Giraffes, Elephants, Villages and Dancers

Kibera slum.

African scooter madness.

Feeding time at the Giraffe Centre.

Some of the elephant orphans at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Orphan Project.

A baboon taking advantage of the height of the building for an observation platform.

One of the native village reconstructions.

Tribal dancers.

Saturday, September 30th.

I slept reasonably well and woke up about seven. I went for the included breakfast which was amazing, they had everything that you could want for either breakfast or lunch. I had dry cereal, which is usually the staple of my breakfast, for the first time since England. Then I discovered oatmeal! I also had yogourt and fresh fruit.

After that I went to the lobby and asked if I had to change rooms that night and she said yes because I would be getting a room mate. Then I asked about getting some money. I needed some American to take the tours that Patrick offered yesterday on the drive from the airport, and I figured I needed some Kenyan shillings as well. The doorman, David, offered to show me where to go to the Forex (foreign exchange). He walked me through the hotel grounds to an exit at the rear that led through security again and to a mall across the street. He walked me to a bank in the basement where they said they could not issue money on my credit card and the woman told me that there was an ATM upstairs that would issue American dollars. We went up to that and there were two with a short line of people waiting. When it was my turn I went to the one on the right but it did not give me the option of US$, so I thought she was mistaken, but when I tried the one on the left it offered both US$ and Kenyan shillings; problem solved. Then David walked me back.

So at 9:00 I met up with Patrick in the lobby and joined a group of four other people (a young American couple from Chicago, Bryan and Kristin and an English couple David and Jill who are on my NatGeo tour tomorrow) for some day tours.

We drove for about an hour through the crazy Nairobi traffic. We drove past the Kibera slum. According to Wikipedia, this is the largest slum in Nairobi and the largest urban slum in Africa. There are approximately 1.2 million people living there in an area of 2.5 square kilometres. 75% of the population are under 18 and 100 000 children living there are orphaned.

On the way I saw a number of passengers (the driver usually wore one) on motorbikes without helmets and asked if helmets were compulsory. Patrick said that they were but these are motorcycle taxis and the problem is that although the driver brings an extra helmet some passengers are reluctant to put it on after other people with dirty hair have. But if they are caught the police will arrest them and take them to the police station, where they will have to wait for a court date which could take a day or two!

We also saw a lot of 'clean water' tankers by the side of the roads and Patrick explained that the city is growing so fast that they can't keep up with the water supply. So if your house doesn't get water you need to call one of these tankers and they will come and fill your water tank.

We arrived at our first stop, the Giraffe Centre, about five kilometres outside of Nairobi. This is a breeding facility. We had a presentation explaining the differences between the three main giraffe species in Kenya, the Maasai, the Reticulated and the Rothschild or white stockinged giraffe. The Rothschild is in serious decline and they breed them here and release them back into the wild. We had the opportunity to hand feed them some dried grass chips. It was interesting to see the long black tongue remove the chip from your fingers. Some people were putting it in their mouths, but when I saw the slobber and tongue, I declined. We watched fed them for a bit and watched as they walked through the forest. They had a new born the day before and it is already six feet tall!

After that we drove a short distance to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Orphan Project. This is housed inside the Nairobi National Park, which was Kenya's first park and established in 1946. It is located approximately 7 kilometres south of the city and the city skyscrapers can be seen from it. It is surrounded by an electric fence to keep animals and people seperate. Patrick told us that despite its proximity to civilization and relative small size for an African national park it boasts a large and varied wildlife population, including lions and Kenya's most successful rhinoceros sanctuary.

The Sheldrick Project is an orphanage for baby elephants which they raise and then release. We watched at two groups of 14 baby elephants were led out to a play area consisting of a muddy pool and a dirt area for blowing dust on their backs to act as sunscreen and bug repellent. As we watched a guide told us of the their individual histories. When the elephants came out the rushed to their handlers who had large bottles of baby formula to feed them. They were lots of fun to watch as they rolled and splashed in the water.  

The next stop was the Bomas Museum which is 'dedicated to preserving Kenyas rich and diverse cultures'. First we went to the restaurant where they made traditional meals. I had a stew type meat dish that was a bit chewy but very good. Then we walked around a large outside exhibit of the various types of Kenyan tribal villages. There were 23 different set up all on a general pattern. They were made of wood sticks, grass and or mud and cow dung. The tribes were all polygamous and their was a hut for the husband, one for each of his wives (getting smaller for each successive one), one for unmarried sons, and another for a married son, one for a grandmother and a grainary. Our guide explained some of the intricacies of tribal life.

Then we went to a large circular auditorium and watched about ten different tribal dance demonstrations that were all variations on a theme of drums, and male and or female dancers. Most were quite good. The final act was an acrobatic troupe of about eight men. They were amazing. They had the tumbling skills of the Olympians and the pyramid tricks of Ringling Brothers Circus performers and the limbo skills of the Polynesians. I'm not sure what that had to do with tribal dancing but it was incredible.

From there we drove back to the hotel just in time for our six o'clock meeting with our safari guide. His name is Joseph and our driver will be Morris. He spent about a half hour with us. David, Jill and I were joined by Alan and Blaize from Vancouver, and apparently my room mate Chris will join us in the morning.

Then the five of us went for dinner in the hotel restaurant and swapped travel stories. Finally back to the room where I talked by Skype to my parents.