Globus Kenya & Tanzania: The Safari Experience - Day #3 in Nairobi - Our First Game Drive Plus Elephants, Giraffes, and Karen Blixen
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Now, on to the important stuff!
The day started early with everyone gathering for a 7:30 departure. We met our fellow travelers - we are seven altogether. Besides us, there is a couple from Iowa, a couple from Idaho, and a man from Las Vegas. We set our 4 & 3 in two vehicles for our first destination, the Nairobi National Park. Nairobi National Park, situated just 9 to 10 kilometers south of the central business district. It is the only National Park or game preserve so close to a major city.
We arrived at the park, raised the roof on our safari vehicle, and set off in search of game.
That took about ten seconds, as a troop of yellow baboons was right inside the gate.
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| It was so bizarre, being in a nature preserve while still seeing the Nairobi skyline |
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| We spotted giraffes early on |
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| Are those rocks in the water? |
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| Nope - hippos |
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| Yellow-billed kite |
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| The yellow-billed kite in flight |
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| Black Kite |
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| Egyptian geese |
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| Black-headed Herons |
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| A giraffe with the Nairobi skyline |
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| Ostrich |
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| Our vehicle with its roof raised for viewing |
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| A giraffe with an Oxpecker riding on its head |
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| You can see the Oxpecker in the giraffe's mane - it eats bugs and has a symbiotic relationship with the giraffe |
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| The city is so close |
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| Little bee-eater |
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| A family of crested herons |
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| African sacred ibises |
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| A family of impala |
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| Dad |
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| Antelope and zebra |
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| It is hard to see because these were so far away, but these were Cape Buffalo |
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| A warthog, making a dash for the woods |
Our next stop was the
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT).
Born from one family’s passion for Kenya and its wilderness, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was established 49 years ago and is best known for its Orphans' Project, the first and most successful elephant orphan rescue and rehabilitation program in the world. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a pioneering conservation organisation, dedicated to the protection of wildlife and the preservation of habitats in East Africa.
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| They only let visitors in for one hour each day |
SWT raises orphaned animals for up to five to eight years, preparing them for reintroduction into the wild. They started with a baby black rhino and a baby zebra.
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| They are fed a milk mixture for as long as needed |
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| It turned out that these two had become buddies, and it was obvious as they played together |
Next up was the first of fifteen elephants in SWT's care. Most were under three years old. One was older because when they tried to introduce it back into the wild, it wasn't eating and lost weight, so they brought it back under care.
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| The elephants are also bottle-fed |
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| They are a little more adept at holding their own bottles |
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| The very young elephants wear protective blankets |
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| They kept bringing more and more until all fifteen elephants were on display and playing with each other |
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| What lashes |
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| We were 5-10 feet away |
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| Taking a dirt bath |
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| Another dirt bath technique |
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| Chewing the bark off of a branch |
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| Some curious giraffes came over to watch the antics |
The hour went quickly, and we were off to our next stop,
Kobe Tough Bead Factory.
KOBE is the Swahili word for the Africa Sea Turtle - a beautiful sea creature with a hard external shell. We believe that KOBE represents both the amazing beauty and the toughness of the African Savannah.
We started bead making as a direct response to the devastating effects of climate change among the Maasai. The Maasai, a pastoralist community in Kenya, have borne disproportionately the negative effects of climate crisis manifested in the form of prolonged drought whose effect has been to wipe out entire herds of cattle which was hitherto their livelihood and only means of survival.
With this devastation, communities are unable to send their children to school and the obsession to restock declining herds has forced many families to marry of their child daughters to get dowry in form of cows to replenish their herds and preserve wealth and status. This crisis is what led us to intervene.
Through our work with 400 Maasai women in four groups, we have been able to provide a much needed livelihood support and keep girls in school, reduce incidences of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
We have been upskilling the traditional beading skills of the Maasai women to help them make products that are of higher standards and are both relevant and acceptable to a wider audience. We now have the first Maasai beaded Apple Watch bands ethically made following fair trade principles. They also make belts, bracelets, collars and other beaded products and our work is to provide the support and the platform for these amazing women to amplify their work.
Then in 2020, as we were working with Maasai women, COVID-19 broke out with its devastating effects on the job market. A group of 300+ women (mostly single mothers, orphans and widows) who had been making ceramic beads in Karen Nairobi were laid off as tourism plunged. Most of these women have not been able to return to work. We responded to this situation by establishing a ceramic beading division to help these women cope with the crisis. This has provided a lifeline to them and we not only pay these women fair wages but we also pay them higher than their previous wages. We now employ twenty nine (29) of these women and we hope to bring back all the 300+ women.
We were shown how they take volcanic rock from the slopes of Mt. Kenya and turn it into a thick slurry. That slurry is dried into clay. The clay is then hand-formed into a variety of different styles of beads.
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| Taking the raw material and forming beads |
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| Each bead is hand-pierced for use in jewelry |
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| After kiln-drying, the beads are hand-painted, glazed, and baked again |
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| Then, they are hand-assembled into interesting jewelry and wall displays |
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| Wall displays like this run into the thousands of dollars and take two months to create |
It was really interesting to see the process and watch true artisans at their craft.
Next, we enjoyed a buffet lunch at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden. From there, we went to the Karen Blixen Museum - formerly her home. If you don't know who Karen Blixen is, I recommend that you watch the 1985 film, Out of Africa. She wrote the novel, and it is the story of her adult life as a Danish aristocrat in Kenya. She is somewhat of a local hero here.
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| An Arabica Coffee plant - Karen Blixen was the first to grow coffee at this high altitude, providing jobs and education to local Kenyans |
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| Her house, now a museum - no photos allowed inside |
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| A map of visitor locations - the pins are cleared weekly - an impressive count |
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| Karen Blixen and her dog |
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| This guy was sorting some trash |
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| The back of the house |
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| A poinsettia tree |
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| Quite a pretty backyard |
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| Her coffee drying equipment |
The Giraffe Centre is the creation of the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (A.F.E.W. Kenya), a Kenyan non-profit organisation. Our main purpose is to educate Kenyan school children and youth on their country’s wildlife and environment, as well as give local and international visitors an opportunity to come into close contact with the world’s tallest species, the giraffe.
We learned that there are nine giraffe breeds, with three living in Kenya.
There was an opportunity to feed the giraffes, but it was tough. The place was overrun with visitors. It took effort to get to the rail and hand them tasty snacks.
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| Warthogs and giraffes help each other avoid predators |
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| Nom, nom, nom |
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| Looks yummy |
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| Or, perhaps not |
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| Arlona, getting a little one a snack |
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| I got a larger one |
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| A mother and baby giraffe sculpture |
We learned about giraffes. Like humans, they have 32 teeth and seven neck vertebrae. They also have the highest blood pressure of any animal. Their leg bone from their hips to their knees are solid, not hollow with bone marrow. It helps them support their enormous weight.
That brought our tour to a close. We returned to the hotel where we met the other guests for a snack and a drink.
Tomorrow starts even earlier as we are scheduled to depart the hotel at 7:00 for the four-hour drive to Ol Pejeta Conservancy and our stay at the tented Sweetwaters Serena Camp. We will do our first serious game drive tomorrow afternoon.
