Cheers for Kenya!

Tomorrow, we have to leave this country and the whole continent. It has been a journey where we have experiences many of the aspects of African lives, from the poor living in unhuman conditions in the cities to the wealthy people on Rovos Rail and the hotels we visited.

Asante sana, Kenya. Thank you. See you soon!