On to Nanyuki

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My fear of flying in small planes over, we connected in Nairobi private airport for the flight to Nanyuki. In a fertile farm belt, this was the area of the Mau Mau uprising, led by Kenyatta, then imprisoned, and like Mandela elected president when he got out of jail. He turned out to be hugely corrupt, funneling billions in foreign aid to his family and friends, while Kenyans starved. Nanyuki seems much richer than towns website have seen in Tanzania and Amboseli. Clean, paved streets, architecture instead of huts thrown together. Along the road are lovely estates left from British Colonialism. We passed many, many boarding schools, even a World Vision enclave.
On arrival at Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club, we were welcomed by some Masai, but a different tribe. We are staying right on the equator, so watched a water flowing demonstration. Then were given a certificate by the chief of the tribe that we had crossed the equator. We freshened up in our gorgeous room overlooking the forest, then headed to lunch on the verandah, accompanied by a White Cap Beer, the local, named for Mt. Kenya. After fine dining at the buffet we headed for the onsite Animal Orphanage. We saw some cats in cages, monkeys hanging around, then some bush babies wandering around uncaged. A guide, Arthur, arrived with some pellets and we were able to hand feed the Crested Crane, bush hogs, and an ostrich named Patricia. The orphanage us run as a place where wild baby animals whose mothers have been killed or lost are raised. In addition there is a cheetah breeding program. Those two cheetah are gorgeous. All cheetah in the world are from the same gene pool, and only 30% survive to adulthood. So here they breed pairs, raise cubs until they can hunt, then release into the protection of a National Park. There was a century old tortoise as we'll as a leopard tortoise, much smaller and faster. We also explored a small church on the grounded, very rustic, but it felt very spiritual.

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