REPORTAGE

At Mcmillan Castle, a forgotten Kenya historical place

A memory hub lying in awful conditions

26-12-2021 by Freddie del Curatolo

A century of Kenya's history, of colonial Kenya but also of what was the scene of distant wars and then of the battle for the country's independence. This is what has passed outside and inside the walls of Lord William McMillan's castle, under the great buffalo mountain (Kilimandogo in Kiswahili, Ol Donyo Sabuk in Maasai) a couple of hours from the capital Nairobi.
A place of such historical importance, which was also gazetted as a museum by the government, should be a destination for cultural tourism, schoolchildren and scholars from around the world, also attract for the beauty of the places and be part of a path that includes the excursion on the great mountain where there is a nature reserve, in the fields of pineapple famous throughout the world (managed by Del Monte) and the nearby 14 waterfalls, the scene of the first Tarzan movies with John Weissmuller. 
Not to mention that Mcmillan Castle hosted, among others, American President Theodor Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and, as a prisoner of war, Duke Amedeo d'Aosta. In addition to being itself a film set for the Hollywood movie "Mogambo" with Ava Gardner and Clark Gable.
Instead, this national monument languishes in a situation less than dilapidated inside the estate that today belongs to a cooperative of peasants (the so-called Sacco) that administers the entire valley, including coffee, corn and pineapple plantations rented to Del Monte. They explained that they use the main hall of the castle, which was once called the "club house" because in addition to political-strategic meetings, parties of all kinds were held there, as their office, but that the other rooms are now in disuse and there are not enough funds to put them back in place.
There are many projects, but the idea of putting it back together as a museum would not be out of place if only some cultural institutions and institutes would finance a restyling.
We launch the idea and we will prepare a project to return Mcmillan Castle to its former glory and to be able to see it again at the center of Kenya's history.
Everything else is explained in our video service below (COMMENTARY IN ITALIAN)