Life's a Stitch

(Feb. 24)

Chuck, Rika and I were up early for our 6:15 pick up time, Mack dedicating another day to travel recovery. 

The first stop was Nairobi National Park, a 117,00 square meter area located in the outskirts of the city, complete with natural wildlife. It is possible, at the edge of the park, to see safari animals with the city skyline in the background. It is an unfenced area and animals have been known to wander into town. You can spot buildings behind the giraffes:

We reserved this tour as an additional opportunity to see safari animals, in case our nine scheduled game drives yielded disappointing results as the weather didn’t look promising. This was an example of reality far exceeding expectations. It’s hard to believe that ten kilometres from a major city we saw:

Lions

Zebras

Rhinos

Hippos, baboons, impalas, wildebeest…I’m sure I’m missing some. As we left the park Chuck joked “OK we’ve seen it all we can go home now.”

The second stop was the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, a non-profit rescue and rehabilitation centre for orphaned animals. Currently there is a tiny rhino, whose mother died when she fell off a cliff, a baby zebra rescued at weeks old, and 12 elephants. Most are young enough to require bottle feeding with human baby formula. It was a very interesting and engaging experience.

There was a typical tour stop for a lunch break with a warehouse sized store featuring overpriced locally made items and souvenirs.

Next was a visit to Kobetough bead factory, an organization the employs woman in financial need to craft beaded jewelry and leather items. The proceeds support Maasai women and girls.

The final stop was the Giraffe Center, another non-profit dedicated to bringing back the Rothschild giraffe from near extinction. In 1979 there were 130. Through their efforts there are now over 300. The facility serves as an education centre for school children and tourists.

We used our limited time to meet and feed the giraffes. 

Rika got an unexpected kiss.

What a day!

Tomorrow is the start of the real tour, first stop: Maasai Mara.