After a relaxing Saturday ending with a big fat Pizza meal
at Hong’s restaurant followed by a big sleep and a hearty breakfast. The oldies
(that should get me a slap from Mum!! J)
were refreshed and raring to explore. I had booked Peter a really friendly and
enthusiastic driver I have used many times before, to take us round for the day.
Being early in their trip we opted for a
tourist day to acclimatise before moving to rural Kenya.
First on the Itinery was the elephant sanctuary.
This was
set up by the Sheldricks on a small scale to help injured and orphaned
elephants and had nurtured and returned hundreds of elephants into the wild over
the years. The elephants spend the days in Nairobi Safari Park and then return
of their own free will to be fed and play in the waterhole once a day which is
where we get to see them for an hour. The get fed milk and frolic in the water,
delighting in soaking the people. Before getting up and ambling back into the park.
It is a great experience and very sensitively done by the charity. Read more on
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/
Then onto the Giraffe Sanctuary again set up in a similar
way and if my memory serves me right they have rehabilitated around 300
giraffes into the wild through a breeding programme.
This programme has also
taken one of the 3 types of giraffe from a population in Kenya of just over a
100 to about 340. Again great place to visit and sensitively done. You can
never get this close to a giraffe anywhere else. They are such amazing and
graceful creatures. Only this close can you truly appreciate how big they are!!
http://giraffecenter.org/
Finally we dropped to the Karen Blixen Museum – The film Out
of Africa was about her life. Having seen the film and read the book, it was
great to see the place where she lived and Mum sat in the place where the immortal
words “I have a farm in Africa” from the start of the film were said with a view
of the Ngong hills. Our guide was great and we got a real insight into life of the
early colonialists in Africa. http://www.museums.or.ke/content/blogcategory/13/19/
An added bonus was a visit to Kazuri http://www.kazuri.com/pc/ (Kazuri means small and beautiful in Kiswahilli) a bead and
pottery factory set up by Susan Wood in 1975 in her garden shed with 2 single
mothers from the slum and now employs 340 people and exports 75% of the
products which are sold for example in John Lewis in the UK. An amazing story
they has given employment and skills to so many but also provides education and
healthcare to the staff too. Read more of this amazing story on the weblink
above.
Back to hotel and chai and cakes before a quick stroll around
the adjacent Masaii Market to top off a very touristy but great fun day.
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