1957 – A tourist from Boston writes home about her Kenyan safari adventure and the recent defeat of the Mau Mau guerillas

“Arusha, Tanganyika, East Africa, [1957}. Envelope or Cover. Very good. This letter dated June 14 was probably written in 1957 based on the stamps used for postage and the author’s comments about the total defeat of the Mau Maus although an official end of the Kenya Emergency had not yet been declared. A transcript will be provided.

It is written from “Arusha, Tanganyika, East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika or KUT)” on illustrated stationery from the Outspan and Treetops Hotels and shows both with Mount Kilimanjaro rising in the background. It is enclosed in its original mailing envelope from the New Stanley Hotel in Nairobi franked with (truncated) two KUT stamps, a 50 pence stamp featuring a giraffe and the other a one shilling stamp featuring a male lion. A third stamp has fallen off the envelope and is no longer present. The letter was sent to Charles B. Myers of Quincy, Massachusetts by his mother who was on safari in Africa. The letter both describes her adventure and reports that she is in no danger from the recently ended Mau Mau uprising.



“Left over stationery that I thought would interest you all as it shows Tree Top Hotel burned by the Mau Mau during the Emergency that is not legally ended yet although no more danger. The bravery and tales of courage we heard have doubled our admiration of the British and their colonization. You may shudder if we tell you all and Nyeri was the center of it all & we saw many prisoners working on the road. British army seems everywhere, although many have gone home a fine looking bunch of men, some very young.”

Of the safari, she reports:

“Our safari [here] was most exciting 125 miles bumping over fearful roads in an old Ford truck built up for the purpose. We passed the last British outpost and saw roads to Ethiopia and Somaliland, 772 miles to Addisababa. Our camp on edge of river where every kind of animal came at night so I didn’t sleep much hearing rhinos, hyenas, jackals, leopards, monkeys and baboons around the banda (cabin) much better than a tent but latter could have jumped over the partition on to our beds. White hunter slept in the car as all other bandas full, brave as only canvas sides between him and game. He was absolutely fearless nothing bothering him after going through the Burma campaign against the Japs. Dad thrilled as he saw everything but leopard and male lion. We left Nairobi Sunday this time in an International real safari car with Native driver and cook – drove 120 miles to Amboseli Park another very rough road almost hit top of car at time but did us no harm – most comfortable banda complete bathroom so didn’t have to walk through buses to outhouse as at other one. . .. Animals all around again at night however I was scared but loved day time and we saw everything in the Park even the male lion only 20 feet away so beautiful with his harem of four lionesses, our pictures should be good. Many rhinos, one charging us of which we have a picture. . .. A glorious view of Mt. Kilimanjaro every day – snow covered and only thirty miles away – wonderful sunsets. Drove here yesterday through beautiful country, seeing much native life along the way. . ..” . The Mau Mau were a confederation of the related Gikuyu, Embu, and Meru ethnic groups who were long disgruntled by colonial farms built within their homeland andthe presence of Christian missionary schools, British attempt to stamp out female genital mutilation, and the success other East African ethnic groups found within the colonial system. The uprising began when Mau Mau guerillas murdered a rival chieftain allied with the British. In response, native Kenyan police, six battalions of the native King’s African Guards, and eventually two brigades of British infantry were deployed throughout the country to protect white owned farms and non-Mau Mau Gikuyo settlements from deadly guerilla attacks. Additionally, the colonial force expanded medical care throughout the region and initiated some agrarian reforms. In response, 25,000 Gikuyo warriors the Gikuyo Home Guard served as a security force which relieved colonial police and soldiers to engage in offensive operations against the Mau Mau. The guerilla attacks were exceptionally vicious, and the colonial native force responded in kind, often torturing or murdering captured guerillas. By the end of 1956, the Mau Mau uprising was crushed and almost all of its fighters imprisoned. However, as noted in the letter, the emergency was not declared over as colonial forces hunted down the remaining guerillas.

Princess Elizabeth was visiting Kenya in 1952 and staying with her husband, Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, at the Treetops Hotel when her father, George VI, died, and it was there that she acceded to the throne.

(For more information, see Mavenjina’s “The Pursuit of Justice against Colonial Repression by the Mau Mau in Kenya” at the Society for Cultural Anthropology website, “Kenya Uprising” at the British National Army Museum website, “What Was The Mau Mau Uprising?” at the Imperial War Museum website, and “Treetops - Aberdare National Park, Kenya” at the African Horizons website.)

At the time of listing, nothing similar is for sale in the trade. Neither has anything similar appeared at auction per the Rare Book Hub, nor is anything similar held by an institution per OCLC. However, letters from the Outspan or Treetops hotels have very infrequently appeared in philatelic auctions or on . . (Inventory #: 010454)