The curious fate of the farm in 'Out of Africa'

Barcelona"I had a farm in Africa." The famous line that opens Sidney Pollack's film Out of Africa has caused thousands of people to dream of living like Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. As always, Hollywood glosses over reality a bit, although it's still a beautiful film. Reading Out of Africa, the book that inspired the film, you can get an idea of how difficult it would have been for Danish woman Karen Blixen to run the farm almost alone. And you can understand that tragic love story with the English adventurer Denys Finch-Hatton. And if you're lucky enough to visit Nairobi, you can ground yourself even more in reality by visiting the famous farm.

You might be disappointed if you were expecting a farm surrounded by plantations. The area where the Danish woman arrived with her distant cousin, Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke, whom she married, is now part of the Nairobi metropolitan area. In fact, the neighborhood is named Karen in honor of the writer, as the local population began using her name when she was one of the few inhabitants there. It used to be an area of white, mostly English, farms. Today it's an area of mansions, private schools, and expensive restaurants. A neighborhood where you see a lot of white people. Kenya has been independent for decades, but in Karen, you might think the British still rule. They have schools, trendy cafes, and mansions like Blixen's farm. They live separately from the local population. Just as they did when Karen Blixen lived there, they are quite segregated societies. Locals come to Karen to work, but few live there.

While downtown Nairobi has become a bit dirty and chaotic, Karen breathes calm. The writer's house-museum is still visited by many tourists. Many locals come to sit in the idyllic café they opened. The coffee has always been good here. In fact, it was the star product of Blixen's farm, which operated until 1931. That year, she gave up due to falling prices—the same year her lover, Denys Finch Hatton, lost his life in a plane crash, and she returned to Denmark. Blixen's African farm no longer exists; only her beautiful house remains. You don't find wild animals around here like you did back then. You can see them, but in a different way: ten minutes away, there's a center that adopts orphaned elephants and a kind of private park where you can feed giraffes while taking a selfie. A delight for younger tourists. What would Karen think of all this?

Recommendation for traveling to Nairobi.

Book: Out of Africa

Author: Karen Blixen

Editorial: Labrador editors.