Kissing Giraffes, Touching Elephants, and Westernization

Today I was fortunate to have my Dad’s childhood friend’s friend, Pamela, take me around Nairobi along with her son Reggie. Not only was it very gracious of them to take a day out of their busy schedules to show me the city, but also take me to some wonderful places. After picking me up from icipe we went to a giraffe orphanage. The giraffes there, for some reason or another, cannot be let back into the wild as they will be injured or killed. Therefore, this orphanage is open to the public (at a fee) for people to feed, pet, and kiss the giraffes. The whole time there I was amazed at how close the giraffes were to the people. Immediately after entering, I was given a handful of food which I fed to a baby giraffe one piece at a time. The giraffe’s tongue was dark purplish and slimy. It felt rough against my hands. I was literally eye to eye with a giraffe. In order to get the best pictures, Reggie encouraged me to put a piece of the giraffe food on my lips and have the giraffe take it from there, also known as giving the giraffe a kiss. Trying to get the most out of my visit, I did as instructed. My chin was covered in giraffe slobber as I jerked back, laughing. We went up the stairs and did the same things with the adult giraffes. The whole experience is quite thrilling.

Since the elephant orphanage did not open until later, we went on a trail through the woods to try to spot some more giraffes. Our hike was unsuccessful except for spotting a few birds, unique to Kenya. Arriving only a few minutes after the elephant orphanage opened, there was already a dense crowd around the enclosure. The elephants held at this orphanage were treated like babies. For some reason, they were separated by their mother at birth and rescued by the center. The center rehabilitates them for a few years until they can survive on their own and then lets them back into nature. The elephants were babied to the point of being bottle fed and a keeper slept with them every night. Some even had blankets around them to keep warm. The elephants came close enough to the fence to be able to touch. The skin of the elephants was rough and hairy. Not something I would like to continually rub my hand against, but the idea that I touched an elephant was really cool.

Reggie really wanted to go to the full animal orphanage to see if we could touch cheetah cubs or other animals. In Kenya, national parks are substantially cheaper for Kenyan residents than for visitors. The person collecting the money to get in gave Pamela and Reggie a hard time about being residents. I, of course, was ridiculously expensive. After walking around for a while and seeing lions, cheetahs, and other cats in really small and, most likely, not animal friendly enclosures, we asked a worker if we could touch one of the cubs. Unfortunately an incident had happened and they no longer allow for human and animal contact.

We went to a local place for lunch. For my first time in Kenya I had cheese, something I really miss from the States. The tomato and avocado sandwich was probably one of the best meals I’ve had since being in Kenya. The cheese tasted so good. I found it interesting talking to Reggie about his schooling in Kenya. His private school seems pretty similar to a small American high school other than the diversity. Pamela said some forty countries were represented. I think it would be a lot of fun to attend a school like that and learn so much from your fellow classmates. Life for Reggie is pretty similar to mine. We have our hobbies and like hanging out with friends. After lunch we did some shopping in the local gift shop.

From there we headed to a mall. The security at the mall was really high. They scanned the underside of the car before we entered. The mall was crowded (seems to be a theme in Kenya) and parking was hard to come across. But inside the mall was very similar to an American one. There was a food court with food from all over the world as options. Stores for clothing and other goods lined the sides of the main path. And I got some frozen yogurt from Planet Yogurt. As any of my friends would tell you, I am obsessed with frozen yogurt. This stop completely made my week. The watermelon sorbet I had was delicious. They also took me grocery shopping so I could buy a few snack foods to stock in my room on nights rice doesn’t fill me.

We headed back to their house in a highly secure area. Not only are there guards, a brick wall, barbed wire, an electric fence, but also an alarm system for each house. This intense security makes me question how secure I am. Their house was lovely, and it seemed like a typical American house. I am really glad to be exposed to such a home because I was starting to generalize all of Africa living off of dirt roads in a few room homes. Pamela also explained to me how their lifestyles or way of going about things is pretty similar to Americans. For instance, they go to the doctor for checkups, have a pet cat, etc.

After the house visit they took me back to icipe. Tomorrow I leave for Taita Hills, and I know there are so many more adventures in store.