PATTING ELEPHANTS AND KISSING GIRAFFES -OUR DAY IN NAIROBI

So my first Australian guest arrived yesterday.  Cris is a ‘travel industry’ friend and we met each other quite a few years ago on a famil (travel agent holiday) to Hawaii and Maui.  Due to the nature of the business and her job we would see each other up to 4 times a year and at work functions and a firm friendship ensured.  It is one of the many friendships that I have where you don’t have to be in constant contact with some-one but you can always pick up where you left off and it was great to have a guest in my apartment to have a laugh with and fill in what has been happening in my life. 

Last night I took Cris to my ‘shopping centre’ and to the Art Café for dinner.  I introduced her to the local cocktail of Dawa and after 3 of them each (6 shots) and the bottle of wine we had drunk at home we rocked home a little drunk and as of this morning I had pulled up okay but in the words of Cris ‘she thinks she was still drunk’.  This was NOT a good thing as we had a massive day planned today and like a TROOPER Cris sucked it up, spewed it early and we had the most amazing day with me showing her my wonderful new city and the bonus of me getting to see some things that I had yet to see at the same time. 

I had arranged with GG to be our driver for the day.  It gave him something to do, pay him for his time and everyone was a winner.  He was to come to my house at 9.30am to collect us but there was a small change of plan when I told Cris that Friday was Masai Market day at the Village Market.  So we decided in our drunken state the previous night to go down early to the markets and then get GG to pick us up from there at 9.30am as planned.  I called Driver Steven at 7.45am for an 8am pickup and we were at the markets a few minutes later.  I knew that the stall holders are there early to set up, I just wasn’t sure if they would be ready for business and as we made our way to the roof they were all still unpacking.  So we decided to head back to the scene of the crime, the Art Café, for a coffee, try and get some much needed juice for Cris to get through the day and then we headed back to the market 40 minutes later and even though they were still setting up, they were of course more than happy to see business and there was enough things set up for us to have a look at.  We were on a mission as we only had 45 minutes and like anything Kenyan at the markets, it all looks so good and within 5 minutes Cris and I collectively had bought a few necklaces, a wooden giraffe, some Masai wedding necklaces, 2 wooden statues and when we finally made it to Jemima and Vincent’s stall, only Vincent was working today and with a hello and the purchase of 2 plates from him later we had to get going as GG had rung to say he was here.  We had one more stop to buy 2 small leather notebooks with Masai beads and we HAD to get out of there before we spent any more money and we didn’t want to be late for our next stop which was the Elephant Orphanage, as you can only view the elephants between 11am-12 noon and not knowing how traffic would be today as it was Good Friday we wanted to make sure we had enough travel time.

After a 50 minute drive we made it to the Elephant Orphanage at 10.20am.  Perfect timing as they opened at 11am and there was a crowd milling in line already waiting for the chain to drop and to let us into the orphanage.  We were meeting Katie and her friend Miriam, who arrived from the UK the day before, and they arrived around 10 minutes after us.  It was again an unknown as to how many people would be here today being Good Friday and with this being Katie’s 4^th time-she said that there was not as many people as normal.  There were a few large groups, but otherwise dotted with a few independent people like us we were all allowed in at 10.50am.  There is no ‘ticket’ booth as such, we just walked through a small set of buildings to where the small shop was and there was a lady there collecting the 500KSH (5.88AUD) and then you pass through a small gate that opened up to a large clearing that had a roped off area where we could and stand and then wait for the mini stampede of the babies.  There were bottles of milk set up around the length of the clearing and there would have been around 8 keepers all milling around also waiting for their charges to come out.  I was SO EXCITED.  There is no shade at the clearing, so be prepared to be standing in the sun for the 45 minutes or so that you are at the feeding.  I was too excited to think about that and I got a little sunburned in the process, that Africa sun really does pack a punch-but I didn’t care.

     

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a small flexible charity, established in memory of David Sheldrick, a famous Naturalist and founder Warden of Kenya's giant Tsavo East National Park in which he served from 1948 until 1976.  Since its inception in 1977 the Trust has played an extremely significant and important role in Kenya's conservation effort.  

'Saving wildlife and wilderness is the responsibility of all thinking people. Greed and personal gain must not be permitted to decimate, despoil and destroy the earth's irreplaceable treasure for its existence is essential to the human spirit and the well-being of the earth as a whole. All life has just one home - the earth - and we as the dominant species must take care of it.'   

Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick

The Trust provides a blueprint for the welfare of animals in captivity and, in the case of elephants, illustrated the sophistication of their communication and their social needs.  It has perpetuated vital field knowledge and experience that would otherwise have been lost, and made it available to all national parks in East Africa and many beyond.  Helping save the lives of orphaned Elephants and Rhinos who are ultimately released back into the wild is just some of the many wildlife commitments The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is involved in.  The Trust runs seven full time Desnaring teams, two mobile Veterinary Units, and is active in a Community Outreach Program along with working with the communities in an educational capacity locally,  and through articles for the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, the Press and Radio Programs.  The Trust has also provided advanced training in wildlife management for promising students. 

The first young elephant orphans of Tsavo were “ Samson”, a two year old baby bull orphaned during drought conditions in 1952 and “Fatuma”, a two year old baby female orphaned by poachers soon afterwards during the same year. There followed many others over the subsequent early years of David Sheldrick’s 30 years as Warden of Tsavo East National Park, but always only those orphaned either, just below, or at two years old and over, survived. The hand-rearing of a fully milk dependent infant elephant (i.e. under two years of age) was something that eluded the Sheldrick’s for 28 years for an infant elephant is milk dependent for at least the first two years of life, and those that survive in a wild situation without access to milk between the age of 2 and 3, are few. This has been established by the scientific monitoring of the Amboseli population for the past 30 years. The composition of the fat content of elephants’ milk is very different from that of cows’ milk, added to which evidence suggests the actual protein and fat composition of elephants’ milk varies during different stages of lactation to cater for the growing needs of a baby. This means that two years is a very long time to be reliant on an artificial substance that is not identical to /mother’s milk/ especially in view of the fact that Nature has made infant African elephants exceedingly fragile; they can be fine one day and dead the next and one can never be sure that a calf will survive until it is past its second birthday. The hand-rearing of orphaned elephants is an emotional roller-coaster for those involved, for tragedy stalks success and can strike unexpectedly at any moment.

It was not until 1974, and after years of trial and error, that Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick managed to keep a newborn infant alive for the first 6 months of life, but grief and stress related diarrhoea took her life when Daphne had to be absent from her for a week in order to attend to the arrangements for the wedding of her daughter, Jill, even though a competent substitute was in place. However, little “Aisha” mourned the loss of yet another mother figure so deeply that she died in Daphne’s arms the day she returned. It was then not until 1987, and after the death of her beloved husband, David, that Dame Daphne finally achieved success in rearing the infant elephants, the first being a 2 week old victim of poaching named “Olmeg”, who today is amongst the wild herds of Tsavo. Poaching and other human related disasters followed and other orphans were rescued. By September 2008, over eighty infant African elephants had been successfully hand-reared by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust established in memory of David, all under the supervision of Dame Daphne Sheldrick together with her daughters Angela and Jill. Since the death of “Aisha” the orphaned elephants are discouraged from becoming too attached to just one person, but rather handled by a team of dedicated “Keepers” who can represent a “family” and who replace an orphan’s lost elephant one. The “family”, along with the milk formula, is an essential component to success in rearing the elephants who mirror humans in terms of emotion. This lesson, learnt by Dame Daphne Sheldrick the hard way in 1974, combined with techniques involving a combination of homeopathy and conventional medicine to treat the sick and wounded, plus 50 years of experience involving a good dose of emotion are responsible for the Trust’s success in this field.  However, even though over 80 young orphaned elephants have been saved, reared and offered a second chance of life and freedom, having successfully moved beyond the two year fragile infant stage, many have not made it, too damaged to be able to retrieve or having died, some mysteriously, before the age of two.  All the elephant orphans raised by the Trust are gradually rehabilitated back into the wild elephant community of Tsavo National Park when grown, a transition that is made at their own pace and in their own time, but usually taking approximately eight to ten years. A number of our ex Nursery orphans have now had wild born young which they have brought back to show their erst while human family, and others are now pregnant and living free, yet keeping in touch with those who are still Keeper dependent. Amongst these are many orphaned too young to have any recollection of their elephant mother or family.

Just after 11am the procession of baby elephants came out of the bushes at the back of the clearing.  There were 25 of them all in a single file following each other until they saw the bottles of milk and then their little legs started to run in the anticipation and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen.  All the visitors were lined around the rope fence in an L shape and the elephants all ran to bottles where they were fed by the keepers and when the bottles were finished they were put into a wheel barrow, which the babies knew they were finished and then they played with each other, chewed branches that had been left lying around and they were left to their own devices for the remaining 30 minutes of ‘play’ time.  The babies were encouraged to come to the rope so that we could pat them and say hello and to feel them was amazing.  They were so prickly and there was one of the larger babies that had a lot of people touching him and one person was using a flash for photos and he didn’t get spooked at all by all the attention.  Even though they were babies (6 months-24 months old) you could see that they could still do some damage to some-one if you weren’t paying attention.  One of the keepers had a microphone and introduced the elephants as they played and also about the programme, but to be honest it was a little distorted and hard to hear what was being said.  After all the milk and branches had been consumed it was time for the babies to head back to the nursery and then an older group was bought out to say hello.  They were not getting any milk as they were getting semi released next week and were weaned from the formula that was provided to the babies.  I got some AMAZING photos and at 12 noon the older elephants were lead away and it was time for us to leave. 

On our way out I stopped to buy a few stickers and there was a small desk set up where you could sponsor an elephant, well they called it foster an elephant and for 50USD for a year, the money goes 100% to the selected orphaned elephant and how could you say no to that?  So I filled in the paperwork and there was a container with photos of each of the elephants that were up for ‘fostering’.  I asked which elephant needed the sponsorship, I am sure there must be popular elephants and non-popular ones but I was told that they were all sponsored equally, so with that I just picked an elephant that I liked the name of and Murera was the chosen lucky one.  She is a female, orphaned elephant approximately 2.5 years old and is a suspected victim of poaching.  Part of the fostering programme is that you can come and visit your elephant at any time during the 12 months!  Yay.  So GG and I have plans of coming back in a few weeks’ time to say hello to the new member of the Jamieson clan. 

We left the orphanage at 12.20pm for the 15 minute drive to Nairobi National Park where we were going to do the Safari Walk and also have lunch at the Ranger restaurant, which is all located just before the actual entrance to the national park, which is good as we don’t have to pay the national park fee for this activity.  We decided to have lunch first, which ended up being the right decision as it took nearly 1.5 hours to get the food, which put us behind schedule for the rest of the afternoon.  It is shame that the service was quite slow and not the greatest, the food also not the best, but it was food, that we needed badly, especially Cris, and I have to remember TIK (this is Kenya) and we just have to roll with the African service.  It is a shame, as the Restaurant is built along the design of an Africa House and has two levels with the dining area and viewing deck as eating/dining space.  At night the flood lit water hole offers evening diners with a romantic ambiance in which to view game as they dine, which I am a little dubious that animals do come as we saw nothing for the nearly 2 hours we were there.  It’s a nice statement to make but I would like to know just how many actual animals from the park visit here with all the noise from the restaurant.   

The Nairobi Safari walk is a 3 minute walk from the ranger Restaurant and after saying goodbye to GG, he was going to wait for us, we walked to the entrance of the walk which is also only 30m from the entrance of the Nairobi National Park.  The entrance fee was 20USD or 1820KSH for non-locals and then we entered the park.  Nairobi Safari Walk is a conservation facility designed to enhance visitor's appreciation of Kenya's flora and fauna. It is a showcase of Kenya's vast natural diversity and provides visitor with an experience of Kenya's three eco-systems namely the savannahs, forests and wetlands.  Our first sighting was of the pygmy hippo, he was hidden a little in the bushes but we did get to see this rare endangered animal which was cool and a great start.  We stopped in at the children’s museum which was pretty basic but they did have some taxidermist animals in there including a cheetah and 2 lions and they also had 2 elephant feet that had been taxidermed and turned into seats-not sure where the feet came from and didn’t seem very conservation-y to me, but they were massive and a great photo opportunity all the same.  Even though there are sign posts everywhere and information boards which were great, there was no signage as to which way to go when the path divided into two.  It was a little confusing at times but overall it is a great place for people to see animals if they don’t get the chance to go out on safari, or can’t afford to-it gives the locals a chance to see what some of their country offers in one place. 

Visitors walk along the raised boardwalk, through the different habitats and observe from close range the wonderful variety of wildlife in each eco-system. The raised wood walkways provide souring views out over the shimmering stretches of savannah in the Nairobi National Park with observation points down onto waterholes and the wildlife that frequent them. The boardwalk is carefully fenced from the wild animals, but still affording views feeling like you are indeed in their natural habitat.  With a combination of three simulated, forests, wetlands and Savannahs, visitors have an opportunity to learn about their valuable resource and how they can contribute to its conservation. Some unique plants and animals that are locally extinct or threatened are displayed so that the public can learn the dangers facing conservation today.  We saw colobus monkeys, the white rhino-who looked a little sad and just walked in an exact circle the whole time we viewed him, 2 albino zebras, 3 lions that were in sleepy mode and an amazing view of the cheetah that allowed us to take some amazing photos.  We couldn’t see the leopard and there were no hippos in the river, but there were plenty of baboons on the second half of the walk which I have to say were a little scary and freaked Cris and I out every time we had to walk past them.  They were massive in our defence, so with eyes cast down and a quicker pace we walk past them and hoped they wouldn’t jump on our backs and eat us.  Yes we were freaked out!     

The population of the animals is not high because the facility cannot handle a high capacity. For instance there is only one rhino because the grass available for feeding is just enough for one.  It is interesting to note that all the animals have been reared here since their infancy, thus this is literally their home.  Within the park there are informative wooden boards; that give details of the diverse flora and fauna or animal information that is found within the facility. Each animal is described in detail.  The walk is easy, but I felt a little exposed on some of the boardwalk planks, they seemed a little unstable, rotted in some places and I had mentioned to Cris if they boards had been weight tested.  There were planks lying around as they upgraded certain sections, so they know that there were some pockets of dodgy boards which made me even more nervous on some of the higher walks.  Overall it was a great experience and one that I would recommend if you wanted to see animals that you may not have seen on safari.  I am glad I came but would not be in a hurry to come back, but would gladly bring visitors here again to see the park. 

From here we were now off to the Giraffe Centre.  It took us around 25 minutes to drive to the centre and I was a little unsure what to expect on our visit here.  I had been to the centre before when I was here in July 2011 and my experience was not the greatest and I was hoping that it would be better the 2^nd time around.  Last time we were here there were so many people and the giraffes were totally not interested in coming to be fed.  The keepers tried everything from dangling branches, shaking pellets and calling their names and they just weren’t interested and it was a disappointing visit to say the least, so I was hoping for a different experience this time.  We paid the entrance fee of 1000KSH (11.76AUD) and as soon as we walked in there were 3 giraffes at the feeding platform. WOO HOO.  Katie and Miriam were also there having already said hi to the giraffes and they called to us as we came in, but I was on a mission to see these giraffes and with a wave we headed straight to the feeding platform.  I wasn’t missing out on this opportunity while the giraffes were there and willing.      

Originally the Giraffe Centre was started by Jock Leslie-Melville, the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish Earl, when he and his wife Betty captured a baby giraffe to start a programme of breeding giraffe in captivity at their home in Langata - home of the present centre. Since then the programme has had huge success, resulting in the introduction of several breeding pairs of Rothschild Giraffe into Kenyan national parks.  In 1979, Leslie-Melville added an education centre to his (then still private) giraffe sanctuary. By 1983 he had raised enough money to establish the Giraffe Visitor's Centre as a tourist destination in Nairobi.  The Giraffe Centre then started as a rehabilitation project to rescue the Rothschild Giraffe in order to protect the endangered Rothschild giraffe that is found only in the grasslands of East Africa.  The actual non-profit organization is called the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife Kenya (AFEW) and the original house of the founders has been converted into a very impressive boutique hotel called the Giraffe Manor.  The giraffes breed naturally in an approximate 120 acreage of land and the young calves born at the centre are introduced back into the wild at the age of 2 years. The giraffes at the centre are closely observed and monitored by AFEW staff and when need be their natural diet is supplemented with Lucern Grass, salt blocks and carrots. Ever since the breeding started, the centre has handled over 50 Rothschild Giraffes and most of them have been introduced back into the wild in selected Kenya’s protected areas.

Nairobi Giraffe Centre tour gives a completely up close and personal interaction where guests have the opportunity to view giraffes as well as feed them.  It is the coolest thing is that you are able to stand on a purpose made platform and stand eye to eye with the Giraffes.  Considering that giraffes are very tall animals and they strain a lot when they have their necks bent, AFEW has a well built, raised feeding platform whereby visitors feed the giraffes at ease. In addition, inside the platform we have an auditorium where visitors are given comprehensive talks about the centre’s activities, conservation and giraffes. You are given small pellets to feed the Giraffes and there are unlimited refills.  Hand feeding the giraffes is just an AMAZING experience and I am pretty sure an activity that you would not get an opportunity to do anywhere else in the world and is an education in itself. You will see, close at hand, how they use their long, prehensile tongues to remove the pellets from your hands and wrap their tongue around the pellet if you hold it out for them to retrieve with their long, and I mean long, bluish and saliva packed tongues.  There was one giraffe that had a much longer tongue than the other 2 that were at the platform the whole time we were there and it was hilarious to see it every time it came out of the giraffe’s mouth.  The giraffe had just come into the programme that morning, so it didn’t have a name yet, but Cris and I spent most of our time with that one and decided to call her Tonguee for obvious reasons.  There was also a kissing giraffe and there were lots of people lining up to do this, where you put a pellet, the size of a bullet in your mouth and the giraffes tongue would take it from your lips!  It would have been cool to do, but after feeding them the pellets with our fingers, they are a salivery bunch and the thought of an animal’s tongue on your face was just too much to process for Cris and I and we decided to not do it.  This is the definitely the closest that you will be able to get to the giraffes in Kenya and I would go as far and say the world.  The other 2 giraffes that visited us today were Kelly who was a head butter if you got too close to her and also Edd who was the only male we saw today.

 

We had an incredible experience with the 3 giraffes for the hour that we spent with them.  There weren’t a lot of people around and we were extremely lucky that we got a lot of one on one time with the giraffes and everyone was respectful of letting people have their time with the animals.  It was a totally different experience from the last time I was here and I have to say it was one of the highlights of the day and one of the most amazing experiences I have had the pleasure to be part of in all my travels to date.  It may also have something to do with the giraffe being one of my most favourite African animals and to be able to interact with them on such a personal and one on one experience was a dream come true.  They truly are magnificent and gentle animals and we got to take so many photos that I will be able to look back on them time and time again and get a good laugh from them.  It will be a place I will definitely come back to and one I recommend to all visitors that come to Nairobi should experience.    

Our last stop for the day was to eat dinner at Carnivore and we were meeting Katie and Miriam here.  Carnivore is an open-air restaurant and as the name would suggest, its specialty is meat, and features an all-you-can-eat meat buffet.  It is very popular with the tourists and in 1999, the restaurant seated 350 people and the restaurant's 330 employees served over 1000 people per day.  The Carnivore opened its doors in September 1980 to instant success. The food, service and atmosphere are strikingly different from anything ever seen in Kenya. The Carnivore is a meat specialty restaurant and it is referred to as 'the ultimate 'Beast of a Feast'.  Twice voted amongst the world’s 50 best restaurants by an expert panel in ‘Restaurant ‘ magazine.  The Carnivore since its inception has played host to over 2 million customers from across the globe. 

So what is the secret?  The meat is constantly basted and turned until cooked to perfection, making the meat succulent and well flavoured. The Carnivore doesn’t conform to the familiar restaurant traditions of passing out menus and waiting for people to order. Diners simply take their seats on the Zebra striped chairs and the movable feast begins.  First comes the soup of the day then a sizzling cast-iron plate is placed in front of each guest along with a plate of home baked brown bread and butter.  Then an army of carvers wearing zebra striped aprons and straw hats then move from table to table carrying the Masai swords laden with different prime meats deliberately carving unlimited amounts onto the sizzling, cast iron plates.  The beast of feast begins with whole joints of meat - legs of lamb and pork, ostrich, rumps of beef, sirloins, racks of lamb, spare ribs, sausages, chicken wings, skewered kidneys, crocodile and ox balls-are roasted on traditional Maasai swords over a huge, spectacular charcoal pit which dominates the entrance of the restaurant when you arrive.  The Carnivore was inspired on the Rodízio concept of the Brazilian Churrascaria steak houses.  There is also a small selection of side dishes and an exceptional array of sauces that are made from the Carnivore’s own recipes and stacked on to a double storey-revolving tray in the centre of the table.

The feeding frenzy doesn’t stop until defeat is declared by the over-fed guests who signal that enough is enough by lowering of a carnivore paper flag that is perched atop the central tray and when you think there is no room for anything else dinner is then followed by dessert and coffee. The full meal including a soup course is at a set price of 3250KSH (38AUD) which is expensive, and you can get something similar at other places around the city cheaper, but they are not ‘Carnivore’ and I think it is worth paying the money at least once to dine here on a visit to Nairobi.  The atmosphere of The Carnivore combines the rustic feel of a rural environment with the feeling of a medieval banqueting hall and is accomplished by the use of streams and tropical gardens throughout the restaurant, and by using rough-hewn beams and local woods. 

Another famous feature to set the tone of the Carnivore experience is the house cocktail The 'Dawa' (which means medicine or magic potion in Swahili).  In other words, a Dawa is said to be so potent that it will cure whatever ails you!!!  I had wondered what happens if you have too many of them and Cris answered my question this morning when she awoke still drunk!!!  The recipe is based on a famous Brazilian drink that was introduced to Kenya. It is now one of the most widely consumed cocktails in the country today.  There are 3 main ingredients including vodka, lime and honey and when you get your drink at Carnivore it comes with a ‘Dawa’ stick and you spend the next 5-10 minutes mixing in the honey and sugar that has settle in the bottom of your glass-but it is certainly worth the wait and may fast become my favourite cocktail!  I have fallen in LOVE with this drink.  I was fine to have 2 of them over dinner and even though Cris was feeling better, she couldn’t stomach another Dawa but did have a Savannah Dry with her dinner which was a good sign she was finally on the road to recovery as she should be at 6.30pm at night! 

So it was an amazing finish to what was an amazing day.  There was one thing that we didn’t get to see that was on ‘the list’ and that was the Bomas-which is like a village and cultural centre, but because lunch took so long we had to boot that off the itinerary.  But we got everything else done that we had set out to do and I know that Cris enjoyed her whirlwind tour of Nairobi.  I would have loved to have visited the National Museum, the Bomas and also the Convention Centre to get a bird’s eye view of the city-but they will just have to be done on another day.  We were back home at 9pm and Cris was in bed not long after.  I do need to make a note that she was a trooper all day, nursing the biggest hangover, but I know she thinks it was worth it and it is a shame that she is not here in this magnificent city longer-but like all first time comers to Africa-she will be back-the country has won another heart and I am proud to call Kenya and the continent of Africa my home.