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| Fuzzy Whiskers! |
Today was an amazing free day. The group had several options to choose from and I selected "Plan B" which consisted of several local sights and museums. Our first stop was the mall in Karen. We had to pass through two security stations before we could enter. Each person's bag was checked and we were "wanded" for metal detection (like we do at airports). Once safely inside, we headed to our destination, the ATM to get Kenyan shillings for the day.
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| Safe and Secure at the Mall! |
Our second stop was at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. It is located in the Nairobi National Park and driving there we encountered baboons along the road. To our left was forest, swampland and savanna, to our right a modern subdivision. A bit surreal. Sheldrick's is home to 24 orphaned wild elephants which are raised to approximately the age of 6. At this age they are moved to Savo National Park and eventually they are released back into the wild a few years later. The elephant orphanage is only open for one hour per day and for 500 shillings (approximately $5 US) you can watch the elephants be bottle fed, you can feed them grass and pet them as they walk by. It was a memorable event and you can catch a glimmer of it on the video link below.
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| Lining up for Elephants! |
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Breakfast time!
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After Sheldrick's we went to a craft bazaar where we could eat lunch and do a bit of shopping. Again, this quaint outdoor cafe style restaurant is located in a wealthy suburb but still the grounds were visited by monkeys while we ate.
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| A Chair made from Beads! |
From lunch, we proceeded to the Giraffe Sanctuary were a raised platform allows you to come face to face with the world's tallest mammal, the Reticulated Giraffe. They are kept in this enclosure as part of a breeding program to preserve the species. The giraffes become quite accustomed to humans and will even eat out of your hands or "lips" as the case may be. I have become quite notorious with the CanAssist group as the only one to french kiss a giraffe. Hey, don't knock it until you try it!
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| Hello! |
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| My Very Tall Friend! |
Next we took a short drive to the Karen Blixen museum. This is a National museum owned and operated by the Kenyan government and was once the former home of Karen Blixen a Danish woman who moved to Kenya during colonial times to start a coffee plantation. Well, actually her plan was to start a dairy, something she knew something about but instead her husband, who came before her, decided to try coffee. It is a long story but Karen ended up losing her farm and moved back to Denmark. There, she wrote many famous books about her life in Africa, the most famous of which were combined into the Academy Award winning movie, Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. If you haven't seen the movie you should watch it and you will see the beautiful landscape that we have the privilege of viewing first hand.
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| Gabriella approaching Karen Blixen's house! |
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| I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills! |
Finally, if all of that was not enough, we made one final stop at the Kazuri Bead Factory. This women's cooperative employs over 340 women, many single mothers, to make and sell lovely clay beads.
Following the last stop we went to the local Nakumat, or mall, to purchase some snacks for the evening. I wanted to pick up some Masala tea so I proceeded to the tea and coffee aisle. A young man was working in the store and he seemed to he assigned the tea aisle. He was neatly dressed and sported a bright yellow apron with a sponsored tea company logo. I approached him and asked him what his favourite tea was. Sheepishly he replied, "Oh, I don't take tea." Another humorous encounter in the Nakumat involved two young women promoting a new toothpaste. If you bought their product you could get a free t-shirt. The t-shirt claimed that the toothpaste would give you "shinny teeth". Many of us got one!
After a nice dinner we met up to enjoy some "party time" and to share our stories of the day. Some of our large group had spent the day in the Ngong hills, visiting old friends and hiking to scenic vistas. We all agreed that it was another memorable day!
The internet connection is weak and I am having difficulty uploading the images. I will try to add them tomorrow. Enjoy the text!
Thank you Mrs. Grew for keeping us up to date on your travels, I had a great time reading about how great your travels are. That giraffe is probably still smiling.
ReplyDelete-Michael C.
Either you are really tall or the giraffe is really short!! :-)
ReplyDelete