The Mount Kenya Safari Club is probably the most famous hotel in all of Africa. Several hours away from Nairobi, it sits on a beautiful grassy site facing the magnificent Mt. Kenya. One of its owners was the late motion picture actor William Holden.

It's a five star hotel and we stayed there for two days and two nights. The rooms were unusually plush, especially for us on safari who were used to tents, albeit luxury tents. Exotic birds roam the grounds, and exotic animals populate the nearby Animal Orphanage . And as we drove around the area, we found many more animals: giraffes and cheetahs, and even a tame rhino.

How was the food service? Good and bad. Good the first night, not so good the second. It seems that Mr. Holden's last lady love was getting married in the bush, the second day of our visit. And it also seemed that all the good help was pulled away from the public dining room to serve the wedding guests in a private room nearby. But we still had to wear jackets and ties.