Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre

Thurs February 16, 2006
Ev lined up some great day trips in Nairobi for us, the first one being The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (a wildlife orphanage). The orphanage takes in elephants and other wildlife that are orphans (usually as a result of poaching). Elephants mirror humans in terms of emotion, so they are discouraged from becoming too attached to one person, but are handled by a team of dedicated “Keepers” who represent a family and who replace an orphan’s lost elephant family. The “family”, along with their milk formula, are essential components to success in rearing the elephants. By 2004 the Trust had successfully saved and hand-reared over 55 infant African Elephant calves. Currently, over a dozen of the Trust’s hand-reared elephants are fully established and living free amongst their wild peers in Tsavo National Park, some returning with wild born young to show their former human family.

We then went to the Nairobi Giraffe Centre where we saw giraffes up close and personal. And I mean close…there were buckets of pellets to feed them and a pellet between the lips got you a big, sloppy kiss from Daisy! Daisy wasn’t all lovey-dovey all the time, however, if you were a bit negligent in the feeding area, she’d give you a good head butt. The Giraffe Centre exists to educate Kenyan school children about their country’s wildlife and environment, and to give visitors an opportunity to come into close contact with giraffes. Another reason it was created was to help rescue the endangered Rothschild giraffe (in 1979 there were 120—now there are 300). Our last stop was the Kitengela Glass Factory. This seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Our driver got lost so we experienced our first dose of very rough Kenyan terrain. The Glass Factory was very unique. They make decorative and funky stuff out of recycled glass. We were given a tour of the place and watched them make wine goblets. For supper, we dined at Ev’s friends and co-workers, Werner and Adelia’s. We enjoyed an excellent Kenya meal complete with the traditional dish, ugali (a starchy, bland foodstuff that wasn’t particularly appetizing).