Recent reports have indicated that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s son, Dr. Keith Gachagua, has taken over Treetops and Outspan hotels.
Following this new development, the hotels which have been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Kenya, are set to be reopened in May.
Keith explained the significance of the hotels saying, “For instance, very few people know that beneath the hotel lie underground tunnels constructed by the Mau Mau fighters for accessing the facility.”
In this article, WoK looks at the two iconic hotels taken over by the politician’s second-born son.
Treetops Hotel
Treetops Hotel located in Aberdare National Park was first opened on November 6, 1932 by Sherbrooke Walker who is remembered as the host of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip when they visited Treetops.
The initial hotel was built into the tops of the trees of Aberdare National Park and it has since grown into a 35-room hotel.
Treetops earned global recognition in 1952 when it witnessed the ascension of Queen Elizabeth to the throne following the death of her father, King George VI.
Queen Elizabeth learnt of her father’s death and her subsequent ascension while having dinner at the hotel alongside Prince Philip.
In 1954, Mau Mau fighters burned down the hotel but another structure would later be constructed some 100 meters from the old one.
The hotel’s capacity was also increased to four rooms.
Notable people who have visited the hotel including musician Paul McCartney, Beatles roadie Mal Evans, author Willard Price and Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts movement.
Walker sold Treetops to the Block Hotel group in 1966, 12 years before the new owners sold it to Aberdare Safari Hotels Ltd.
Outspan Hotel
Outspan Hotel in Nyeri is another hotel founded by Eric Sherbrooke Walker in the 1920s.
The hotel, overlooking the gorge of a river in the Aberdare Range, was set up on some 69 acres of land which Walker had purchased in 1928.
It is known for hosting the Paxtu cottage which served as Baden-Powell’s commissioned cottage in the late 1930s and currently a scouting museum.
James Corbett, a hunter and naturalist also lived there.
