Karen Blixen

“I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these Highlands, a hundred miles to the north and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limped and restful, and the nights were cold”

Karen Blixen Camp is named after the Danish author Karen Blixen who wrote the Out of Africa, one of the most romantic tales ever told.  

Karen Blixen and her life

Karen Blixen came to Kenya in 1914 to establish her coffee farm, at the foot of Ngong Hills. Only four years later she met and fell in love with the famous British nobleman, pilot and hunter, Denys Finch Hatton.

As Karen, Denis Finch-Hatton loved the African bush. He arranged stylish safaris for the European aristocracy. On these occasions comfortable camps were set up in the middle of the bush providing a luxurious and stylish retreat for the travelers. Karen and Denis often went on safaris in the Masai Mara. The two found great pleasure listening to the classical tunes of Mozart and Beethoven blending in with the noises of the African night.    

On one tragic morning the 14th of May 1931 it all ends. Denis decided to fly to Mombasa in his small Gypsy Moth aircraft, before going on another safari. Just before the small town Voi the plane crashed and Denis is killed instantly. Devastated Karen Blixen buries him at the Ngong Hills. Few months after the death of Denis, Karen Blixen returns to her childhood home, Rungstedlund in Denmark in 1931.