#20550 Channeling Karen Blixen on the Ngong Hills in Kenya

One legend explains the knuckled appearance of the Ngong Hills this way: Ngai (god) tripped over Mount Kenya and his hand landed here. The four main humps, their steep backs to the Rift Valley, stand sentinel over the sprawling city of Nairobi. From the ridge, over 8,000 feet above sea level at its highest point, it is easy to see why Karen Blixen loved this place so much. Kenya spreads out at your feet; golden grasses writhe in the winds that run down the slopes. Finch Hatton's grave is here, and some claim that lions still occasionally range up from the national park. Take a picnic, and brush up on your Danish accent: "I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills." Follow up with a visit to the writer's home, now the Karen Blixen Museum, on the site of her ill-fated coffee plantation.