HADEN ODNOU LE nenaoeorennretnvecsoeseetonaens

JUST over 100 years ago when the British were building a rail- way from Mombasa to Uganda they stopped

‘to draw a breath at a

watering hole on a

- 5000-ft. high plateau.

Today this place is Nairobi, the biggest city between Cairo and Johannesburg.

There’s still a watering, hote, but it’s now the

‘Norfolk Hotel, where a

curry lunch and a few

Tusker beers can do won-

ders for a weary body, . ‘Here, on the veranda,

you can find shelter from

the equatorial sun, gather

your wits and get ready for rica,

The Norfolk has been providing such a service since it was opened by Major Ringer in 1904, and has endured as a truly splen- did monument with the lore and patina of Raffles in Singapore or the Bela Vista

, in Macau...

‘The eariy-anpea! was big game not far from the front door, including man-cating lions, and ithe first clients included so many titled Britons the Norfolk became known as the House of Lords. :

Uganda’ Railways adver- tised the highlands of British

~ Bast Africa as a winter home

for aristocrats.

As Jan Hemsing relates in,

her book about the Norfolk, safaris would begin fromthe street outside with huge gatherings of porters, pack animals, guides and cooks.

WATCH FOR IT MAY 25_

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IN a

Denys Finch- Hatton, lover of Karen Blixen (Ont of Africa) would pick up his ‘safari clients here, as would famous hunters such as Frederick Courtacy Sclous, Sir Frederick Jackson and Major Hugh Chauncey Stigand, the latter a tough. character who survived , being mauled by a lioness, gored by a rhino and stomped by an elephant.

The farmers had their moments too.

Lord Delamere’s idea of a good night was to shoot the bottles off the bar counter at the Norfolk, and during race week, when- events often got out of hand, one enthusiastic

woman had a passion for

riding into the bar and firing her revolver into the ceiling. Tn her book White Man’s Country, Elspeth Huxley describes wild parties in the years cround 1910: “It was

. nothing to have an Italian

count or an Austrian baron

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thrown through the window on to your bed in the mid-’

dle of the night.”

These days Nairobi at | night is not for the faint of heart, but not for the same reasons, It’s a dirty, danger- ous city although the

Ik carries on serenely with the best. restaurant in the country presided over by

Norfo

chef Eamon Mullan.

Scores of safari clients still come and go daily and many must marvel that the

i wi

ICBC CLAIMS

~ Protect yourselt: :

; Photo submitted THE Norfolk Hotel (above) was opened in 1904 by Major Ringer to provide com- fort and shelter for big game hunters in Kenya. Today, hunters still hunker down at the Norfolk, but are usually outnumbered by tourists exploring Africa.

ing apart at the seams.

former home of Karen

of armed gangs.

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institution

Mee fering Kenyans will have to fae. put up with their dictator * Daniel Arap Moi, who has

hotel can deliver such high which turned up fresh on standards amid a city com-

I took a drive out to.the

Blixen. Unfortunately it's looking quite run down and a visit to the Ngong Hills © grave of her lover Denys Finch-Hatton was out of the question due to the presence

_ The Thorn Tree Cafe at the New Stanley Hotel is looking quite seedy but the

Sunday, May 18, 1997 — North Shore News ~ 19

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notice board is still a draw. Various peaple were offering a ride to Ethiopta, malaria tablets for sale, a honey- moon in Venice and a ren- dezvous in Karachi,

Main topic of conversa: tion was how the long-suf- : NEW OREGON - F ADVENTURE TOURS Wikd Horse Hota! Casino, Columbia Gorge, _ been ripping off the country — [Uscoln City, Seven Feathers Cesino

just like Mobutu in Zaire,

Most states have stopped aid to Kenya but while Twas there the Canadian ambas- sador was handing over

- another million dollars or 50, The story said it was for - food aid, but this is one place where you really can’t ’ believe anything you read in the papers.

It was a relief to get out of tawn, even by Kenya Airways, and relax at the Nyali Beach Hotel just north of Mombasa.

Here the Indian Ocean lapped on a sandy beach and locals caught fish and lobster

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IN ss Prices ore bettes thon ever in Reno, Choose

the hotel menu every night.

There was alsoa good =” pub and even a billiards |. room with a full-size table, * and sportsmen around the pool applauded the porter ' who came by with a sign: “Hong Kong 7s rugby live on TV in the bar.” ;

Lord Delamere would have approved.

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