In 1918 at the end of the First World War, after four years of distinguished service in German East Africa, Will Powys was demobilised from the East African Mounted Rifles. He had a sold his farm in Somerset in the west of England in 1913 and moved to what was then called British East Africa, now called Kenya. Active and agile young men like him were much in demand in this developing country and he was soon managing great flocks of sheep for the Cole family, in the Great Rift Valley.

 After the war Will applied for a “Soldier Settler farm” and was fortunate to draw a prime block of land around the Kisima Spring, which has given the name to our Kisima Farm. When he got to this empty trackless land, riding his horse called ‘Chance’, and with his ox wagon close behind, he did not know where his boundaries lay.

 Will made a great success of his pioneering enterprise, and over the years brought out some of his neighbours. The land on which the Borana Lodge now stands was brought in 1928. 

 He was a man of many parts, tall, handsome and artistic. He painted countless little vignettes illustrating all that he saw around him, and in later years he also painted a large number of landscapes.

 He was a hands-on man whose hands showed much evidence of hard work on the farm, and also the scars that were left by a stock killing lion that was bayed up by his Collie dog.

 He married Elizabeth who was a wonderful partner to him for many happy years. She died long before him and in his last years he was handicapped by an artificial leg. Yet he filled every day with going around his farm, and painting and writing letters.  He would still hunt stock killing lion by setting up a gun trap and then spending all night by his Landrover to guard the trap. He could find things of beauty and interest all around him.

Elizabeth Powys was born in England. During the First World War she faked her age to say she was 18 so that she could get to the front in France and serve as an ambulance driver. She had a reputation of being able to fit more wounded men into the ambulance than any other driver. Then her obvious leadership qualities were needed as an administrator at a front-line hospital. While doing this job she was shelled, gassed and awarded the Military Medal.

In 1920 her adventurous nature took her to come to Kenya and apply to develop a Soldier Settler farm.  Her application was at first refused on the grounds that she was not a Soldier. When the officials were made aware of her Military Medal they were forced to think again and she got her farm.

 Then she found that she preferred safari life and sold the farm and brought a wagon and a team of oxen and went off over the far reaches of Kenya and Tanganyika trading and doing transport work.  During this time, she met Alec Douglas, who won her heart by skilfully killing a lion that was charging at her. They married and had a daughter called Delia who was the chatelaine of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.

 When Alec Douglas handed over his ranch to Delia and her husband David Craig, he told them that they must leave enough room for the wildlife. They have fulfilled this wish in a most exemplary manner, for the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is now one of the most successful wildlife sanctuaries in the world. The Lewa-Borana Landscape is now home to over 200 rhino and one of the largest lion populations in Laikipia.

 The marriage to Alec was not to last. Much later on Delia met Will Powys and there started a perfect marriage. Together they were a magnificent team. She gave him a daughter, Rose and two sons, Charles and Gilfrid. Charles died in a gun accident in 1964 and Gilfrid was the Managing Director of his father’s farming businesses until he was killed by an elephant in 2017. Rose married Tony Dyer and they had four sons, Michael, Fuzz, Martin and Charlie. Rose and Tony both passed away at home in 2017.