Herein lies Karen Blixen’s lover

Door leading to the grave.PHOTO:JAMES WANZALA/STANDARD

Located deep inside leafy Upper Matasia, about 8km from Ngong Town in Kajiado County is the grave of author Karen Blixen’s boyfriend Denys George Finch Hatton.

The grave, thanks to Karen Blixen’s fame, has become an attraction to many people, both local and foreign.

Quite conspicuous is the tall headstone obelisk that is often used to identify the grave with an epitaph on it.
The grave is enclosed with vegetation fence with a gate in a farm. 

Damaris Kamau, a caretaker, keeps a close watch over the grave on behalf of the farm owner. Finch Hatton was a big game hunter who lived between 1887 till 1931. He died in 1931 when his de Hallivand Gipsy Moth Bi Plane crashed near Tsavo due to bad weather.

It was on the morning of May 14, 1921 that Denys Finch Hatton’s Gypsy Moth took off from Voi airport, circled the airport twice, then plunged to the ground and bursts into flames. Finch Hatton and his servant Kamau were killed.

In accordance with his will to be buried in Ngong Hills, Finch Hatton was buried there in what today stands his grave. He loved wild life and he would fly over Ngong Forest and that’s how he met his death.

Denys was born third child of Henry Finch-Hatton, 13th Earl of Winchilsea, by his wife, the former Anne Codrington.

In 1910, after a trip to South Africa, he travelled to  British East Africa and bought some land on the western side of the Great Rift Valley near what is now Eldoret. He turned over the investment to partner, and spent his time hunting.

Out of Africa

The 1985 fictional movie Out of Africa played by Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, gives a good sneak preview into their love life. In one scene, they are seen shooting a lion that was charging at them.

According his wishes, Finch Hatton was buried in Kenya in Ngong forest at that time when it was a forest without habitation.

His brother erected a tall headstone obelisk at the gravesite. The obelisk plaque epitaph reads: “Denys George Finch Hatton” - “He prayeth well who loveth well both man and bird and beast” (from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem that Denys had admired).

The Kamau’s have shown love to the late Finch Hatton by taking care of the garden around the obelisk. The grave, however, is not easy to find.

Four pillars show the area around the grave is surrounded by flowery vegetation two steps away from the tall headstone.

Damaris says that the rainy weather thanks to the Ngong forest discourages visitors from the place.

“Since December started, I have not received any visitor to the grave but I keep on hoping that they will come,” says Damaris as she dangles the keys of the gate to the grave in her hands.

Most of the visitors, Damaris says, who come to the grave are those directed from the Karen Blixen Museum who want to know where Karen’s lover was buried.