Unlike many neighbourhoods in Nairobi, Karen Estate is one whose name immortalizes a Danish Baroness in Kenya’s history.
The Initial Karen
Well over a century ago, Karen von Blixen moved to Kenya to expand her family’s fortune by starting a coffee farm. She acquired property in the southwestern region of present-day Nairobi – which included vast land and a single-storeyed, large bungalow built a few years earlier by Swedish engineer, Åke Sjögren.
Karen’s season in East Africa began on a good streak but became overshadowed by trials and turmoil. Still, her farm maintained until 1931 when she moved back to Denmark.
The farm, along with the bungalow-farmhouse (which she named Bogani) that stood within the 6,000 acre property was passed to a banker named Jean Martin. Likely out of respect to the Baroness, he named the farm Karen Estate. Though unlike von Blixen, Martin had a greater business mindset regarding the land’s use.
From farm to estate
He divided the estate into 20 acre plots, built houses that borrowed architectural aspects of the farmhouse, set up a water company that would cater to the estate, and built an 18-hole golf course and country club in 1937. The club was the perhaps the crème de la crème of the estate’s completion. And it was ready for sale.
Karen Estate was a blend of farm, greenery, modern architecture, and pastime sport. Additionally, its proximity to an area where various wildlife roamed freely made it an ideal location for Europeans looking for an adventure.
Fortunately for Martin, former owner Karen von Blixen at the time also released a memoir recounting her years in Kenya, with the heart of the tale being her coffee farm. The book, which was well received, prompted more Europeans in search of an African safari to visit the estate.
No doubt some purchased land and it exclusively became another residential area reserved for European settlers. Karen Estate’s edge was that the owners also reared horses.
The genesis of Africans in Karen
By the fifties, the country was changing tides – as were the restrictions on residential areas. It’s said that the first African landowner in Karen purchased his property in 1962.
Still, Karen was European owned, having changed hands from Martin to subsequent landlords until it was taken up by a much larger entity – the Danish government.
In 1964 the Danish government gave Karen Estate to our independence government. The National Museums of Kenya took over Bogani House and renamed it Karen Blixen Museum.
Meanwhile, the Estate transformed in leaps and bounds. More houses came up; more Africans became homeowners – and racial barriers eventually weakened. This enabled the African residents to enrol as members at the Karen Country Club.
Karen, as we know it
Today Karen is many things: a vibrant neighbourhood with convenience stores, shopping malls, schools, hospitals and churches. It also stands as a reminder of a century gone by, and this is witnessed in the old trees that form canopies on some of the narrow roads, the old colonial houses that remain residential homes and even those that have been transformed into cafes and boutique hotels. And then of course there is the Karen Blixen Museum that tells the tale of the famous Baroness through artefacts.
Are you a Karen local? Where are some of your favourite places in the neighbourhood?
#MitaaYetu #HistoryOfKaren
