I didn’t really like Nairobi at all. I didn’t think it was nice, and it’s also quite dangerous. Sury and I had one final day there though, and wanted to make the most of it. From what we found out, the best things to do are visit the Elephant Orphanage, and the Giraffe Center. If you’re ever stuck in Nairobi, I would highly recommend both. But it’s probably better to just skip Nairobi all together. We arranged with a taxi driver to chauffeur us around for the day, and headed out.
The Elephant Orphanage is awesome. It’s only open for an hour each day, from 11am-12pm. They brought out two groups of elephants, a younger group and a slightly older group. They fenced off the area with a single piece of rope, and we just stood beside the rope. They had these giant baby bottles filled with formula, and a watering hole for them to play in. The elephants came ambling out in a line, and headed straight for their bottles. Apparently they feed them a baby formula originally developed for humans, and it costs about $900 US/month to feed them. After eating, they played around in the water hole. They looked like large dogs, rolling and splashing around. They had really different personalities too. One was quite a shit disturber, and was trying to tip over these huge pails of water, and then was going around pushing and bugging the other elephants. They walked around the perimeter and got so close we could reach out and touch them. It was so cool to be so close to them, and I’ve never seen so many small elephants in one place. It was sad to hear about why they were there though. Some had their mothers die from poachers or drought, or had been attacked themselves. The ultimate goal is to be able to re-release them into the wild.
The Giraffe Center is also totally awesome. I know giraffes are really tall and we saw tons on the safari, but actually being beside them made me realize just how massive they are! The giraffes at the center are Rothschild Giraffes. We walked around an observation platform that put us at eye level with them. Their heads are so large, and their tongues are long and purple and feel like sandpaper. We were given handfuls of pellets to feed them. The male giraffe was more slobbery than the females when he ate. My hand would be covered in spit after feeding him.
Our cab driver had suggested that we try and kiss the giraffes during our visit. It was fun and not that gross. I placed a pellet between my lips, and the female giraffe came over and took the pellet really gently with her tongue. I ended up doing it three times so that we could get the picture! I could’ve stayed there all afternoon. They didn’t like to be petted very much though. As soon as the food was gone they would walk away.
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