Our flight schedule left us with a half day in Nairobi. We used the time to see more animals - believe it or not, we weren't tired of seeing animals when we finished our safaris.
Our first stop was an elephant and rhino orphanage run by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The orphanage raises young animals who have lost their mother through poaching, accidents, etc. The animals receive 24-7 care at the orphanage and are re-integrated into the wild when they are older.
At the orphanage, you get up close to the young elephants and hear from the elephant keepers.
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| Young elephants marching in for lunch |
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| It's chaotic trying to get each elephant to the right bottle |
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| They'll guzzle a bottle of milk in a minute |
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| Keepers are surrogate mothers for the elephants |
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| Playing for the crowd |
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| Saying hello |
After watching the very cute elephants, visitors are asked if they would like to become a foster parent for one of them. You don't get to take an elephant home but you do get the happiness of knowing that your donation is supporting the food, shelter and care for one of them.
Being animal lovers, we quickly signed up as foster parents. Here's our foster child - her name is Naipoki.
We also visited the Giraffe Centre. The centre raises Rothschild giraffes, an endangered sub-species, and reintroduces them into the wild. Feeding the giraffes is the highlight from our visit.
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| Feeding giraffes from a deck as they're 6 metres (20 feet) tall |
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| Blake and friend - they have similar pointy noises |
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| Vanessa went for her hand sanitizer right after this |
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| This giraffe kept eating and eating and eating |
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| Us with the giraffe (he never stopped eating) |
After our half-day whirlwind in Nairobi, we boarded a plane and headed to South Africa.
Vanessa and Blake
