Thorntree Cafe Nairobi | Where the legends meet

There is more than one reason to love Nairobi – especially if you are a lover of coffee. I am definitely one – hence this post.

Nairobi is known for many things, but let me get straight to the point I am trying to make – The Thorntree Café at today’s Sarova Stanley. Of course, when it was “just a small cafe” in the then Stanley Hotel, it played host to several famous folks like Elspeth Huxley, Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. From what I gleaned, it was to Kenya what the Pudding Shop was to Istanbul in the 60s and 70s. It is said that Ernest Hemingway coined the term “safari” whilst seated at this cafe in Stanley Hotel.

I can’t say with absolute certainty that the coffee was to die for, but more interesting was the place itself. It begged to be explored.

I decided to learn a little more. Digging deeper into the history of this cafe, here is what I found.

History of Thorntree Cafe

In the 1950s, a small café in the then Stanley Hotel became a hang-out for expats and bohemians as well as a central meeting place in Nairobi. People and travellers met here to swap information, trade stories, bum rides or figure out how to navigate the wilds of Kenya.

In 1958, when the hotel was redesigned, a Naivasha thorn tree (Acacia xanthophloea) was planted in its courtyard with the intent of providing a little shade for the tables here. Things didn’t turn out as planned because travelers used the tree-trunk to  post notes and bulletins and turned a tree into the most romantic post office in Nairobi.

The current Thorntree

At some point, the original acacia tree died and was replaced with the current one, but the hotel kept the tradition alive by ringing the tree with a message board…

Today’s tree is the third in line and buried under it is a time capsule to be opened in 2038 (during the replacement). The current Thorn Tree Café was later built around it and thirty-eight years later (in 1996) inspired Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet, to start the world’s leading online travel forum, Thorn Tree Travel.

Why it is worth a visit

Of course, no one sticks a message to the tree any longer (the tree is sort of caged now and roofed in glass). But you can still leave a note and stick it on the notice board if you wish. It is interesting to read some of the notes from yore that are now behind a glass. Is it worth visiting this cafe just to stick a few notes, you ask? I tell you why it is worth it – its the “feeling” of being there – knowing well that in the past some of the worlds most famous authors have been there and in many ways, this cafe connected people with places and emotions… you get the drift?

I have been following up on the pictures of it and seeing it in its modern avatar was like seeing an old friend and from what I have seen, I have a fairly good idea what it looked like. Those black and white pictures are in an album that I have been looking at for the last three weeks before I decided to come here and see for myself.

I was tempted to leave a note too – but for whom!

I feel a strange connection to the place. A few years ago I met with Tony Wheeler, the founder of Lonely Planet Books in New Delhi, for whom I authored a book on Dubai. Here I feel as though I have come a full circle. My reason to be at Thorntree Cafe somehow puts my life in perspective, although I cannot explain how.

Did you know?

Today’s Nairobi Stock Exchange has its roots in Stanley Hotel, where in 1922 the first stock was floated on ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement.’