Nothing might prepare you enough for the experience of African Heritage House; at least not the red frame gate in the middle of nowhere, leading on to a natural path and further into the Athi plains expanse overlooking the Nairobi National Park. Although its earthen façade and magnificent forms with arches and artistic curves might pick your attention, it would still not offer you a conjecture of the treasures hidden within.
And as if that is not remarkable enough, meeting the man behind the property, Mr. Alan Donovan, will take you a moment to soak it all in as you try to figure out the how and the why. The American who first came to Africa in 1969 through the US State Department on a relief mission in West Africa during the war between Nigeria and its former breakaway Eastern province known as Biafra, Alan Donovan is the designer and the soul of the African Heritage House. In his own words, he is an incarnation of an early man: “To those outside its magnetic spell, Africa may seem incomprehensible, fathomless, in the primordial past. Yet, wherever we are in the world, every one of us had an African ancestor that much is almost certain. Africa is the cradle of humanity” from his book My Journey through African Heritage.