Local Experiences

No visit to Nairobi is complete without a visit to the Karen Blixen Giraffe centre and the David Sheldrick Elephant orphanage.

First stop to today was the Giraffes. The long slimy blue/grey tongues of the giraffe is something that takes getting used to. Feeding them food pellets one at a time is an exercise in trust. They are just so close and with such a big head right in front of you. The dominant male giraffe was called Ed, some of the females that came up for a feed were Daisy, Mtata, and Betty.

Next stop was the elephant orphanage. We arrived in time to have a picture with a local Maasai man (remember that a photo request always comes with a tip payment) and see the tembo march of 13 baby elephants. They were aged from 5 to 28 months. Each named after the area where they were discovered or the way they were found. Some from Tsavo, Amboseli, others from Mt Kenya and the Maasai areas. Apart from being orphaned through poaching activity, another common abandonment was from falling into wells. Adopting an elephant costs as little as $1 per week. This can be a rewarding experience if you live nearby to see the elephant growing up.

A trip to David Sheldrick is never dull with cheeky baby elephants rolling in the mud, pushing their friends or playing with water in their trunks. We had a timely reminder though that these are indeed wild animals as they playfully escaped from the roped off area and managed to scare a group of tiny local kindergarten kids - thankfully no one was injured as the playful elephants thought that the kids offered much more fun than following their keepers!!

A quick stop on our way back to the hotel at a local supermarket has secured us a small supply of the fabulous Kenyan coffee we love so much!! Will have to ration it significantly as we are traveling further we couldn't stock up as much as we would like.

As always we have enjoyed an afternoon by the pool to wrap up another wonderful day on safari in such a beautiful country.