Despite the fact that we all had very mixed emotions over the reason why we were in Kenya, there was no disagreement over the good times had in Nairobi.
Despite being a giant city – with some fairly ‘interesting’ traffic – we were able to see and do some pretty cool things – especially considering we were actually only actually in Nairobi for not much over 24 hours.
We were all actually pretty impressed that on our ride from the airport to our hotel – we saw Zebras. There is a new ring-road on the south-side of the city that skirts right along the edge of Nairobi National Park – which means that there is actually an animal preserve – with zebras, lions etc – inside the city itself. Strange.
We got up and had an enormous breakfast at our hotel (Watts Family Travelling Rule #1: eat what you can, you never know when you’ll next get the chance®) – and since some of us who are known to eat their weight in breakfast foods, finding a hotel with breakfast included pretty much always works out in our favor. That morning was also Micah’s 10th birthday – so he got a few presents – and all the bacon & eggs he could handle (not entirely sure which he enjoyed more)
Our first stop that day was the David Seldrick Elephant Orphanage, a place (as the name would suggest) that takes care of young elephants who have been left without parents – mostly due to poaching.
It’s a pretty cool experience to be able to stand so close to such amazing animals – and get to learn more about them.
Our next stop was The Giraffe Centre – and again, they’re not trying to hide anything with the name – is a collection of giraffes – right in the city. Strange.
The centerpiece is this raised platform where you can be at the height of a giraffe, in order to feed them. There are staff standing around, just waiting to give you a handful of these pellets of food, that you hold out for the giraffes to eat.
We topped the day off with milkshakes at Java House – a coffee shop whose products, decor, and clientele can make you almost forget you’re still in East Africa. strange.
