KENYA
Kenya is a
landscape no camera can catch, no words can describe, no
painting can portray.
The Oscar winning
movie "Nowhere in Africa", a story about a Jewish family
who flee to
Kenya from Nazi Germany, has again drawn attention to this unparalleled holiday
destination.In the book "Out
of Africa", with classic simplicity and a painter's
feeling for atmosphere and detail, Isak Dinesen tells of
the years she spent from 1914 to 1931 managing a coffee
plantation in
Kenya.
The story and cinematography has also inspired
tourism to Kenya.
"Out of Africa" inspired the movie of
the same name starring Robert Redford and Merlyl Streep.
Between them the book and the film have enthused
countless thousands to visit this land and see the
amazing palette of vision, sound and experience that is
Kenya.
I visited Kenya when my uncle
was Parish Priest of
Thika.
This city (population 80,000)
features in another true story of a pioneering family in
Kenya's
early settler days..." The Flame Trees of Thika" by
Elspeth Huxley narrates tales of daily derring do.
The insights into the various tribes that come through
Elspeth's young life are wonderful and make it a great
read for young girls
inspired to visit
Kenya.
The images are strong and the child's eye is true. The
book was adapted to movie format and starred
Hayley Mills in "The Flame Trees
of Thika".
When I was in Kenya, I visited Thika
and, Nairobi, stayed in the lodges of the
Tsavo National
Park, and then journeyed further southwards to the beach
resort of
Mombasa.
An abiding memory of my visit to
Mombasa
was an evening sitting under the stars on the
steps to the beach outside the hotel. The
Asian band playing in the lobby struck up Georg Fredrich
Handel's "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" on their
traditional instruments. It was a remarkable
performance, all the more so when it is reputed that
Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, had her Kingdom in Ethiopia,
north of where I was sitting. The mixture of
Baroque music, played by Asian musicians in an African
setting by the Indian Ocean was quite unique.
I saw emerging opulence and grinding
poverty side by side, followed the elephants on their
way to water, fought with the monkeys for afternoon tea
at the Mombasa Beach hotel and all the time gazed at
snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro floating imperiously over
the equatorial landscape.
Talk to us (065)9051046
Mon-Fri 10-5.30 about your wish to visit
Kenya
or e-mail us.
Launch
of Lillis Travel Website, Wednesday 3rd September 2008.
See details and photos.
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