Elephants and giraffes

The question today was what to do with my time until my 8:30 pm flight tonight? After listening to conversation last night over dinner I decided to pursue visiting an elephant orphanage and a giraffe center.

As it happens a group of people also staying at the Mayfield had the same idea. We were a diverse group. There were 3 young women, 2 from U.S.A and 1 from U.K. who minister at Smile orphanage in Uganda. Next was a couple from Florida with their 1 year old ( actually today is her birthday). They are doing final preparations before going to work in Juba, South Sudan. And lastly an Irish woman with her 6 year old daughter. The young girl spoke English, Arabic and Gaelic. She was a delight. This family is based in Khartoum.

We shared the cost of a van with driver and set out about 15 kms from Nairobi to reach the elephant orphanage in time for the daily feeding of these babies between 11- 12.

We all assembled behind a rope and the workers at this haven led 8 elephants out for feeding. All the elephants are less than 2 years old. Once they reach 2 they are released into the wild.

They actually drink from a bottle. Their formula is not unlike a human baby's. It is specially imported from the U.K. They can't have cows milk as it makes them quite sick and they could die.

Let me tell you, they can down a bottle in no time!

Here's the baby of the babies. So cute!
The cloudy appearance of the photo is due to the red dust the elephants were blowing over themselves. The little one had to have help with that so the workers shoveled some dust on him.

They rolled in a pit of mud and even played with a soccer ball. They were like small children rolling around, nudging each other and having a good time.


We all learned a lot about the center. It's
an interesting story so if you would
 like to learn more please go 
to this site:

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust: A Haven for Elephants and Rhinos

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org                                                                                                                         

We then drove to our next stop a few kilometers away. 

See www.giraffecenter.org/ for additional information. It's a sanctuary that was started to save the endangered Rothschild Giraffe. 

We got there in time for lunch so grabbed a bite to eat together while we watched the giraffes interact with other visitors. When it was our turn we were given a hand full of specially formulated pellets and then went eye to eye with a giraffe!! Wow, what fun.       

It was certainly a strange feeling having a giraffe tongue on my hand!