Treetops Aberdare: Between the Making of the British Queen and the Beatles’ Sergent Pepper
Treetops in the Aberdare National Park near the township of Nyeri, in Kenya is where Princess Elizabeth became the Queen of the United Kingdom in 1952.
14 years later, Paul Mc Cartney of the legendary Beatles stayed there during his East African trip and in fact this is where the idea of Sergeant Peppers was born.
First opened in 1932 by Eric Sherbrooke Walker, it was literally built into the tops of the trees of Aberdare National Park as a treehouse, offering the guests a close view of the local wildlife in complete safety.
The idea was to provide a machan (hunting platform on a tree during shikar in India) experience in relative safety and comfort.
From the original modest two-room tree house, it has grown into 50 rooms.
The original structure was however burned down during the 1954 Mau-Mau Uprising.
The hotel was later rebuilt near the same waterhole and has become fashionable for many of the rich and famous.
It includes observation lounges and ground-level photographic hides from which guests can observe the local wildlife which comes to the nearby waterholes.
Treetop is known as the location where Princess Elizabeth acceded to the thrones of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms upon the death of her father, King George VI, while she was staying there in 1952.
The initial idea of Major Eric Sherbrooke Walker, who owned land in the Aberdeen Range, was to build a treehouse for his wife Lady Bettie, who liked them.
The idea grew, and in 1932 the couple oversaw the construction of a two-room treehouse in a huge, 300-year-old fig tree as an adjunct facility to the Outspan Hotel, which they also built and owned.
Initial construction was hampered by the presence of wild animals, as the treehouse was purposely built beside animal trails leading to a nearby waterhole.
Laborers and supervisors were often chased away by wild animals, which led to increased construction costs.
While originally two rooms, and open only on Wednesday nights to overnight guests as a night-viewing platform, rising demand forced the Walkers to accommodate more visitors.
The visit of Princess Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to Kenya in 1952 led to their visit to the Treetops as personal guests of the Walkers.
The Treetops was reinforced, and its capacity was increased to four rooms, including one for a resident hunter.
Treetops became famous around the world when Princess Elizabeth, as she then was, stayed there at the time of the death of her father, King George VI, which occurred on the night of the 5th and 6th of February 1952.
While she was at Treetops she learned of the fact, however, after having left, at Sagana Lodge.
Elizabeth was the first British monarch since King George I to be outside the country at the moment of succession, and also the first in modern times not to know the exact time of her accession because her father had died in his sleep at an unknown time.
On the night her father died, before the event was known, Sir Horace Hearne, then Chief Justice of Kenya, had escorted the princess and her husband, Prince Philip, to a state dinner at the Treetops Hotel.
After word of George VI’s death reached the new Queen (Elizabeth II), the following day, she returned immediately to Britain.
The legendary hunter Jim Corbett, her bodyguard at the time, wrote the now famous lines in the visitors’ log book:
“For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day as a Princess and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience she climbed down from the tree the next day a Queen — God bless her.”
The Mau-Mau Uprising, which began as a protest in 1951 and 1952 of British control in the Kikuyu homeland quickly became a violent uprising.
Mau-Mau Uprising
It was suppressed by the British over the period 1953 – 1954.
In 1953, the Aberdare forest provided refuge to many hundreds of Mau-Mau rebels, led by Dedan Kimathi.
In June 1953, the entire region was declared off-limits for Africans, and orders to shoot Africans on sight were set in place.
A major military operation in late 1953 (“Operation Blitz”) left 125 fighters dead.
This was followed in January 1954 by “Operation Hammer”, led by the King’s African Rifles, which however failed to encounter many guerillas as most had already left the area.
As a protest against the shoot-on-sight orders, and repeated military action, mau-mau rebels burnt down the Treetops Hotel (which acted as a lookout for the King’s African Rifles) on 27 May 1954 in a contentious military action or act of terror.
The incident took place as the uprising was slowly being brought to an end by British military action.
No, see? No Pay either
The rise in popularity of the Treetops is partially due to Elizabeth II’s visit and accession in 1952, but also partially due to their no see, no pay policy during their early years – a common business policy on safaris, where guests were not charged for services if they failed to see any big game.
Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts movement, was a resident of Nyeri and a frequent visitor to Treetops.
In 1938, he commissioned a cottage on the grounds of The Outspan Hotel, which he named Paxtu.
The final resting place of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell is located nearby.
Jim Corbett, hunter, conservationist, and author, who accompanied Elizabeth II during her stay at treetops on 6 February 1952, lived in the same house as Baden-Powell, and is buried nearby, next to Lord Baden-Powell and his wife Olave, Lady Baden-Powell.
The visit of Princess Elizabeth cemented the fame of The Treetops.
The visit of Princess Elizabeth was immortalized in Jim Corbett’s (who was a resident “hunter” at Treetops) final book Tree Tops, which was published by the Oxford University Press in October 1955.
That was 6 months after Corbett’s death. He passed on 19 April 1955.