The Tafaria Castle and Country Lodge is a marvel in its own right. Standing on The Deighton’s Downs ranch located at the apex of the Nyandarua and Laikipia counties, the 29-room facility boasts a restaurant terrace which has a killer view of the Aberdare Ranges on one side and the Laikipia Plains on another.
Tafaria: King of the Castles By Frankline Sunday Updated Mon, August 18th 2014 at 00:00 GMT +3 SHARE THIS ARTICLE The Tafaria Castle and Country Lodge is a marvel in its own right. Standing on The Deighton’s Downs ranch located at the apex of the Nyandarua and Laikipia counties, the 29-room facility boasts a restaurant terrace which has a killer view of the Aberdare Ranges on one side and the Laikipia Plains on another.
During my visit there, together with a group of young journalists from Nairobi, Joe, the friendly steward, joked that our breakfast table straddled two counties, with one half in Nyandarua and the other half in Laikipia. We learn that the first thing the developers did before they started construction was to plant thousands of trees and the result is that Tafaria stands out like an oasis in the middle of a desert. We ask Jeff, the other steward, what exactly there is to do in Tafaria and, smiling pleasantly, he says “everything you want, it just depends on the number of days you spend here.” We take this with some scepticism. The drive up the secluded establishment was a little unsettling for us city folks. SHRUB LAND At some point, one hour from Nyeri town, there was nothing other than browning shrub-land and tarmac as far as the eyes could see.
We lost cell phone reception and the only solace was that such a pothole-free and seemingly new tarmac road must lead to some sort of civilisation. So when Jeff told us about the facilities, the activities and ultra-modern contraptions such as horse-rides, quad-bikes, golf course, the swimming pool, the 3D movie theatre, hiking and the game drive to Aberdare National Park, among others, we now worried that we would not have enough time to sample it all. One of the best experiences of Tafaria is the staff who do not smother one with polite platitudes and fall over themselves trying to pull out a chair for the guests.
They are friendly without making too much of an effort and keep away just far enough to let you make your wedding plans at the same time are close enough to notice your searching eyes when you need them. Tafaria Castle was built by about 400 people and their names are engraved on a plinth in front of the main building, immortalising them together with the statue of a horse that was injured and had to be put down. All the structures in Tafaria have a story behind them. From the amphitheatre where the local communities used to watch documentaries projected onto whitewashed walls to the dungeon at the basement of the Lord’s Chamber.