Treetops Hotel

Treetops Hotel is a hotel in Aberdare National Park in Kenya ten miles (16 km) from the township of Nyeri, 1,966 metres (6, 450 ft) above sea level on the Aberdare Range and in sight of Mount Kenya. First opened in November 1932 by Eric Sherbrooke Walker, it was built into the tops of the trees of Aberdare National Park as a treehouse, offering the guests a close view of the local wildlife. 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 built into the top of a tree, it grew into a 35-room hotel. The original structure was replaced by a larger structure, also in the tree, but additionally supported on legs; this was burnt down by the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) in 1954 during the Mau Mau Uprising. The hotel was rebuilt near the same waterhole and became fashionable for wealthy clientele. It includes observation lounges and ground-level photographic hides from which guests can observe the local wildlife at the nearby waterholes. Treetops is where Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) was staying in 1952 when she acceded to the thrones of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, upon the death in England of her father, King George VI.

Hotel data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).