Animal orphanage & giraffe centre

Wednesday 19.01.11

This morning we headed out into town to go to the bank.  My credit card of course does not work in any ATM, which is what happened last time so i have to withdraw over the counter.  Though I didn’t bring my passport so will have to come back tomorrow.  We are getting pretty good at using matatus though which is a lot cheaper than taxis and also more fun!  It does take much longer and its pretty hot and sticky crammed in with 15 other people!

The traffic in Nairobi is well and truly crazy, and even though they have traffic lights i have never seen one person obey them.  We often get a tuk tuk back to our hotel and usually it’s the same driver.  He has definitely got a death-wish!  He weaves through traffic where there is no space, brushing rear-view mirrors with trucks, and jumps onto sidewalks and over median strips!  It’s a very freaky ride but so far we haven’t tipped over.

The weather is not too bad in Nairobi, where it’s usually a steady 27 degrees.  I didn’t get sunburnt at all last time I was here so I didn’t think too much about that today, but more on that later!  We caught a matatu out to the animal orphanage which is basically a glorified zoo.  It’s quite nice though and there are also a lot of wild monkeys and baboons around as the national park is next door.

A man tried to get us to pay to go in to pat the cheetahs which we were quite keen to do but he said that the price was $US500 but of course would let us have it for a ‘cheaper’ yet equally exorbitant price.  He talked up the danger that the cage keepers were in by letting us in, as it was forbidden and would cost them their job if caught.  Of course we weren’t fooled and tried to bargain with the guy but he was a bit dodgy so we left without continuing to haggle much further.  A bit of a shame but as it turned out it was lucky we didn’t spend the money as we were running low and needed it for the rest of the day.

As we left the animal orphanage, we were surrounded by about ten wild baboons.  They were quite playful especially the younger ones.  Suddenly a massive one came darting out of the forest, and made a beeline for us.  It tried to have a bit of a go at Tammi, with its arms raised and everything! It jumped back and forward at her and I think it was actually going to attack had a man not come running with a rock and yelling at the thing.  Poor Tammi was a little freaked out, as were Tracey and I!

We then jumped on another matatu to the giraffe center, which was a long way off the main road.  Fortunately, there were motorbikes standing by and we were able to be driven to the centre.  The place itself is pretty small, but of course the giraffes have a massive enclosure.  They roam around in what is pretty much wild.  It’s a natural habitat that has just had fences built around it.  There are nine giraffes but two or three are particularly friendly and hang around the viewing platform.  We got to feed the giraffes some little pellets and you can pat their necks too.

Their saliva gets all over your hand but apparently they are one of the few animals that have antiseptic saliva and no bacteria or germs can survive in their mouths.  So after hearing this, the guide managed to convince me to ‘kiss’ a giraffe!  I held a large pellet in my mouth and the giraffe reached down and took it from my lips!  So gross but definitely an experience and if you let go of the pellet at the right time you actually don’t get all that wet!

There was a great gift shop at the giraffe centre with some very unique things we hadn’t seen before but we were well and truly out of cash so we are hoping we can come back later and buy a few things.  It was also pretty cheap as far as souvenirs go, especially at tourist places.  So we jumped back on the motorbikes and then caught a couple of matatus back into town.

As we were walking through town trying to find a tuk tuk, we passed a medical supply store.  We have been trying to find a new oxygen mask for Gabriel who is now named Zach.  As there was another Gabriel it was a bit confusing and we don’t actually think that was his name anyway as the nurses weren’t sure.  Plus Zach is much more fitting, as we took it from little Zacheus in the bible.  We bought two premature sized oxygen masks and they will definitely fit him much better and hopefully help with the callouses he is getting from the oversized mask he currently has.

Once home I realised just how sunburnt I had been today.  I hadn’t really thought we would be outside all day, so only put cream on my face which was a fortunate move!  Tammi was pretty burnt also, and she had some moisturiser which helped but it was an uncomfortable night’s sleep with aching shoulders and back.

Nairobi Giraffe Center - big kisses!