By Moses Njagih
At the heart of the dense Mt Kenya Forest, under the lush indigenous vegetation, stands an ancient timber-built house.
Little is known about the solitary and enigmatic structure roofed with scalps of bamboo trees. One may be forgiven for thinking it were ruins abandoned centuries ago.
What can never be contested, however, is that the structure, on the Kirinyaga District side of Mt Kenya, has stood for many years. It is one year shy of being 100 years-old.
It is evident efforts have been made to give the buildings in the compound a fresh look, but little success has been achieved.
Possibly, that is why the Castle Forest Lodge, a long forgotten royal facility, is now begging for recognition.
Reclaim past glory
For the rich history it holds, which unfortunately has hardly been told, the castle is fighting to reclaim its glory.
Though it attracts tourists under the management of Dutch entrepreneur Melia Van Laar, Castle Forest Lodge was put up by England’s royal family. Occupying more than 50 acres of the once virgin forestland, it was set up as a hunting lodge for England’s King George VI in 1910.
A good hunter who fell in love with much of what he had seen in the largely wild countryside, King George, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, ordered that a hunting base be put up at the foot of the East African mountain, where he would spend his time during expeditions.
It was then that the royal authorities in set up the castle. The location could not have been in a better place than where it stands: Near an old path leading to Mt Kenya, the second largest mountain in Africa.
Decades of neglect
Here, elephants and other wild animals graze freely after straying from the dense bamboo forest, barely five kilometres away. The bamboo forest is a danger zone in the forest and a hideout for many wild animals.
After many decades of neglect, the castle is seeking a mention in the books of history for hosting the English royals, alongside the Tree-Tops Hotel in the outskirts of Nyeri town, where Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne after the death of his father.
Though there is little literature today on what the King of England may have done while at the castle, history largely passed from generation to generation has it that his daughter, the Queen, was a guest at the castle for some days.
Ms Laar says part of the castle’s rich history is Queen Elizabeth’s, then a princess, visit to the lodge when she was 19 in 1945.
"We may not know for how long she was here since literature to that effect has since been transferred to England. But what is certain is that she spent some days here as a princess," says Laar.
The lodge MD says her effort to get the literature from the National Archives and the Buckingham Palace — Queen Elizabeth’s official residence in London — has not been successful.
She says the many letters she has written to the royals have not been responded to, making it difficult to explain the history of the place and names of the world’s rich and famous who have been to the lodge.
What stands as testimony is a locked rusty safe, where the royals allegedly kept their belongings in a room said to have been the one where the Queen spent the nights.
The special room, inside a three-bedroom castle, whose windows give the occupant a clear view of the snow-capped peaks of Mt Kenya, still has the wooden ancient bed said to have been used by the then princess.
Although Laar says she has not been able to consolidate the castle’s history for marketing purposes, she is determined and one day her efforts will bear fruit.
She says the princess’ visit to the castle preceded the much-publicised one when she visited Tree-Tops Hotel. Her father, King George, died when she was at the hotel and she then assumed the royal throne. She had gone up the Tree Tops a princess, but she came down a queen.
Queen’s room
"She was 19 years when she spent some days here. The next visit was in 1952, seven years later, when she visited the Tree-Tops, only to return to her country as the queen," says Laar.
Laar says the castle was later taken over by the Kenya Forest Service, which leases it to investors. It is between two waterfalls on Karuti and Thiba Rivers, has a bed capacity of 34 and attracts local and international guests.
An attendant at the lodge, Mr Anthony Njeru, says the castle is popular, especially with those who desire to sleep in the same room the Queen slept in 64 years ago.
"The place is very quiet and relaxing, away from the hustle and bustle of noise polluted towns. The only noise you hear — if it can be called that — is that of birds and the two waterfalls a few metres away from the castle," he says.
Fully occupied
Njeru says bird watching and a walk to the nearby Mau Mau caves under the escort of tour guides are major attractions for visitors.
"They also enjoy a beautiful scenery of the mountain and watch elephants, which visit the area almost daily, from a close range," he says.
Njeru says visitors get an opportunity to throw salt stones on the elephant’s path. The animals spend time licking it, giving the visitors enough time to watch them.
When The Standard visited the lodge, the rooms were fully occupied.
"The facility is popular in Netherlands where the MD comes from because many visitors are Dutch," says Njeru.
