An African adventure
Melbourne to Nairobi via Dubai took 24 hours including a 4 1/2 hour layover. Another hour to get through customs and 1 1/2 hour drive to our accomodation and we were all pretty tired. We have a two bedroom self contained apartment in a gated secure compound, guards checking the boot of our taxi prior to letting us in. Every hotel appears to have security and almost every building has high fences, often with barbed wire on top and security staff guarding the gate.
Being self contained we needed breakfast things, so we got directions and headed to the nearest supermarket. We had read various warnings on the Internet about walking at night in Nairobi, but felt quite safe in daylight - although we were 'scanned' before being able to go into the supermarket.
We had booked a taxi driver off Tripadvisor for our first full day and had a few plans. First stop was the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The DSWT look after orphaned elephants and rhinocerous. It is open for only 1 hour per day, as it's main focus is not tourism. Between 11:00 and 12:00 each day they bring elephants out for feeding and display. We arrived around 10:30 and the queue was already very long. Once inside we positioned ourselves up high and got some great views of the elephants drinking human baby formula and frollicking. Eventually the elephants were encouraged to walk close to the visitors (behind a rope) and Lauren and I had a quick pat. The elephants are re-introduced to the wild once old enough to and integrated into a group.
Lauren has decided to sponsor one of the elephants ($50US) for a year, and will receive email updates, paintings and more over the year. Seems like a good way to keep this important work going.
We then went to the Giraffe Centre. Here you could hand feed small pellets to giraffes. Some people 'mouth fed' the giraffes, putting the pellets in their mouth, then the giraffe would use it's long tongue to get the pellet. Not something any of us wanted to try. There were around 10 giraffes close by with 4, including a baby, looking for food.
Time for lunch and we found a restaurant with a variety of Indian and Swahili food. Trace and I tried some local dishes, both tasty, but the meat (chicken and mutton) was a little tough. Lauren had a vegetarian burger while she could. We all tried a local beer as well, which was pretty good.
Last stop for the day was the Karen Blixen Musuem. She was immortalised in the movie 'Out of Africa', though Lauren and I wonder why. She failed as a coffee bean grower, not getting any beans to market, separated from her husband, Baron Blixen and returned to her native Denmark. She was however an author, writing 7 novels and was a very good painter. She also encouraged locals to learn 'modern' cooking techniques as well as creating school opportunities for local children. Tracy enjoyed the tour, especially the hundred year old trees and the architecture of Karens house.
The weather was around 24 and overcast, but we all managed to get a little sunburnt. Not badly, but will need to be a bit more careful moving forward.
Being self contained we needed breakfast things, so we got directions and headed to the nearest supermarket. We had read various warnings on the Internet about walking at night in Nairobi, but felt quite safe in daylight - although we were 'scanned' before being able to go into the supermarket.
We had booked a taxi driver off Tripadvisor for our first full day and had a few plans. First stop was the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The DSWT look after orphaned elephants and rhinocerous. It is open for only 1 hour per day, as it's main focus is not tourism. Between 11:00 and 12:00 each day they bring elephants out for feeding and display. We arrived around 10:30 and the queue was already very long. Once inside we positioned ourselves up high and got some great views of the elephants drinking human baby formula and frollicking. Eventually the elephants were encouraged to walk close to the visitors (behind a rope) and Lauren and I had a quick pat. The elephants are re-introduced to the wild once old enough to and integrated into a group.
We then went to the Giraffe Centre. Here you could hand feed small pellets to giraffes. Some people 'mouth fed' the giraffes, putting the pellets in their mouth, then the giraffe would use it's long tongue to get the pellet. Not something any of us wanted to try. There were around 10 giraffes close by with 4, including a baby, looking for food.
Time for lunch and we found a restaurant with a variety of Indian and Swahili food. Trace and I tried some local dishes, both tasty, but the meat (chicken and mutton) was a little tough. Lauren had a vegetarian burger while she could. We all tried a local beer as well, which was pretty good.
Last stop for the day was the Karen Blixen Musuem. She was immortalised in the movie 'Out of Africa', though Lauren and I wonder why. She failed as a coffee bean grower, not getting any beans to market, separated from her husband, Baron Blixen and returned to her native Denmark. She was however an author, writing 7 novels and was a very good painter. She also encouraged locals to learn 'modern' cooking techniques as well as creating school opportunities for local children. Tracy enjoyed the tour, especially the hundred year old trees and the architecture of Karens house.
The weather was around 24 and overcast, but we all managed to get a little sunburnt. Not badly, but will need to be a bit more careful moving forward.
Pete, this is brilliant! Keep it up. Loving it. Great pics Trace! Love.
ReplyDelete