The older orphan elephants can down a bottle like this in around 15-20 seconds - they have 3 of them each
On Tuesday I met up with Steve again and we headed for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage. This is just on the outskirts of Nairobi in an area called Karen (you guessed it, after Karen Blixin, the Out of Africa story, the whole area was her farm) and so was a quick 25 minute drive.
Steve told me he had been here at least a hundred times so left me to head on in and meet the baby elephants. Feeding time is open to the public from 11.00am to 12 noon each day. The babies were absolutely adorable and very playful. After guzzling their milk they headed straight for the mud pool where they pushed and shoved and rolled and romped for the rest of the time. They also had a soccer ball to play with and one in particular delighted in kicking it into the crowd - quite a few people went home splattered with red mud!
Enjoying the cooling mud bath
Stretching right out to make sure that the belly gets cool too!
Just a tiny snack to complement the milk
Making sure they are thoroughly covered
One of the babies decides to join the crowd
The keepers answered any and all questions and explained the other programs that the trust runs, including animal rescue and anti-poaching units. They obviously do important work.
On the way out there was an opportunity to sponsor a baby - needless to say our family now boasts two young elephants - Lempaute (read all about her at http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=164 ) and Lesanju (find out about her at http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=162 ). It's really not very expensive to sponsor one of the orphans for a year - I encourage anyone reading to have a look and give it some consideration.
From the tiny to the tall - the next stop was the Giraffe Centre, which is on the corner of the Nairobi National Park. The giraffes are in the park but come to the Centre for feeding by hand. The Centre also has an education unit and you can learn all about giraffes from the staff.
Two of the giraffes who were there for hand feeding
A unique chance to get a really good look at these elegant animals
Looking me right in the eye
Getting up close and personal
Here I am part of "a giraffe sandwich"
One of the rangers insisted that I be the person in the giraffe sandwich while he took some photos. Both hands were filled with pellets, arms crossed and then open your hands and hey presto - the sandwich is made!
After the Centre visit Steve and I went to the Rangers Restaurant in the National Park and had a very good and rather long and leisurely lunch, whiling away a few hours in interesting conversation. He really was an excellent companion and the day was another fascinating day spent in Kenya. I am convinced however that I will have to come back here too - there is so much more to see and I have not even made a scratch on the surface.
The rest of the day and night was spent - you guessed it - on photos and I am getting caught up to some extent. Need to sort some out and have them printed to keep some promises - they'll need to be posted off all over Africa.
Better go and get to it - will fill you in on today's adventures sometime tomorrow..
lotsa love
Lyndall
PS - another post that I will update from time to time with photos being added tonight - keep an eye on The Bums of Africa!
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