Day 1 - Nairobi

What better way to get adjusted to travelling than listening to the sounds of nature and a guy puking on your first night.The 30 minute drive from the Nairobi airport to our tent camp was uneventful though the kids eyes were wide open and their mouths a little agape as the sights, smells and driving techniques of Nairobi unfolded before them. We were only stopped by the police once and our driver, Charlie, seemed to handle it flawlessly without any money changing hands. Wildebeest Tent Camp awaited our arrival at 8pm after 17 hours of travel from Toronto via Zurich. Our first African beer tasted real good, though it wasn't enough to let us sleep through the birds, dogs, insect noises, the mosque call to prayer and of course our neighbour puking.

Today was a full on tourist day as we visited Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, the Giraffe Center and Kazuri Bead and Pottery Factory. Yes, baby elephants are extremely cute, the baby rhino was hilarous as it played around like a puppy and the full grown black rhino that appeared out of nowhere was scary. The staff were not altogether surprised by the rhino's visit from the adjacent Nairobi National Park as they had brought it up and released it into the park. Apparently, it comes to visit from time to time, primarily for a free meal. They did warn us that it could charge at anytime and the staff became very attentive to coaxing it away from us picture happy tourists. The Nairobi school kids were outa there on first sight and I must say I was very aware of the 18" long horn and the whereabouts of Sadie and Anna.

The Giraffes were rather pet like, as were the baby elephants. Feeding, petting and even giraffe kisses were all part of the visit with the giraffes. The kisses were accomplished by putting a pellet of food between your lips and letting the giraffe take it with his/her lips and tongue. The inevitable saliva on your face was actually not so bad. The Bead center was set up to provide work for women who were mainly single Mom's and disadvantaged. It employs 340 women and produces beads, pottery, etc that is sold all over the world. Each bead is hand made and hand painted. The women earn about US$2/day.