Elephants and Giraffes and Cheetahs....Oh My!

This past Saturday, Vicky, Lidia and I did an “animal tour” in and around Nairobi.  First stop was the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  The trust was established in 1977 to honor David Sheldrick, a famous naturalist and the founder warden of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya.  The trust takes in orphaned animals from all around Kenya, but they are most noted for their work with black rhinos and elephants.  The babies are raised at the trust, then most are released back into Tsavo National Park.  The trust is quite famous - many celebrities visit when they are in Kenya.  Every week, the baby elephants are shown to visitors.  They are in two groups - a younger group (1 year and younger) and an older group (1 year to 2 years).  The groups are kept separate - you see the younger ones first, then they are taken away and the older ones are brought out.  The elephants are led down the hill to their “play” area, where visitors can observe them.  There are no cages - all that stands between you and the elephants is a small rope!  All of the babies are given two bottles of milk, then they have play time in the small pond and surrounding area.  They are ridiculously cute - they definitely know it’s time to eat, and they come running down the hill to their bottles and GULP them.  It’s so fun to watch them play with each other - they aren’t quite big enough to step in and out of the water, so they have to get down on their knees and crawl.  Some get so exhausted that they just lay down on top of each other.  The youngest elephant was about 3 months old - he came to the orphanage in October.  At that age, their skin is very sensitive, so one of the volunteers had to follow the baby around with an umbrella!  The volunteer led the young one (named Naipoki) around, and I got to pet her!

Next stop was the Giraffe Center.  At the center, you can get up close and (very) personal with the giraffes.  There is a tall platform/building, and the giraffes come right up and you get to feed them!  To do this, you just put a few pellets in your hand...and the giraffe sticks out its long tongue and licks them right up!  They have really long tongues!  The very brave (including yours truly) can also get a kiss from a giraffe - you just put a pellet between your teeth, and the giraffe comes right up and licks your face!  It’s a very slobbery experience, that’s for sure - but giraffe saliva is actually antiseptic, so it’s probably one of the cleaner experiences I’ve had in Kenya!

Our last stop was the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, which is part of the National Park here in Nairobi.  Of our three destinations, this one was the most like a “zoo” - it was odd to see animals in cages, when I am so used to seeing them in the wild (and being very close).  We did get to see a leopard, which was very cool, as we did not get to see one on safari in the Mara (they are ridiculously hard to find in the wild).  Also, we got a bit of an “off the books” experience - if you bribe the guards, they will let you into the cages with some of the animals.  Definitely not the most ethical of activities, but pretty neat..and I got some bribing experience, which is a good thing to have here.  I was surprised by how coarse the cheetah’s coat was....I definitely forgot that it was a cheetah and started giving it a pretty intense scratch...he must have liked it though, because he started purring!

All in all...an incredible day!