Love nest that became rendezvous of the rich

With its beginnings set in idyllic romance, the story behind the Fairmont Mt Kenya Safari Club is inspired by love, conservation and the finer things in life, writes Ferdinand Mwongela

The Fairmont Mt Kenya Safari Club is an exclusive retreat in its own class. Set at the foot of the great mountain, it looks like a picture from a postcard with its white walls and imposing structure framed against the bluish mountain and the orange tinge of the rising sun in the morning.

Mt Kenya Safari Club is one of the most luxurious hotels in the country. What many do not know, however, is its rich and fascinating history.

Situated a few kilometres from Nanyuki town and slightly under an hour by air from Nairobi, the hotel is famous for its history as it is for its world-renowned visitors.

The hotel sits on the equator and it is said William Holden, its founder, boasted that he could dine in the Northern hemisphere and dance in the Southern hemisphere, all in one evening.

Its early history reads like the script of a Mexican soap opera pitting an older woman, a dashing young man and quite a bit of money.

According to the hotel’s historical profile, Rhoda Lewinsohn was married to a millionaire financier from New York. By any standards, she had everything, all capped by a beautiful family. That’s until she came to Kenya on holiday.

Romance and riches

Here she bumped into Gabriel Prudhomme, a French bachelor keen on big game hunting and who owned a plane. Soon, Rhoda, in her 50s, left her husband, denounced her US citizenship and got married to her younger lover in Paris.

The two came back to Kenya where they lived in Njoro as part of the now famous ‘happy valley setting’.

The two chose a site at the foot of Mt Kenya to build their home. The land had complications though; it belonged to a Mrs Wheeler who was not wiling to sell it. However, when her fiancÈ died, she agreed to sell it to Gabriel if only he would fly to France, have Mrs Wheeler’s fiancÈ’s body cremated and bring the ashes back to Kenya. This he gladly did and scattered the remains over Mt Kenya.

Gabriel and Rhoda built the house and called it Mawingo, a corruption of the Swahili name mawingu (clouds).

With the onset of World War Two, Rhoda went back to New York and Gabriel went to fight for the Free French in Algeria. He later rejoined her in the US, but the romance had flickered and was soon dead.

Holden’s legacy

Rhoda divorced Gabriel and gave him the house as a gift, but it was to revert to Rhoda should he die before her. Unfortunately, Gabriel forgot to sign his Will and the house automatically went to his family of two who later died of pneumonia.

In 1948, the house was bought by Abraham Block who turned it into an inn. The house’s turn for the better came in 1959 when film star William Holden stayed there with friends Ray Ryan and Carl Hirschman. They bought the property and turned it into a club, and thus Mt Kenya Safari Club was born.

To date, Holden’s legacy remains with the William Holden Foundation, which runs a conservancy right next to the hotel. The conservancy, Mt Kenya Orphanage, home to a wide variety of animals that include the mountain bongo and pigmy hippo, is a must visit for visitors to the hotel.

Through its run, the hotel has played host to big names that would make a gathering of who-is-who in many countries seem like kindergarten.

The rich repertoire of clients stretches from presidents to movie stars and authors. Former British wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill is said to have been among the founder members when the club opened.

The other list of members and visitors includes former presidents Lyndon Johnson of the US, Gafaar Numeiri of Sudan and El Hadj Omar Bongo of Gabon, author Robert Ruark, Prince Berhard of the Netherlands, Lord Louis Mountbatten and Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia among others.

Over the years, the hotel has undergone changes in management and extensive renovations. It is now part of the Fairmont hotels stable.

When you wake up here, the chilly morning, carefully manicured lawn and rugged peak of Mt Kenya conspire to give you a memorable time with the history of the place, an ever present backdrop.