Treetops Hotel was located in Aberdare National Park in Kenya, near the township of Nyeri, and is most famous for being the place where Princess Elizabeth was staying in 1952 when she acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth on the death of her father.

The 25-year-old British princess was watching the local wildlife – elephants, baboons, rhino and much else – in the treehouse of a giant mgumu fig tree when King George VI died in his sleep. Headlines noted that she went up the ladder of the treehouse a princess and descended a Queen.

The hotel was first opened in 1932 by Eric Sherbrooke Walker and was built into the tops of trees to give tourists the safest and best possible viewing of wildlife visiting the local waterhole. It became a magnet not just for Royalty but also for the rich and famous.

Other famous personalities included actors Charlie Chaplin and Joan Crawford, and Paul McCartney stayed at the hotel while on safari in 1966. Returning from his safari trip, he said he came up with the concept of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the flight from Nairobi to London.

The 35-room hotel closed during the pandemic and has not yet re-opened to tourists.

This is a beautiful hand-drawn menu by a local artist from the 1960s.

Courtesy Private Collection.