Game parks in Nairobi

 

One morning, Maina, our driver, drove us to the David Sheldrick Elephant and Rhino Orphanage on the edge of the Nairobi National Park, just a few miles from the apartment. These baby and young elephant had been orphaned, their mothers for the most part having been killed by poachers for their ivory tusks. Sometimes the babies are very young, perhaps just a few months old, and they stay in the orphange for quite some time until they are ready to move out into the wild. The public is only able to see them once a day at 11am for their bottle feeding and play time. It is quite a sight, a line of baby elephant rushing down the hill from the bush to get to their bottles of milk formula, drunk in about 30 seconds. We were distracted for a couple of seconds when we saw a lion rushing across the bush behind the babies, but he wasn't interested in them, but in a warthog. Maina was in the parking lot and he told us the lion tore through the parking lot after the warthog. We didn't find out the end result. After the babies have gulped their milk, they are encouraged by the handlers to play, some with soccer balls or on a huge mound of earth where they jostle and push each other over. It is truly an incredible sight.


                                                                  We're coming!

Bottle time

A fun dust fight

The babies played for quite a while, then it was time for them to get back to their enclosure and a second group came tearing down for their turn. 

After that, we drove to the Giraffe Centre run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife, founded by Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville. It's the home of the "Rothschild" giraffe, they have white socks. The giraffe are in the wild, but a treehouse with a deck all around allow visitors to be at eye level to them, and to give them a kiss, which I did several times. It's actually a way to feed them a little pellet, which you put in between your lips, and the giraffe very gently licks it off. (They have gorgeously long black eyelashes and brown eyes, by the way!) Their tongues are not germy, nature has given them saliva that is antiseptic, as giraffe eat spiky leaves and cut their tongues, and the saliva heals them up.



They are really sweet.

From the tree house, you can see the Giraffe Manor, built in the style of an English manor house, somewhat incongruous in the middle of the Africa bush, but time has weathered it, and it seems quite at home there.  Previously a private home, it is now a top-notch hotel. I had hoped to go out there again for afternoon tea, where the giraffe join you, but time ran out.

By this time, we were quite ravenous, and Dan had chosen a very special restaurant, the Talisman, rated #1 in Nairobi. Situated off the Ngong Road in Karen, it had been an old colonial mud and wattle bungalow. As I discovered in this land of outdoor living, most places have large lawns with play equipment for children, and this one was no exception. A lovely green lawn below the outdoor patio with a double swing for me and Zoe to swing on while waiting for our lunch which was superb. Dan had pan-fried tuna, and I had a pork escalotte, both served with a medley of delicious fresh vegetables - spinach,broccoli, green beans and carrots. We gave in to desserts - a raspberry pavlova for me and chocolate mousse for Dan. We waddled to the car.

On another day we went for a game drive through the Nairobi National Park adjacent to the elephant and giraffe sanctuaries. This was Kenya's first wildlife reserve and has lion, leopard, buffalo and rhino. No elephant. The babies from the orphanage nearby are transported to other reserves, Tsavo or the Masai Mara, for instance. The city is gradually encroaching on the park, it is now between the Wilson Airport (small aircraft, local flights and charters) and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. There are issues along the corridor where the animals migrate. The Masai villagers have moved up very close to the corridor and the wild animals often attack their goats and other animals.

We saw a number of birds, ibis for example which had beautiful yellow crops. Game was sparse in the middle of the day, but we had good views of zebra and impala.

In the middle of the reserve is a very moving tribute dedicated to the elephant.  A stone circle surrounds a huge pile of ashes. This is where hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ivory was burnt in a protest by the Kenyan Government against the poachers. There is a large statue in brass of a group of elephant, and panels around a block describing the event. On the way out we passed through a troup of babboon who hang up high in the trees at a certain time each day at feeding time around an enclosed orphanage for monkeys. It must be a very frustrating existence for babboons, no wonder they are so bad-tempered. They are scavengers and probably get left-overs.

It had been very hot, in fact Dan had literally taken the shrt off his back to cover my arms which were getting quite sunburnt. The car did not have air-conditioning, so we had the windows open most of the time. However, we were able to cool off on the terrace of the Rangers Restaurant, part of the park.  It must be a great place in the evening to sit with a sundowner and watch the animals come to the water hole below. I had a delicious entree of grilled tilapia with lemon sauce, and the usual excellent medley of  fresh vegetables.

Waiting for our lunch at the Rangers' Restaurant