Tranquil golf club rides out Kenya's conflict

By Tim Cocks

ELDORET, Kenya (Reuters) - Days of road blockades and destruction may have convulsed Kenya's Rift Valley -- but the Eldoret Club hasn't run out of tea, toast or marmalade.

Sporting an immaculate nine-hole golf course lined with ancient trees, the club has been an oasis of calm in a week of political turbulence that saw at least 90 people killed and tens of thousands displaced in clashes in the Eldoret area alone.

Eldoret has suffered some of the worst of the ethnic violence that erupted in Kenya -- normally seen as a stable country in a troubled region -- after President Mwai Kibaki was pronounced winner of an election the opposition says was rigged.

A wave of riots, looting and in some cases ethnic-based killing has followed, turning the once sleepy town into a war zone, with U.N. staff rushing food supplies to refugees in scenes more normally associated with other parts of east Africa.

Visitors to the town's tranquil club, however, could be forgiven for not noticing the chaos -- a reminder that even in the worst crises, it is rarely the rich who suffer most.

"We're playing golf to relieve the stress," sighs a Kenyan businessman, as he tees off. "We only had to close shop but not everyone is lucky enough to still live normal lives."

With its swimming pool and terraces overlooking spectacular greenery, the club could be Kenya in the 1950s -- except for the signs warning of a penalty for using mobile phones and the fact most members are now middle class indigenous Kenyans.

"ANOTHER BEER?"