Friday night we ventured out for a fabulous dinner with a former DC colleague who is also in Nairobi for work, two friends of my co-facilitator, and the three of us. We went to Haandi in Nairobi which is hands down probably the best Indian food I have ever tasted. We stuffed ourselves and had a lot of good conversation! A great eve of my 31st birthday.
On Saturday (my bday), we went to visit a giraffe park and the Sheldrick Reserve (an orphanage for baby elephants. It was a beautiful sunny day- which was lucky given it is the rainy season here in Nairobi. We arrived around 9:45 a.m. or so into the lush, green small park. The morning was still quiet. We paid our entrance fee (a little less than $10) and then looked up to see a number of giraffes grazing in the park area. We spent the next 30 minutes or so meeting Daisy, Helen, and a few of the other "middle-aged" giraffes (about 16 years old). We were able to pet them, feed them, and even get a "kiss" from them. We put a pellet of food in our mouths and they would basically lick it away from you and eat it. The giraffe's saliva is actually antiseptic- who knew!?! See the few photos here and note my facial expressions!
After a great time at the giraffe park, we visited the Sheldrick Reserve Elephant Orphanage at the edge of Nairobi National Park. The Sheldrick Reserve rescues baby elephants who have either been orphaned due to poaching, have been found stuck in a well or other entrapment, or have been orphaned due to human/animal conflict. Apparently elephants are extremely social animals and are also very dependent on their mothers as young calves. The reserves looks after the calves in two groups- the babies and the toddlers you could say. They keep the calves until they are between two and three years old and then release them back in the wild. The trainers/keepers have close relationships with the calves- in fact each calf must have a keeper with them 24 hours a day due to elephants' bonding and attachment issues! The babies came out first- including one that was only 2 months old (with the blanket on it- they were afraid it would catch pneumonia). And then the toddlers- one of whom had been attacked by a cheetah and had no tail :(.
All in all, a fabulous experience! Would go back all over again. So nice to see these animals being cared for and supported.
Unfortunately our fun, fabulous day ended on a not great note. We spent about 5 hours at Nairobi hospital with one of our workshop participants who had a very severe migraine. Nairobi hospital is a private hospital, and our participant had very good care. We left our 10:00 p.m., but around 4:00 a.m. the next morning she felt badly again- went back to the hospital, home at the hotel around 10:00 a.m., but then admitted to the hospital on Sunday night until today(Wednesday)- so quite a whirlwind and not fun experience for our participant from Lesotho, but thank goodness she's ok.
Quite an adventurous 31st birthday from giraffes, to elephants, to the hospital- and for sure very memorable!!
More picts at
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