Playing Golf on the Equator

We are spending the night at the Mt. Kenya Safari Club. This place is famous because it was originally built by William Holden, the famous movie actor (remember the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai"?). It recently got bought by Fairmont Hotels and they are doing a major remodel. Even so, the rooms (cottages) are very nice and the reconstruction does not really affect our stay.

Oh, and Jordan's luggage FINALLY showed up today. Clean underwear and socks today.

We actually played golf here. They have a 9 hole golf course - not in very good condition. We rented clubs and hired a caddie. We brought our own golf balls (and gave what was left to our caddie as a gift). We had the privilege of meeting the caddie master at the first tee and the course superintendent on the third hole. He informed us that due to construction on a few holes, we could play six of the holes as many times as we wanted. We were the only people on the course.

The layout was quite unique. Between the tee and the green on several holes there are several huge trees blocking your shot. You've got to be REALLY, REALLY good to get over the trees. The seventh hole was the best. A straight line drawn between the tee and the green actually lies on the equator. That was cool.

The best part of the Mt. Kenya Safari Club is the Wildlife Conservancy. They take in animals that are orphaned, or injured, or whose numbers are endangered, and raise them. They often return animals to their natural habitat. They are responsible for reintroducing the bongo (a small, high altitude antelope) back onto Mt. Kenya. Until this project, the largest population of bongos was in zoos in the U.S..

Here are some of the animals in the Wildlife Conservancy: