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Long,
long before movie star William Holden set his eyes on what became one of
the most stunning hotels in Africa (or wherever else for that matter) it should
have been christened Heart Break Hotel … the first woman in whose honour this
temple of love was built in the glistening sunshine of Nanyuki, Myra Wheeler by
her lover and Englishman who had served in India, became the first widow when
here man was killed in a drunken brawl. Rhoda Lewishon who rebirthed the estate
into something like the spectacular stately houses of Paris lost her husband
somewhere in Europe. Both women gave it their all to this temple of love.
Hotelier Jack Block’s family then got their mitts on it and added their
hotelier touches to it until William Holden, Ray Ryan, Carl Hirschmann and much
later Adnan Khashoggi put their stamp on the estate. In Adnan’s case, I think
his only contribution was leaving an oversized bed!
The saga of Kenya’s finest (no, exclusively
high-class) hotel is captured in an endearing book Paradise Lost, the story of
the Mount Kenya Safari Club, By Lucinda de Laroque with photographs by the late
great Mohammed Amin and others. As a journalist, I had the privilege of
visiting “paradise” on several occasions and met Mo Amin during one of his many
shoots there.
When you look at the lives of the exiles from
Kenya, I wonder if there is anywhere in the world with the equal of “Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania paradise lost) but more in Kenya than anywhere else. Others
like South Africa past may come close.
I found a version of the story in the
newsletter published by Great Hotels of the World. I am sure you will add your
own memory of Mawingu (that is what Myra Wheeler first called it).
Mawingu, as it was first christened is “clouds” in English.
Some folks called it Mawingo which is wings
in English. I think “clouds” is probably more appropriate, because they do tend
to hang low in that region.
High on the slopes of Africa's second-highest
mountain, The Mount Kenya Safari Club straddles the Equator in a glory of
luxurious cottages and elegant buildings set amid manicured lawns and
decorative ponds. Founded in 1959 by the late film star William Holden,
eccentric American Ray Ryan, and Swiss financier Carl Hirschmann, it has been a
Mecca for the international jet set - its list of members reads like a Who's
Who of royalty, aristocracy, and the rich and famous. The Club's history is as
colourful and exciting as its members and visitors - from the pioneers who made
the homestead and the farm their own, through its conversion into an upcountry
hotel, to the uproarious narrative of the three-hell raisers who bought it on a
whim and launched a legend. Everyone agrees that Mt Kenya Safari Club Nanyuki
is an exclusive retreat. Situated some one hundred and ninety kilometres north
of Nairobi, on the slopes of Mt Kenya, it has a reputation for relaxed
elegance. Many of the world’s most famous names, be they royalty, film stars or
merely the rich, seek it out as a secluded haven where, although you don your
safari gear during the day, you always dress for dinner.
The Mt
Kenya Safari Club was born of a love affair and one that had all the
ingredients of an epic Romance, a handsome older woman, a dashing aviator and,
for their playground, all of Africa. However, what gave the creation of
“Mawingo” its sparkle was the unlikeness that was almost typical of the
spontaneous, champagne years that gave the Kenya of the 1930s its notoriety.
Rhoda
Lewinsohn was married to a millionaire financier from New York. She had
everything: a philanthropic husband of good social standing and two grown-up
daughters, but also a rare ability to enjoy life to the fullest. Evidence of
this “joie de vivre” is threaded throughout her story from the moment she left
her family in the United States to holiday in Kenya.
Although
in her fifties, Rhoda was a stunningly attractive woman, as sleek as a
thoroughbred racehorse, and with the same dynamic energy. Perhaps it was these
qualities that attracted Gabriel Prudhomme to her. He was much younger than
she, an adventurous French bachelor who had his own aeroplane and was a keen
hunter of big game. When he took Rhoda and her friends on safari, not only did
Rhoda shoot her first elephant, but she also fell madly in love.
Gabriel
pressed his suit and very soon Rhoda, the Manhattan Matron, had discarded her
husband and her US citizenship. The couple was married in Paris before
returning to Kenya to live at Njoro among the Happy Valley set. Years later, as
a widow in her eighties with swept-back blonde hair and an unlined face, Rhoda
would show photos to her friends who came to tea at her home in Santa Barbara,
California.
The
pictures were foxed with age, but you could still see the figures in comical
long dresses and baggy shorts, arms linked and laughing on the lawn, or proudly
standing with gun in hand next to a trophy lion. She referred to them all by
their first names and spoke of them in the present tense as though they were still
around.
The
Duke and Duchess of Norfolk… Indian Erroll and her husband Joss who, later, was
to be shot mysteriously in his car one night – a murder that was never solved.
Rhoda and Gabriel were anxious to build their own home and had chosen as a
setting an enchanting expanse of forest and field at the foot of Mt Kenya near
Nanyuki.
The
property, however, was not for sale. It belonged to a Mrs Wheeler from San
Francisco who had also fallen in love with the same environment and wanted to
build a house of her own, … but a strange quirk of fate was to change
everything. Mrs Wheeler’s fiancé died suddenly while abroad. Grief-stricken,
she told Gabriel she would sell the land if he would fly to France, have the
body cremated, and bring the ashes back to Kenya. Gabriel agreed willingly and
later flew Mrs Wheeler high over Mt Kenya and scattered her lover’s remains
over the mountain.
The
Prudhomme started to build immediately and completed the house in a year.
Photographs show Indian labourers busy working on bamboo scaffolding. Unlike
other Kenyan houses of that time, where guest cottages were added on
haphazardly to accommodate a growing number of friends, relations and children,
Rhoda insisted on one large building. She said that she wanted everyone under
one roof because it got so muddy during the rains.
It was
Rhoda who gave the house the name “Mawingo”, the Kiswahili name for “the
clouds” that so often skirt the slopes of Mt Kenya. There have, of course, been
changes since then, but Club connoisseurs can still recognize the original
building, which extended to where the Trophy Lounge is today.
The
relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere is probably much the same as it ever was
and even in the early days, there was an abundance of tropical shrubs, a small
lake and a small orphanage of Antelope and Cheetah. The Prudhomme Mt Kenya
idyll lasted just a year before the onset of World War II shattered it in 1939
when Rhoda returned to New York. Tragedy ensued.
Having
fought for the Free French in Algeria, Gabriel flew to the United States to
rejoin Rhoda but, without the sparkling air of the Kenyan highlands to nourish
it, their relationship soured. Rhoda divorced Gabriel and thus lost both
husband and home, for she had given “Mawingo” to him as a present.
When
he died, shortly after the war, his intention had been to return it to her,
since in his own words, “...she was the only woman I ever loved”. He had,
however, forgotten to sign his will so the house went to his family, who were,
alas, never able to enjoy Mawingo.
During
the war, the family home in France was occupied and Gabriel’s family was forced
to live in their unheated attic. They both died of pneumonia. Mawingo was
bought in 1948 by Abraham Block, who extended the house and turned it into an
Inn.
In
1959 the film star William Holden stayed there with his friends Ray Ryan and
Carl Hirschmann, the latter a Swiss Banker. They were in the middle of a
shooting safari, and Ray Ryan needed to recuperate, having sustained a cut eye
from a gun recoil. All three men succumbed to Mawingo’s charm. They bought the
property and turned it into one of the most unusual and exclusive Clubs in the
world. “The Mt Kenya Safari Club”. It has blossomed over the years with each
new addition – luxurious cottages with sunken baths, a golf course, tennis
courts, swimming pool, and sauna and side by side to William Holden’s favourite
project – a 1000-acre game reserve stocked with more than 800 wild animals.
Following his death, it has now become the William Holden Foundation.
The
rich and famous still retreat to the Club for relaxation. Catherine Deneuve,
Liv Ullman, Stefanie Powers, Ali McGraw, author James Clavell, film producer
David Lean and footballer Joe Montana have all signed the guest book. Those who
have stayed there will understand Rhoda’s assertion to a friend in California,
some 30 years after her marriage to Gabriel had been dissolved “… those were the
happiest years of my life. There are no regrets…” There is no doubt that the
historical background of Mt Kenya Safari Club reads like a fairy tale.
The
only difference is that in this case, the fairy tale happens to be a true
story, which draws upon the feelings of almost everyone who hears about it and
realizes that such a place does exist.
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