Grogan castle, where tales come alive

Later, we take the Kisigau-Lake Jipe rough road on our way to Grogan Castle.

"Imagine being in a historic early 20th-century Castle right at our destination," I whisper to driver Kwame, who misses a bump, sending us almost hitting the roof of the car. Never distract a driver, I remind myself.

After an hour's drive, suddenly we can see "the castle" on the horizon. It is perched on a hill.

Adjacent to the parking is a magnificent staircase leading to a spectacular fortress-like white building.

I make a swift 360-degree turn, and I am met by the most beautiful panorama that includes Kilimanjaro, Tanzania's Pare, and an overlapping mountain range. At the furthest east corner, is Lake Jipe.

The house has nothing in appearance to show that it is 20th century English building.

We are ushered into a courtyard overlooking a beautiful swimming pool by James Maka, Grogan Castle's general manager. Later, Basil Criticos (the owner of the castle) and his wife Barbara join us, signalling the beginning of a story-telling session that brought alive all the stories about Grogan.

Critocos, who turns out to be an enthusiastic storyteller, is himself an extraordinary person, who left his country many decades ago and fell in love with Kenya, a country he calls "motherland".

The former MP and farmer specifically fell in love with Taveta. He later got ownership of the castle, which he renovated, and turned into a boutique hotel in memory of Grogan, and so that the castle can revive its ancient splendour.

The storytelling session included the story of how in 1900, a 24-year-old Cambridge University Briton, Ewart left Britain for a mission to Africa. Later, he fell in love with a woman, and because his future father-in-law did not think he was man enough for his daughter Gertrude, young Grogan trekked from Cape Town to Cairo to prove he was.

**Grogan Castle.** [David Gichuru, Standard]

As we come to the end of the tour and storytelling session, we get back to the staircase and take several pictures and videos in memory of this visit.

I take one final sweeping view of the desirable location - an unspoilt nature at the foot of the hill that embodies perfect peace, while at the same time having a breath of history cloaked in adventure and splendour.

A few kilometres away from the Grogan Castle is the home to the only cemetery in Africa where the fallen of two enemy nations are buried together, all victims of the First World War - the bloodiest battle between the British and German armies.