Out of Africa is a 1985 period drama starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. The academy award-winning film has romance, adventure and some breathtaking scenery which you can visit in Kenya.
The film is based on the memoir of Karen Blixen, a baroness who famously lived below the Ngong Hills about 16 kilometres southwest of Nairobi. It follows her love affair with hunter Denys Finch Hatton. These are four Out of Africa filming locations you can visit on your next trip to Kenya.
Maasai Mara National Reserve
This is possibly the most special location for Out of Africa fans. It’s the location where the iconic scene which became the movie poster was shot.
The also-iconic shampoo scene was shot here as well on the banks of the Mara River. Despite the sensual feeling of the shampoo scene, Streep was terrified of nearby territorial hippos who had front-row seats to the filming of this scene.
Due to the popularity of the film, the reserve has become very used to tourists and has many attractions including luxury tented camps and hot air balloon rides where you can experience the view that might have been seen from Denys Finch Hatton’s yellow biplane.
The Ngong Hills
The four peaks of the Ngong Hills are frequently featured in Out of Africa. They form one of the ridges of the Great Rift Valley and if you hike to the top, you’ll be able to see into the valley and into the Nairobi National Park.
The eastern slopes contain the solitary grave of Denys Finch Hatton, marked by an obelisk and garden and the Southern Peak is the occasional location for Sunday church services held by locals.
The area around Ngong Hills was a popular settlers’ spot during colonial times and colonial-style houses can still be found in the area, including the home of Karen Blixen.
“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet.” – Karen Blixen
Shaba National Game Reserve
This reserve is where many of the outdoor scenes from the film were shot. It’s a protected area in Isiolo County in northern Kenya. This reserve is popular for tourists and is also the shooting location of Survivor: Africa and the movie Born Free.
Shaba National Game Reserve has dramatic scenery including dry grasslands and river-side forests. It’s home to the endangered Grevy’s zebra and the rare Williams’s lark. The Grevy’s zebra is the largest of the wild equids (mammals of the horse family) and has narrower stripes than other zebras.
Bonus: The Karen Blixen Museum
To get the full Out of Africa experience, you’ll want to visit the home of Karen Blixen, now the Karen Blixen Museum. It’s located in the suburb of Karen that occupies the same land which was once her coffee plantation.
The house contains some of Karen’s original furniture as well as props from the movie including the costumes worn by Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. It’s also a good spot to purchase film merchandise and African trinkets from the gift shop.
However, this house isn’t actually featured in the film. The movie was filmed just down the road in a house that belonged to Ngina Kenyatta, the wife of Kenya’s first president.
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If you love Out of Africa and want to experience the magic that Karen Blixen once wrote about while you’re in Kenya, these four filming locations are must-sees. Keep your cameras fully charged, there will be beauty wherever you look.
In the day-time you felt that you had got high up; near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.
Karen Blixen
