Thank you, George and Eunice, for your hospitality. I am a changed man. My view of life is enriched interacting with you two. After a fantastic two and a half day stay, On Friday 17th November 2023 at 1 PM I departed from Tafaria Castle & Country Lodge with awe from the lessons learnt. This was my second time to Tafaria. The first was in 2018 with my little family. This time they had gone a notch higher.
George Waititu Tafaria is not very loud but what he has at Tafaria speaks very loudly when you visit. Eunice Tafaria is the cofounder of Tafaria. Tafaria speaks to the importance of Art and Culture for sustainable human development. It speaks to the importance of preserving local knowledge for development. It speaks to using what is locally available to develop a sustainable way of living that not only mitigates climate change in action not word alone but makes business sense. He believes that life is art and these must be promoted for development.
‘Climate change will be won by reducing consumerism and living a simple life’ – George Tafaria told me during a conversation we had after planting trees.
George looks like a simple man, but he is a genius in a slow-motion way. A researcher by training and practice, I knew him as the guy of Steadmans, a research company that was famous because of opinion polling especially during Kenyan elections. At a relatively early age he chose to change career and pursue the arts. He left formal employment (a condition normally termed wrongly as ‘retirement’) and chose to developing the 15-acre plot in Nyahururu.
Take a chance
The story starts with his mother who bought a plot of land in an uninhabited area that was blessed with wildlife and an arid environment, so that she could move away from a crowded habitat in Nyeri. The plot is where Tafaria Castle now stands. George was 6 years old when they moved. I don’t think Tafaria’s mother imagined that in November 2023 the 15-acre piece of land would be a residential resort, having a British Historical theme, giving a very local story, and built using local material and local labor. She also would not have imagined a place where ART is redefined and brought to life in an artful way encompassing all aspects of life – Music, Food, History, Living, Entertainment.
Once upon a dream
Once upon a dream was George’s description of his yearning for the area of his upbringing to become developed and for the people living there to get empowered. The area was generally underdeveloped, partially arid with poor infrastructure. As a child George fetched water 11km away from where they lived. As he put it ‘When people say things were elephant, I literally grew up near elephants.
Auditorium
George started small by empowering the community living around that area with programs where he provided material and forums for education and art. The auditorium started as one of those programs, as a place where villagers would congregate to discuss issues of the village and art. Initially the villagers would sit on stones arranged in a semicircular manner facing a wall at the front with no roof. It was then crafted into an auditorium using cost-effective material to create the seats and décor with a wall put up all round. It hosts two studios where artists could produce music and has been a production place for many. I was honored to listen to George in the auditorium as he shared his story.
The castle
George and Eunice then built the castle that is currently in use for accommodation and dining. The surrounding lush green lawns also have play areas. He then developed other residential places that host visitors to the castle. The construction engaged at least 60% of locals who developed great skills that they have gone on to use in other areas after completion of the castle.
Long-term residents
Because Tafaria receives many visitors who stay for long term work like production of movies or scientific study, there are some houses that have been constructed to host that large groups of people who may need to stay that long. There are some self-contained rooms and there are also some rooms with shared amenities. George estimated that 150 people can reside there. This would be suitable for instance for a film-production crew.
The herbarium
The herbarium is a project that aims at identifying and immortalizing the natural plantation. Plant species are identified and preserved and labeled for educational purposes and retention of knowledge. The herbarium is a protected area that has a large variety of plants growing. It is a haven for the botanists. From the plants thus far classified, the team working on this project have come up with 10 categorizations of species that they intend to write about. The classes have innovative names like Warriors and High Flyers.
The Tafaria farm.
The Tafaria farm is an excellent example of a complete ecosystem. There is a variety of plants grown using both rain-fed and a drip irrigation system. There are goats that are reared, and their manure is used as fertilizer for the plants. There are rabbits and chicken running around but their path is guided by careful wire meshing. They keep cattle for milk. This impressive farm is what is used to feed visitors to the castle ensuring that the food that is eaten is fresh. The farm thus ensures that the hotel business that is largely based on food is cost-effective and that clients are forever happy because of the freshness of the food. Eunice informed us that during COVID-19 period the Tafaria farm supplied food to many a people.
The Museum
The Taafaria Museum is a great work of art giving a graphic history of the world, showing the evolution of mankind till where we are now. It is arranged in a systematic manner with stations that are numbered to assist visitors with a journey through time. A pre-recorded commentary is done is used to explain each station. One gets to appreciate evolution in a very graphic way. You get to take a photo with your ancestors and get a new name. Mine is Mucarapithecus tafarensis.
At the Museum there is a ship-like wooden store of traditional Giriama musical sounds that have been scanned, placed, and stored on barcodes on wooden cubes that reproduce the sounds when placed on a screen that reads the barcodes. Barcoding is a recurring theme at Tafaria as the museum and the herbarium use the technique to store information. Among the merchandise you can carry away from the Museum are poetic writings by George.
Happy Place School CSR
Upon development of the space that Tafaria sits on, George acquired some of the adjacent land to the Castle. One of the adjacent places is called The Happy Place is the area that Tafaria has set aside to start a school that will be training local folk various skills. This is a CSR that will support the dream of empowerment for the local community by skills transmission.
I was honored to plant trees at the Happy Place. I intend to visit the place regularly to water the tree.
The Land Rover
The swimming pool area at Tafaria has pictures of a Land Rover KBB with stories to accompany them. When we were walking towards the castle after tree planting, I could not help but drive the Land Rover and bring back the sweetness of changing gears manually while ascending a slippery earth road. Do you remember that all Nyeri men wanted a LandRover? Now I know why!
Tafaria Castle & Centre for the Arts is highly recommended, not only for its accommodation and excellent grounds for play but for its rich history and promotion of arts that impact directly on life.