He bought land near the Ngong Hills and there he planted coffee on a very large scale over much of the land that was later known as Karen Estates. Divorced Karen to marry Cockie Birkbeck

It was reported that he died in a motor accident in Sweden whilst on holiday there in 1946.

Best - Appears in 'The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber' by Ernest Hemingway. He made good friends of Ernest Hemingway during his hunting trips.

Nellie - A frequent visitor to the Lindstroms at Sergoita - 'Blix was known also for his charms as a philanderer, and for his shaky finances. On safari, he chased lions and sometimes ladies, but in between his creditors chased him. Sergoita was his favourite hide-out. Its farm track wound down a long hill, steep in places, and approaching cars were often out of sight when zig-zagging up to the house. A creditor might therefore take the Baron unawares and serve a writ. This situation, Fish [Lindstrom] decided, must be remedied. Mobilizing his plough teams, he drove a track straight down the hill, eliminating bends. Approaching vehicles could then be seen scrambling up in good time for Blix to take refuge in the forest behind the house. In the rains, the track became a river which swept soil down to form a quagmire at the bottom. Then Blix was even safer; his creditors could not only be seen but could be seen to be stuck.'  

Midday Sun - 'The Blixen marriage was already on the rocks. Tania's famous love affair with Denys Finch Hatton was under way and the Baron, Blix as he was known, had been expelled by Tania's family from the management of their farm at Ngong. ...... Blix, possessed of much charm but no money, was living a kind of gypsy life in the bush with no fixed abode, existing on tick, and dodging his creditors. There was a shop in Nairobi called The Dustpan, kept by a Mr Jacobs, where Blix got his bare necessities. Mr Jacobs was patient, but there came a time when Blix was threatened with imprisonment for debt. He was in despair. Cockie offered Mr Jacobs her pearls in settlement. Mr Jacobs refused the pearls saying: 'The Baron will hear no more of this little difficulty.' And he did not. Blix and Cockie worked out an unusual way to make their assignations. They concealed their messages in the barrel of Blix's rifle, which was taken to Tania's farm manager, who acted as a go-between. 'It must be our secret,' Cockie said of their affair. One day the manager's wife discovered the ruse, informed a furious Tania, and Blix wrote: 'It is our secret no longer.' In 1922 Tania and Blix were divorced, thankfully on his part and somewhat reluctantly on hers.' Despite Blix's extravagance, fecklessness and philandering, the hearts of neither friends nor wives ever hardened against him. Cockie's divorce from Ben followed 2 years later. 'I hope you'll both be very happy,' said a friend after their wedding. 'So do I,' replied Cockie 'but that may be difficult, literally without a penny.' The friend's response was to offer Cockie ú800 a year to go to Tanganyika, locate some land whose lease he had been granted, and plant coffee. ....... Soon after they had settled at Babati, Blix was summoned to Arusha by Denys Finch Hatton, who was in charge of an important safari. The client was the Prince of Wales. Blix was invited to join the safari as second hunter; Cockie went back to Babati, only to be awakened from her sleep by the arrival of 5 weary, hungry and bedraggled travellers: Blix and Finch Hatton with the Prince and 2 aides, the Hon Piers Legh and Alan Lascelles. They demanded food, but Cockie told them that the meat-safe was empty. 'You must have something,' said the Prince. 'Only eggs.' 'Well then, scrambled eggs.' They scrambled the eggs together. 'Is Blixen leaving you all alone here?' the royal guest enquired. Cockie said yes. 'Then you'd better come with us.' So Cockie did. ........... (more about safari) .......... The Blixen's idyll at Babati ended. The coffee did not thrive and the enterprise was closed down by its owner. Cockie started a dress shop in Nairobi while Blix turned back to hunting for his livelihood, and also resumed his pursuit of attractive ladies. He was in turn pursued by a lady who had never met him but had heard so much about him in their native Sweden that she had resolved to become the third Baroness Blixen. So she set out for Africa, arrived at Babati, where Blix had his safari base, and announced that she had come to stay. And stay she did. For a while Blix, African-style, enjoyed the company of one wife in the bush and another in Nairobi; but when a friend invited him to stay and he accepted with the rider: 'I shall bring both wives,' Cockie responded with the edict: 'You will take only one.' He took Eva. So the marriage ended.'

Markham - Blix was incorrigible - not selective and aged 50, 'of undiminished appetite, stamina and extravagance'. Gin was Blix's elixir and he blamed his needs on the mythical Dr. Turvey. Bunny Allen remains baffled  that both Karen Blixen and Beryl Markham could have been attracted to the same two men, who, beyond legendary physical stamina, were so different. Beryl's explanation is uncomplicated. She slept with Blix; she was in love with Denys [Finch-Hatton]  

Bror - 1913 - My contact with MacMillan was through the direct mediation of his friend the Swedish engineer Ake Sj÷gren, who threw open his house to me with great kindness and hospitality. ......... I therefore sold my 700 acres and bought instead from Mr Sj÷gren the Swedo-African Coffee Co., owning 4500 acres near Nairobi and about the same area near Eldoret. Perham - 1929 - Tanganyika - I went out 12 miles to lunch with Baron von Blixen one of the most famous men in EA ..... husband, now separated I believe of the famous writer Baroness von Blixen. ........ He has a glorious home overlooking the great Rift Valley towards Lake Manyara and Kilimanjaro ..... he has a coffee shamba but I think the farm is a mere excuse or hobby ..... Blixen told her he was broke .... he has been amazingly good to me and I like him.

Rundgren - He was tall, with a kind, aristocratic face, and a wonderful capacity for enjoying himself. He was always in good humour, enthusiastic and prepared to attempt any scheme. His personality captivated people ..... could talk anybody into anything. A picture that is clear in my mind is of the first time my father took me to the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, and our finding Blixen there surrounded by about a dozen admiring fans, most of them women, whom he had just treated to lunch. ....... A man who in 20 odd years must have made £200,000 out of hunting and now literally didn't have a cent...... Shortly before WW1 and for a few years after he was in partnership with Ture Rundgren in a coffee estate but was not a satisfactory partner so the partnership broke up. ...…  

Pori Tupu - 'Blix' was one of the most elegant, charming and hospitable of men - a good deal sought after by some of the most attractive women in EA 'Society'. He could shoot and hit a coin in the air, and once during a hunt he shot down a charging elephant a few feet away from where the Prince of Wales had been standing a moment before - just in time Blix had pushed him into the bush with one hand. When HRH emerged from among the thorns somewhat piqued in both senses, Blix said with his most engaging smile: 'Sorry Sir - I hope you're all right - I hadn't much time.' Blix was remarkably hospitable, not only when you met him in clubs and hotels, but even in the deepest bush. I never quite overcame my surprise at being offered an iced Dry Martini in these unlikely circumstances, and being served with it a moment later out of a Thermos flask by an immaculate gunbearer. Whenever he went on safari, he always carried the flask with him, containing alcoholic refreshment cold enough for even his American clients. ....... (story of lion 'taming' pp. 37-39)

Bror Letters - 'Always a popular guest, Blix had a remarkable capacity for alcohol, though he was never the worse for it. His stamina was astonishing and one friend recalls how, after a traditional three-day New Year's celebration at the Muthaiga Club, which included "racing, dancing and feasting - during which time nobody got any sleep - he suddenly left early in the morning to prepare a camp on the Serengeti, ready to receive a party of Safari clients who were arriving by air that same day. ........" .... Blix's travels were many. There was a period of exile in Uganda and the Congo that he spent hunting. Later, he met Sir Charles Markham and the two not only became firm friends but made the first crossings of the Sahara in a four-wheeled vehicle. ...... ..... Blix's marriage to Cockie failed in 1933 and he soon fell in love with an attractive Swede named Eva Dickson. Despite her glamour and an adventurous nature, Eva was neither accepted nor admired by Blix's friends, who disliked her ability to dominate him. Although she called herself Baroness Blixen, Blix once confided to me that they had never formally married. Blix's attitude was, "If it amuses her to call herself Baroness, let her do so." (Unfortunately, Eva, who had been eavesdropping at the door, heard Blix's quiet confidence and came storming into the room accusing Blix of not being able to keep a secret and of breaking his word.) .......... It has many times been suggested that Beryl {Markham} and Blix had a love affair. I knew both of them very well at the time concerned, and as far as I know, there was never a romance between them. Still, when they were both out on reconnaissance safaris they quite naturally - neither of them being a great believer in celibacy - found it more entertaining not to sleep alone. They were very good friends and enjoyed an easy-going, carefree relationship with many shared interests ....... 1938 ......... This was my last meeting with Blix in Africa. Soon thereafter he left for Europe, where we met briefly, before he departed to take up a job as Winston Guest's estate manager on Gardiner's Island at the eastern end of Long Island. ......... The last time I saw Blix was when, in the summer of 1945, I was on leave from a posting in Burma ..... I was staying with Blix in Skane, where he was then living with his last great love, Ruth Rasmusson. It was perhaps the first time he had achieved a completely harmonious love and happiness with a woman ........ It was only after I returned to active duty that I heard of Blix's death in a car accident on Easter Sunday, 1946.

Into Africa - Bror Blixen, Danish nobleman and former husband of Karen Blixen, who introduced Denys Finch Hatton as 'my wife's lover, and my best friend'. Blixen played very hard in a very fast set, was the natural choice (with Finch Hatton) to run the Prince of Wales' safari, and got himself lots of publicity with the international moneyed. He was said to have made £200,000 out of hunting, a remarkable figure. He cultivated a reputation as a womanizer.

EA Sportsman's Handbook, 1934 - Advert - African Guides Ltd. - Directors - Baron Von Blixen, Philip Percival, J.F. Manley Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Dagoretti - B.C. Bliconfiniche !!??

Medals - East African Intelligence Department - Baron Blixen, Agent

Aschan - Although it has been said that Blix had the morals of a stoat, he was certainly adored by his family and loved by his friends. ……….. Karen Dinesen, known to family and friends as Tanne, and the Blixen twins had known each other from childhood. Blix's mother and Tanne's father were cousins. …….. Although it was one of convenience, their marriage was built on friendship and affection. For the present, they set aside the reality of their fundamentally opposite temperaments. Tanne neither shared his wild drinking sprees nor approved of his open womanizing, while Blix had no desire to understand Tanne's more artistic and intellectual bent. ……… Both families were dismayed [at the marriage]. 1914 - One evening Blix was sitting on the verandah of the Norfolk Hotel having a drink with Walter Shapley, a prominent lawyer with a marked Teutonic appearance, and Arnold Meyer, editor of the 'East African Standard' newspaper, born a German Jew and now a naturalized British subject. Dark, hostile looks in their direction caused Shapley, a man of humor, to react in his unmistakeable, booming voice: "We seem to be the three most suspicious characters here this evening. You, Meyer, are German. I look like one, and Blix here, God knows what he is!"

Red Book 1919 - Baron von Blixen Finecke - Settler - Ngong, Nairobi