The Mount Kenya Safari Club - Feb 2-3

This morning we left the Amboseli Lodge to fly up into the highlands to the famous Mount Kenya Safari Club, originally built by the actor William Holden and a couple of others as their African hunting lodge. But we’ll have more on that later. We flew up in a Kenya Airways Twin Otter, flying time about an hour.

 

 

First view of Mt. Kenya

 

Upon arriving at the Nanyuki Air Strip, we were picked up by a small bus from the Fairmont Hotel which now runs the Safari Club property. Our own driver/guides were driving our vehicles up from Amboseli, a 6 hour drive, fortunately mostly on good roads. The reason Tauck doesn’t drive groups around Kenya very much is that the road system is not that great in the areas of the lodges and it would take up far too much time to get from place to place. No issue for us, as we like to fly in small planes and see something of the country from a bird’s-eye view.

Once we got to the Safari Club, we were immediately treated to the Equator Crossing Ceremony. The equator runs right through the middle of the club, which resulted in much joking amongst the group, like changing into your bathing suit in the Northern Hemisphere and going swimming in the pool in the Southern!

Here’s your chance to meet the other group members as they all do their equator dance and receive their certificates. Unlike at sea where you are known as a ‘shellback’ after you cross the equator, there doesn’t seem to be a special name when you do it on land.

The official location sign

Jose and Silvia from Buenos Aires

Dick and Dona from California

Cory and Paula from North Dakota

Rodney and Carolyn from North Dakota

 

John and Mary Blue from Florida

 

and us with our certificates. No, you don't need to see us dance!

Here’s Bwana Larry fitting right in with his surroundings

The grounds are quite beautiful. Apparently the main lodge building was the only one there when William Holden and Don Hurt bought the property in 1959 and they added on extra buildings as accommodations for club members and invited guests – which included the likes of Cary Grant, Marlon Brando, Ernest Hemingway and many others. Some of the activities available include horseback riding, tennis, golf (9-hole par 3), bike riding, hikes with guides for birdwatching, etc., etc. After the early mornings and bumpy game drives for the past week we were quite happy to relax a bit here.

The view of the main building from out on the grounds

Looking across the pool to the grounds, that include a Lawn Bowling
area and a Maze

The ZeBar lounge

Larry walking along the equator in the rose garden

By the pool

One of the sitting areas, near our room

Our room - every night at turndown the attendant lit a real
fire in the fireplace and put hot water bottles in the bed!

 

In the ZeBar before dinner. That's our tour director, Rachel, in
the plaid shirt

The food was quite good overall. Breakfast and lunch were buffet and dinner usually table service, even in the lodges where the regular dinner for other guests was buffet.

 

For all you chocolate lovers, this dessert was a chocolate brownie with Amarula ice cream and chocolate sauce. Amarula is an African fruit and the liqueur is very much like Bailey's but with a slightly fruity taste - and we can get it at home.

On our second day at the club, we visited the Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy. It is an open wildlife area, but there is also a large enclosed area where endangered species are kept safe from predators (including poachers).

A Grevy's Zebra, different from the ones we had already seen
as its stripes are thinner, straighter and don't go all the way around

A Reticulated Giraffe, also different from
those we had seen before. The spot pattern
is more cobblestone and uniform in colour

Inside Ol Pejeta is the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. This is one of a number of safe areas that were established by Jane Goodall that care for chimpanzees that had been in circuses or shows or privately owned but were not properly cared for or abandoned. Chimps are not indigenous to this part of Africa, but the ones here cannot be released back into their home habitat because they wouldn’t survive as they don’t have the skills to live in the wild. Sweetwaters has two families living in the compound, each on their own side of the river.

Baboons playing in a tree near the
chimp area

 

 

 

After leaving the sanctuary, we went on another game drive around Ol Pejeta, and guess what we found?

Yes, it is a little far away under that big bush, but we finally finished the Big Nine with our cheetah sighting! Maybe we’ll get one a little closer before we come home, but at least we can say we saw one!

We also found an animal that is not seen very often – the African Wild Dog. They are usually hiding away, especially during the day, so when one of our guides found a pack, we had to go investigate. They live in underground dens, and we were lucky enough to be nearby when one of the moms wanted to check on her pups

Self explanatory

This is the bridge

Us at the Equator in Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Once back at the club, we were in time for the weekly outside Sunday barbecue lunch. This is sort of like a Sunday brunch at a hotel at home, where local folks can come to eat as well as hotel guests. A lot of workers came from India during colonial times to help build the railroad in Kenya (which isn't used much any more since it doesn't go to any of the major cities except Nairobi and Mombasa) and many of them stayed when their contract was up. As a result there is a lot of Indian influence in Kenyan food. But that didn't mean that Larry and a few others couldn't get their burger fix!!

Spit roasting goat

Sausages and chicken

Paella rice, pork ribs, a smal beef skewer and some chicken.
The purple thing on the side is grilled arrowroot. Tastes much
better as arrowroot cookies!!

Desserts are always delicious, and it is pineapple season, which
makes Larry really happy! They even had decorate-your-own
cupcakes.

After lunch we visited the Mt. Kenya Wildlife Conservancy Animal Orphanage. This orphanage was established by the actress Stefanie Powers in 1978 and she is still very involved with it. She has a house on the grounds of the Safari Club and visits frequently – in fact she was here when the previous tour came to stay two weeks ago. Here are a few photos of our tour:

A Caracal cat and her 'kitten'

Larry feeding a Bongo

Larry feeding a Great Crowned Crane. This pair of cranes just
had chicks hatch, and they are really cute!

Monica feeding a young Cape Buffalo

Patricia the Ostrich came for a 'hand-out'

Do these glasses look familiar? This little guy is a true
'pick pocket'! He stole them right out of Monica\s pocket and was gone
before we even knew he was there! It took a bit to get them back
but they came through their ordeal just fine.

 

This one's for Eric. Larry and his new weight-
lifting buddy

 

 A Pygmy Hippo

This little Duiker followed us around most of our
tour and even let us pet her!

A Colobus Monkey grabbing some corn

Cheetahs. These brothers were abandoned by their
mother at eight weeks old because her litter was too big. They've
been living at the orphanage ever since

 

In the evening rather than eating in the hotel dining room, we had a ‘bush dinner’ down by the river. This is something new that the hotel has only set up during the last few months for small group private parties. Take a look at the photos:

 

 

After a really enjoyable dinner we headed back to our rooms. Tomorrow morning is our visit to the local Spinners and Weavers Co-operative and a Pre-School.