DawnO and I turn 40 years old this year. We decided to plan two week vacations around our birthdays. We agreed that we would plan each other’s trip and keep the location a secret until a week before departure. I turned forty last week and finally got the incredible news: Kenya and Tanzania.
We arrived in Nairobi after a long 24 hour journey and got to our accommodation late at night. In the morning we got to take a look around our place which is one of several cottages in a huge compound. 
Day 1: Giraffe Center
First up was a visit to the Giraffe Center. In order to do that we decided to try and master the local bus system. We quickly learned that the Nairobi bus system works almost identically to the Guyanese one (see 2006-2007 blog entries). There are numerous rickety old vans that blare music, fit as many people inside as possible, and have a “conductor” who takes everyone’s payment and somehow remembers where everyone is going. The only difference I could see was that the Kenyans obeyed the rules of the road, for the most part.
Once at the Center we were immediately taken by the scene before us. Ahead of us stood ten giraffes side by side being hand fed by tourists. Everyone was given a handful of pellets to feed them with.
I will admit, at first we were on a feeding frenzy. Giving out as many pellets as we could as fast as we could. Once we settled down we put away our cameras and began to enjoy the experience. After a while we learned how to hold the pellets so that you didn’t get slimed by their black tongues. We even got brave enough to put the pellets in our mouths for a giraffe “kiss”.
We learned that each giraffe had a name and a personality. The staff would only allow people to turn their back to some of them, but not all of them. Our favorites were Kelly and Daisy. They were quite gentle and calm.
Then there was Kevin. He suffered from short giraffe syndrome. He was short in stature and on charm. He enjoyed spitting water on people and head butting humans. Kevin was a jerk.
Kevin:
Before we left, we took some more pictures and enjoyed the spectacle of it all.
Day 2: David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
Today we made our way to an Elephant orphanage. It’s a Center that rescues abandoned elephants and nurses them back to health (if needed). The goal is to eventually release them back to their wild habitat.
Some elephants have lost their mothers to poachers, others were found trapped in a well after their moms gave up and left them. Each is named after the region where they were found. All of them are very lucky to have been rescued. They said it could take up to 5 years before an elephant is released back into the wild.
In the middle of the presentation, a thirsty warthog barged through the crowd and took a drink from the elephants’ mud hole. Afterwards he pushed right past DawnO and went about his business in the park.
Later this afternoon we went to a Center that put on traditional tribal dances. On the way back to our bus we caught these two routing around in the grass.
Tomorrow we catch an early shuttle to Tanzania where we will start our 5 day Safari! Stay tuned…
