Nairobi, Kenya
Many golfing travellers are aware of golf in Africa’s extremes, the north and the south, especially the southern coastline of South Africa. Substantially fewer know too much about the sport in its more central countries. Kenya straddles the Equator on the eastern coastline and with just a 2-3 hour time difference from the UK, jet lag should not be a feature here. Its bustling capital is Nairobi, a name derived from the Maasai for ‘cool water’, and at over 5,500 feet above sea level, the air is more refreshing than you might expect. With the majority of the nation’s golf within easy reach, it makes for the perfect base for a golfing safari.
Looking back from the ninth green at Great Rift Valley
(Image credit: Rob Smith)
The three courses featured below are all close to the city, as is the excellent Karen Golf Club in the south-western suburbs. The district and club were named after Karen Blixen, author of ‘Out of Africa’, which was published in the same year as its foundation, 1937. North from Nairobi is the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort, just beyond and looking back over Lake Naivasha. You approach via a lengthy track glimpsing warthogs and wildebeest along the way, and the rustic accommodation is dotted throughout the grounds. There are some really good holes such as the par-4 9th and the long 17th, and you feel as though you are playing in paradise, perhaps waiting for a zebra to move out of your line of play, or watching a black-headed oriole.
Great Rift Valley offers the perfect combination of golf and safari
(Image credit: Rob Smith)
A short flight from Nairobi across to the east coast will get you to Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. Here, there are several good courses including Nyali and Diamonds Leisure Beach & Golf Resort, while the star of the show is the excellent Vipingo Ridge. This is a relative youngster which opened for play in 2009, 20 years after its architect, David Jones, won the Kenya Open.
Muthaiga
The beautiful par-3 second hole at Muthaiga
(Image credit: Muthaiga Golf Club)
This historic, colonial club on the outskirts of Nairobi was one of the first to open in the country with its original 9-hole course dating back over a century. Soon expanded to a full 18, it was the beneficiary of a substantial upgrade in the early 2000s. It is the current host of the Kenya Open, a championship won here by the likes of Seve Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam.
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