Travelling Tim

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April 18, 2007

Out Of Africa - Karen Blixen

Since the last entry, I have visited Karen Blixen's house, and the nearby Ngong Hills which are mentioned extensively in the film and the book, so thought I would create an "Out Of Africa" compilation page, that brings all of the photos together.

To recap, if you've just surfed straight on to this page, the 1985 multi Oscar-winning film "Out Of Africa", and the 1937 book, a memoir by Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of Danish Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke), were both set in the region of Africa that I am in at the moment: Nairobi, and the area around it, especially the Ngong Hills. I have seen the film a few times, and enjoyed it very much - it was thus a great surprise to read the book recently, and find that it bears very little resemblance to the film at all, apart from the names of most of the principle characters! The film was essentially about the love-affair between Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton, after her husband Bror has deserted her. The book makes no mention of a relationship at all, apart from an acknowledgement of their good friendship. Berkeley Cole is mentioned as another good friend, but his female Somali lover is nowhere to be found - Berkeley has a male Somali servant instead!

Readers may enjoy putting together a list of all the differences between book and film, but at the end of the day I feel there is little point, as both book and film stand quite happily on their own. You could say 'the book inspired the film', and leave it at that.

Karen Blixen's house is situated quite close to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, so it gets quite a lot of visitors. The house itself was not used in the film, despite what it says on the official Kenyan website. It was a little too difficult to fit the film-crew in without major disruptions, so another house nearby was used. Unfortunately this house is in private hands, and not open to visitors. The Blixen house itself will have much to interest the reader, though, and many of the features and settings talked of in the book can be easily identified.

Photography is no longer permitted inside the Karen Blixen house, but you can still see some photos on the www.karenblixen.com/ website. The house itself contains much of the orignal furniture used by Karen, and the kitchen has also been preserved with an assortment of utensils that more-or-less fit the period.

Below are some photos that I took of the exterior of the house, and the remaining coffee-processing machinery nearby.

Karen's farm-manager's house is also nearby, and is open for viewing. It has been converted into cottages, a restaurant and gift shop, to milk the many visitors who mistake the signs for the museum itself.

Leaving the museum, I caught a bus to the nearby town of Ngong, which is an excellent starting point for a walk into the Ngong Hills. The town centre has a number of small shops and a busy local market-area, but the surrounding hills are very much a 'white-man's playground' these days, with many imposing houses and bungalows hidden away behind tall fences, some of which are electrified! However it is easy to ignore these, and enjoy the beautiful views oif the Ngong Hills themselves. I wandered for a few hours on some of the quiet country lanes there, and was greeted by everyone I met. Taking an overall photo proved difficult, as most of the attractive hill-tops were private, but here are a few photos that I did manage to take that may give you an idea of what the Ngong Hills look like.

Back in Nairobi, I went to visit the city's excellent Railway Museum, which is very well laid out, and has a large number of exhibits both inside and out. There are a number of steam locomotives and carriages to be seen, climbed on, and inspected, including locomotive number 301, which was used in the film 'Out of Africa', and the 1st and 3rd class carriages that made up the part of the train that Meryl Streep travelled in. I was not able to identify the other trucks used in the rake - perhaps other readers have had more luck?

Posted by travellingtim at April 18, 2007 12:17 PM