I am not sure how many AR guys have had the opportunity to visit this old girl, but a piece of history has gone.....

Legendary Nairobi hotel renamed
December 19 2007


The Norfolk Hotel, the oldest in Kenya, was rebranded as the Fairmont Norfolk, losing a legendary name that was associated with British colonialists as well as a US president safari hunter.

"Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi has been rebranded as Fairmont The Norfolk after a multi-million dollar renovation programme," its new owners Fairmont Hotels and Resorts announced in a statement released here.

In 2005, Lonrho Africa, a subsidiary of the British-based Lonrho conglomerate, sold the hotel - build in Turdor-style architecture - to a Canadian-Arab consortium that includes Saudi royal Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

A Kenyan tourism official said the new owners should have maintained the name. "The name 'Norfolk Hotel' is legendary in the tourism circles, they should have maintained it."

The Norfolk, which opened in 1904, the year Nairobi was founded, was a colonial-era hotspot and watering hole for the infamous Happy Valley set, a colonial set whose loose living was the subject of James Fox's book White Mischief.

A film of the book about a true-life 1941 murder mystery in which the Norfolk featured prominently was subsequently made by Michael Radford starring Greta Scacchi, Joss Ackland, Charles Dance and Hugh Grant.

Gave Kenya its name

Among the visitors to the Norfolk was former US president Theodore Roosevelt, who began what is still reputed to be the largest hunting safari ever in Kenya from the hotel. Other famous guests included Boy Scouts founder Lord Baden-Powell, aviatrix Beryl Markham, and Karen Blixen, who under the pen name Isak Dinesen wrote Out of Africa.

A bomb attack on the hotel on New Year's eve 1980, blamed on Palestinian extremists, killed about 15 people and wounded dozens more.

In addition to the Norfolk, the consortium in 2005 also acquired Mount Kenya Safari Club, the Mara Safari Club, The Ark and the Aberdare Country Club for £17-million.

The Mount Kenya Safari Club, in the shadow of the mountain that gave Kenya its name, was founded in 1959 by matinee idol William Holden, who turned the posh camp into a retreat for European royalty and the merely rich and famous.

Over the years, club members have included former British prime minister Winston Churchill, crooner Bing Crosby and action hero John Wayne.

The Ark, a rustic favourite built to resemble Noah's Biblical vessel secluded in the Aberdare National Park north of Nairobi, is well known among safari-goers for its illuminated water hole which nightly attracts scores of elephant, rhino and other wildlife

It is unfortunate they decided to change the name, but maybe they'll reconsider and like the Stanley, which became the New Stanley, and then back to Stanley (although sometimes called the Saranova Stanley), names can come back. But to confuse even more, there is another hotel in Nairobi where I sometimes stay called the Fairview. No doubt a lot of people will be confused.

I was based in Nairobi several times over the years and stayed and the New Stanley and also at the Norfolk. Great cottage pie on the veranda. Hope they fix it up real nice. Also stayed at the Intercon and the Nairobi Safari Club. Norfolk was a real treat. The Intercon was the most comfortable.

J/