House Of Waine – Karen

House of Waine was originally biuilt in the 1970’s as a private home. It was acquired by its present owners, a local family, and carefully refurbished over two and a half years resulting in the unique boutique propetys that exists today.The name of the House has a special meaning for the family because it bears all their initials combined in order of age to form the word Waine.It all began in 1922 when the Swedo African Company purchased 6000 acres of land to farm coffee at the foot of the Ngong Hills. It was on this estate that Karen Blixen, the Danish Baroness who lends her name to this peaceful suburb of Nairobi made her home from 1917 to 1931. After several failed attempts to profitability farm coffee, Karen Blixen returned to Denmark where she wrote several works under different pseudonyms, including that of Isak Dinesen. Ernest Hemingway. Truman Capote and Carson McCullers among others have critically acclaimed her works. Her life in Kenya was depicted in the film ‘Out of Africa’ directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. The estate was purchased by Remy Martin who broke it up for development resulting in one of Nairobi’s most serene and wooded suburbs, Karen. It is here that we find the unique boutique hotel, House of Waines less than 2 kilometres away from the Blixen house now a museum.