It has been exactly thirty years since Hollywood paid tribute to Kenya with the ‘Out of Africa’ film starring Oscar winner Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.
A general view of Bogani House where Danish author Karen Blixen lived during the 1920s and is now the site of the Karen Blixen Museum in the Nairobi suburb of Karen. Photo/STUART PRICE.
KENYA, Karen: A photograph taken by Make It Kenya 10 December 2015, shows Robert Redford and Meryll Streep in still frame from the 1985 film Out of Africa. December 2015 marks 30 years since Streep and Redford starred in Sydney Pollack's Oscar-winning motion picture, projecting Kenya onto the big screen and around the world. Photo/STUART PRICE
Audiences across the world marveled at the sheer beauty and splendor of the Great Rift Valley, the Mara, and some of Africa’s most exceptional natural history. Visitor numbers surged and Kenya has worn the crown of safari tourism ever since. Streep stars as Danish author Karen Blixen, in the movie based on passionate writings about Blixen's life in Kenya (then British East Africa).
KENYA, Karen: A photograph taken by Make It Kenya 10 December 2015, shows Meryll Streep and Robert Redford in the movie poster for the 1985 film Out of Africa. Photo/STUART PRICE.
As in Blixen's books, the movie captures the essence of colonial Africa and portrays Kenya as it was - and in some respects remains today - in the beauty of its people, culture, agriculture and wildlife. Ten kilometres from the Nairobi city centre, at the foot of the Ngong Hills, lies the elegant three bed-room cottage built in 1910, that was Blixen's home.
A general view of Bogani House where Danish author Karen Blixen lived during the 1920s and is now the site of the Karen Blixen Museum in the Nairobi suburb of Karen. Photo/STUART PRICE
The cottage is now the Karen Blixen Museum, set up in memory of the author and her writing that draws visitors from all over the world, thanks to the Danish and Kenyan governments. “The historical museum preserves the history of Blixen together with the local people who were with her, and the history of Kenya in terms of its dynamic culture,” said Damaris Rotich, the senior curator at Karen Blixen Museum.
Pieces of cutlery displaying how a table would have looked during the early Twentieth Century at Bogani House where Danish author Karen Blixen lived during the 1920s and is now the site of the Karen Blixen Museum in the Nairobi suburb of Karen. Photo/STUART PRICE
In 1985 the National Museums of Kenya acquired the house to establish the museum which was opened to the public as one gazetted under Kenyan laws as a protected heritage site. It now attracts at least 45,000 local and international tourists each year. More than 68,000 international tourists visited in 2007.
The living room and library of Bogani House where Danish author Karen Blixen lived during the 1920s and is now the site of the Karen Blixen Museum in the Nairobi suburb of Karen. Photo/STUART PRICE.
“Most of our visitors are those who have read Blixen's books and watched the movie 'Out of Africa'. They are mostly from the US, United Kingdom and EU countries with a few tourists from Africa," Rotich said. She added that the museum has been engaging in school outreaches to encourage more domestic tourism.
A young boy looks at a plaque on a memorial obelisk in the N'gong Hills outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi, which marks the grave and commemorates the life of Denys George Finch Hatton, the man portrayed by Robert Redford in the 1985 Hollywood film Out of Africa and based on the life of Karen Blixen in what was then British East Africa at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Photo/STUART PRICE.
“We provide exclusive tours for primary school teachers which has led to increased visits by students and the registration of more than 2,000 Kenyans a month," she said.
John Ngure a guide from the Karen Blixen Museum narrates to a young boy about the memorial obelisk in the N'gong Hills outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Photo/STUART PRICE
'Out of Africa' continues to be one of the most remarkable movies ever produced. It won seven Oscars - including Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Picture - in the 1985 Academy Awards.
Children stand infront of a memorial obelisk in the N'gong Hills outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Photo/STUART PRICE.
Filled with romance, scenery, struggles and the inevitability of fate, the movie is a journey into Africa and love around the time of the First World War. It is based on the true story of Blixen who left Denmark to marry Swedish Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) but fell in love with English hunter and adventurer, Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford).
A plaque on a memorial obelisk in the N'gong Hills outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Photo/STUART PRICE.