Iconic 111-year-old White Rhino Hotel in Nyeri Put Up for Auction

The iconic White Rhino Hotel in Nyeri has been put up for auction, according to a notice placed in local dailies.

As reported by Business Daily, Garam Investments Auctioneers intend to sell the 111-year-old facility located at the heart of Nyeri town opposite the Nyeri Sports Club on June 2nd.

The auctioneers say the hotel, sitting on a three-acre parcel of land, owes the Nyeri County government Sh1.2 million in outstanding land rates arrears as of July 2021.

The leasehold property, for a term of 50 years effective September 1st, 2008, has an annual revisable ground rent of Sh146,400, according to the auctioneers.

“Bidders will be expected to produce a bidding deposit of Sh10 million by way of cash or bankers cheque before being allowed to bid,” Garam says in the notice.

The hotel, a one-time exclusive joint for whites and lately for the rich locals, was founded by three Europeans Berkely Cole, Lord Cranworth and Sandy Herd in 1910 and named ‘White Rhino’ after white settlers shot and killed a rhino at the site during one of the numerous game-hunts. The White Rhino Hotel was gazetted as a National Heritage site on March 9th, 2001.

Sources told The Standard that, White Rhino which is managed by Legend Hotels Limited, is worth about Sh1 billion but it is not clear how much the establishment owes its banker—the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB).

The White Rhino becomes the fourth major hotel establishment in Nyeri to go under the hammer or fold up in recent years. The Tree Tops Hotel and its sister The Outspan, which were established in the 1920s, were put up for sale in October last year due to the Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

The Outspan was home to the founder of the Scouts Movement Lord Baden-Powell from 1938 to 1941 while Treetops earned global recognition after Britain’s Elizabeth II went to bed as a princess there and woke up as a queen following the death of King George VI in 1952.