Champagne Safari

Two years after their wedding, Prince Aly Khan and actress Rita Hayworth decide to go on safari as a second honeymoon. They invite Rita's personal representative, Jackson Leighter, and his wife Lola to join them and Jackson decides to shoot a film about their journey. The Leighters join Rita in Pompeii and tour the ruins, then travel on to Athens, where they visit the Parthenon. They leave Europe for Africa to meet Prince Aly in Egypt, where Jackson films the royal couple visiting the Tombs of the Pharaohs, Valley of Kings and sailing on the Nile. Aly and the others then head for his house in Nairobi, Kenya, where Aly spends two weeks each year. Jackson is impressed that Prince Aly, "the forty-ninth generation in direct line from Mohammed, is worshipped almost as a God." Jackson and Lola use one of Aly's five chauffeur-driven cars to visit the British garrison, where native Kikuyu tribespeople are being held in detention camps as a result of the Mau Mau uprisings. Later, the Leighters visit an outdoor market, the scene of a recent Mau Mau slaughter, and are present when native musicians, singers and dancers perform "a long hymn of praise to the Prince and Princess." In Mombasa, in British E. Africa, Rita inspects some of the schools created by Aly's father, the widely respected, philanthropic Aga Khan, and watches as Wakamba tribesmen, who live much as their ancestors did, perform a dance for her. Aly's private plane, piloted by an ex-RAF officer, takes the group to visit several remote Ismaili communities. In Tanganyika, where a large crowd welcomes the Prince and Princess, the men gather round the Prince and ignore Rita. The couple visits more schools and boy-scout troups, as scouting is very popular there. Because Aly's house is still under construction, the group stays at a large seashore estate owned by an Indian lawyer. There they attend a concert by the Tanganyika Police Band, which plays selections from British, German and American composers. Zanzibar, where Aly has another lavish home, is the next stop and there the Sultan pays tribute to the Prince and Princess. Jackson learns that, in addition to the houses they have already visited, the Prince owns domiciles in Paris, Cannes, Deauville and a dozen or so more in Africa and Asia. Crowds wait in sweltering heat at a girls's school graduation ceremony during which Rita gives a short speech in Swahili and hands out prizes to the best pupils. Later the visitors watch as Buganda tribesmen perform a ghost dance for them. In Madagascar, the group is a guest of the French government. As the American Consul escorts Rita to buy several bolts of silk, he shows Rita American-style housing developments. Back in Kenya, the Leighters set off on a safari which includes truckfulls of supplies and thirty-six native servants. Aly and Rita will fly in to join the safari once the camp has been built. After arriving at the Masai Hunting Reservation, the porters quickly set up the camp. One truck has a generator to supply light as well as refrigeration for cases of champagne, caviar and vodka, which have been brought along. Each tent has a valet and the camp's chef was trained in Paris. After a landing strip is cleared, Aly's plane lands. He is alone as Rita has concluded that their marriage is not working. Nonetheless, Aly decides to hunt for a buffalo while Jackson goes on a photographic safari and films much of the African fauna. When Jackson returns to camp, he learns that Aly has shot a buffalo, but lost it to a lioness. Having been gone for over three months, the Leightners decide to return to America. They meet up with Rita in Alexandria and sail for home. Jackson reports that Aly and Rita's parting was friendly and that Aly tried for more than two years to effect a reconciliation but failed.