Where luxury meets adventure in Kenya's Nanyuki

Kenya has few locations that fascinate locals and foreigners alike like Nanyuki. Located in what was at one time colloquially known as the new ‘Happy Valley’, Nanyuki is the frontier to the wildlife-rich Laikipia Plains. Only Tsavo ecosystem exceeds Laikipia’s wildlife capacity.

However, Nanyuki’s story cannot be told without that of Laikipia. As you may have learnt in your history lessons, European explorers arrived in the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, followed closely by British administrators.

Remember the infamous Joseph Thomson? He was the first European to traverse the land of the then feared Maasai, reaching Laikipia in 1883.

Then there was Count Samuel Teleki who crisscrossed the land on an expedition into the great lakes of the Rift Valley.

Then came Halford Mackinder who made the first recorded ascent to Kenya’s highest point, Batian, in 1899. Both men’s names are immortalised in a valley and a camp on Mount Kenya.

These Europeans blazed the trail for the influx of white settlers into the region. The 1912 “agreement” between the Maasai Laibon and the British moved the Laikipia Maasai to Narok, paving the way for Europeans to occupy the land.

The different sides of the Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club. (PHOTO: PETER MUIRURI/ STANDARD)

Nanyuki was established in 1907 by the settlers whose descendants still run cattle ranches and look after big game in Laikipia up to this day.

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The de facto headquarters of tourism in the greater Laikipia, Nanyuki, combines luxury and adventure in equal doses. Within Nanyuki’s environs are some of the most exclusive game ranches and corresponding safari camps that continue to attract the high and the mighty from Kenya and abroad.

From British royalty to American movies stars, these luxury camps have seen them all. In October 2010, Prince William, heir to the British throne, engaged his fiancé Kate Middleton at the rustic Rutundu Log Cabins in Nanyuki’s neighbourhood.

As the name suggests, the camp has no electricity, but has log fires as the main means of warming the night.

The world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, spent some time viewing wildlife at Segera Ranch, a few hours’ drive from Nanyuki.

With such high-flying guests passing by the town, it is no wonder that Nanyuki and the surrounding high country have been described as the “millionaire’s playground”.

Mt Kenya safari club

However, one luxury establishment towers above them all. The Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club has all the characteristics of a dream holiday destination. Like the rest of Laikipia, the hotel has a fascinating history.

The haunt for former United States President Lyndon Johnston and Britain’s Sir Winston Churchill, was, like many establishments in pre-independence Kenya, born out of a love affair.

Rhoda Lweinsohn, then married to a New York millionaire, left her family in the US to come and enjoy a holiday in Kenya. Here, she fell in love with Gabriel Prudhomme, a young aviator. Her marriage in America was dispensed with as she married the high-flier.

They bought a piece of land near the slopes of Mount Kenya from a Mrs Wheeler where they built a home that Rhoda called Mawingo after the clouds that hovered over the mountain. In 1948, the home was bought by Abraham Block who turned it into a rest house. In 1959, a movie actor, William Holden and his three game-hunting companions, spent some time in the inn to cool their heels after a gruelling hunt.

Fascinated by its charm, Holden bought the establishment and the world famous Mount Kenya Safari Club was born.

The hotel literally sits on two worlds. With the equator slicing the hotel into two, this is perhaps the only five-star hotel in the world you can take a bath in the northern hemisphere and watch TV on the southern hemisphere – but in the same room.