Friday 9th September 2016: We leave Sarova Shaba Lodge at 7.30 with us bringing up the rear, over the bumpy road and onto the main road - some distance down we start to lose power and they suspect dirty fuel, so change tanks, finally stop and to cut a long story short the motor is seized - apparently the gauges weren't showing anything. Here we are on the side of the road - the lady from the nearby hut comes out and is collecting stones in a bucket, but she doesn't want us to take photos of her. A tour camper van stops and has four spare seats so the 3 ladies and Peter get a ride to where the other two vehicles are and we fit 2 into each one and continue to the Chimpanzee Orphanage. Steve, John & Arthur manage to get another ride, but they miss the Chimps. We will have another vehicle by tomorrow, brought up from Nairobi, 4 hours away. We shared the van with two English girls, very pleasant, but we thought we might have to get and push that combi, it was so slow going up hills as we are climbing again today.
 
The Chimpanzee Sanctuary was set up in 1993 for mistreated chimps - two guides take us around - each chimp is called by and knows it's name - they are very intelligent. We meet Coco and Polo, who are 23 & 36 years old - they were rescued from the Congo after poachers had taken their family. Oscar - 15 years old - was born here to Judy who has polio - they apparently succumb to many of the ailments that humans get.
 
When we arrive at the Fairmont Safari Lodge, John & Arthur are already there enjoying a beer out on the lawns - it is straight into lunch as we are late and then to the Equator Ceremony - the equator runs right through the middle of the hotel. We have a demo of the Coriolis Theory that water runs clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti clockwise in the Southern. The two stations are set up each 7 metres from the equator line and guess what, that is exactly what happened. Ceremonial presentation of certificate for crossing the equator. The computer now throws some doubt on this theory - oh well!, maybe we should have swapped the dishes over and see if it was still the same.
 
Not to waste any of the day John & I then went to the Animal Orphanage that is in the grounds. It has orphaned, injured and a breeding program for endangered species. We finally see a leopard here, right up the top of a tree and feed some of the animals, which is a bit hairy at times. For dinner we are having another bush BBQ: taken by vehicles down to the river and there are structures, paths etc so they must do this regularly. Another cultural dance performance by the Kikuyu tribe this time - I must admit these don't do much for me, particularly two nights in a row.
The Fairmont is a very nice Lodge set in beautiful grounds - in 1959 William Holden the film star was in Kenya on a game expedition when he needed somewhere to relax between shoots and decided to buy the land and built this Lodge which has seen many film stars visit - all of their photos adorning a majestic dining room. It is at the foothills of Mt Kenya in the township of Nanyuki, the tribal grounds of the Kikuyu tribe.