I'm taking advantage of my day off to wear pants (instead of a floor length skirt, I feel like quite the rebel), read the news (I wasn't lying about that $8 Diet Coke in Luanda, which is apparently the most expensive city in the world), and catch up on a couple of blogs.
At this point, I've done most of what Nairobi has to offer in terms of tourist attractions, some of them several times (Karen Blixen House), and several I am willing to do many more times (Elephant Orphanage, gifaffes). Nairobi National Park was one I hadn't gotten around to until a couple weekends ago.
Since it's the hot season in Nairobi right now, we left at 5 am so we would be there in the early morning cool and the animals would be active...which meant we got to see the sun come up.
We didn't see too many animals but we saw a few, mostly giraffes and buffalo.
Mostly it was just nice to be out and about in what felt like the middle of nowhere.
But it's only just a few miles from downtown Nairobi.
Since you can only go to the elephant orphanage from 11-12 each day, we had an hour to kill. Obviously it was time to visit the baby crocodiles at Mamba Village. You can hold them, you just have to hold their tail really tight so it doesn't whip around and whack you and it's jaw bone closed really tight so it doesn't eat your fingers.
There's also some adult crocodiles to keep you on your toes.
They were so still they looked fake, which I may have mentioned to a staff member standing nearby. Obviously the correct response was to poke one with a stick to prove to me they were alive. Twice.
Fortunately there were some...calmer...animals there, too.
And then the elephant orphanage. I've been at least 5 times and it never gets old.
Last time it was cold, and the baby elephants had blankets on (they are very susceptible to pneumonia). This time it was hot, and the tiniest baby elephant had sunscreen on its ears.
We capped off the day with a late brunch at Talisman. A perfect Nairobi Sunday :)
At this point, I've done most of what Nairobi has to offer in terms of tourist attractions, some of them several times (Karen Blixen House), and several I am willing to do many more times (Elephant Orphanage, gifaffes). Nairobi National Park was one I hadn't gotten around to until a couple weekends ago.
Since it's the hot season in Nairobi right now, we left at 5 am so we would be there in the early morning cool and the animals would be active...which meant we got to see the sun come up.
We didn't see too many animals but we saw a few, mostly giraffes and buffalo.
But it's only just a few miles from downtown Nairobi.
Since you can only go to the elephant orphanage from 11-12 each day, we had an hour to kill. Obviously it was time to visit the baby crocodiles at Mamba Village. You can hold them, you just have to hold their tail really tight so it doesn't whip around and whack you and it's jaw bone closed really tight so it doesn't eat your fingers.
There's also some adult crocodiles to keep you on your toes.
They were so still they looked fake, which I may have mentioned to a staff member standing nearby. Obviously the correct response was to poke one with a stick to prove to me they were alive. Twice.
Fortunately there were some...calmer...animals there, too.
And then the elephant orphanage. I've been at least 5 times and it never gets old.
Last time it was cold, and the baby elephants had blankets on (they are very susceptible to pneumonia). This time it was hot, and the tiniest baby elephant had sunscreen on its ears.
We capped off the day with a late brunch at Talisman. A perfect Nairobi Sunday :)
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