A breakfast table opened up and we were seated by the window. It didn't take long for Kelly to realize that we were going to eat without her so she shoved her head in the window and made herself at home on my plate. Once finished, she raised her head up a little too quickly and drooled on my head. Thanks, Kelly, love you too. Breakfast for the humans consisted of scones, fruit kebabs, granola with yogurt, eggs, sausage/bacon, toast with coffee and juice. No shortage of food for these weary travelers. After breakfast, we went to our room for a very quick nap as we were being picked up at 10:30am for an excursion to a local elephant orphanage.
David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is open to the public for one hour each day. They have private appointments but they require reservations and I screwed that up so we went to the public showing. My main reason for wanting to come was to pick out a baby elephant to foster. A year of fostering is $50 and they send you monthly updates via email with what your elephant has been up to. The public "show" on Friday was absolutely packed. Given that it was a public holiday and holiday weekend, there were people everywhere. Much of the show was watching the babies be bottle fed and roll around in the mud while the trainer explained how they find the orphans, their plan for growing them and releasing them back into the wild. Dan and I have played with elephants of varying size in South Africa and Thailand so we didn't need to pet them and all that. We really just wanted to pick out one we liked and learn his or her story. We decided on a 22month old boy named Murit who was rescued after falling down a well. His little ears fold over at the top which we thought was cute so he won. While everyone was swooning over the baby elephants, I went up to fill out the paperwork to foster Murit. Murit's photo now graces our fridge in Accra alongside our family and friends.Feeling warm and fuzzy about our good deed, we headed back to Giraffe Manor for some lunch. The giraffes were over at the giraffe center (a public viewing place where you can see and feed giraffes), which shares property with the manor. We had some soup and some really good fish skewers and then headed up for a nap. We were told to be downstairs by 5 for sundowners and more giraffe time. And here's a few of photos from that:
After the giraffes wandered off for bedtime, everyone went in for dinner. Dinner was a halloumi and red pepper starter, steak and potatoes, and dessert. They also brought a small chocolate cake with a candle for my belated birthday. After dinner, everyone went to the sitting room by the fire for more wine/cocktails and chatted. There was a couple from DC, a group of friends from London, a couple from Germany, a family from Denmark, and a family from Oman. Everyone was really nice and it was a pleasure chatting about what people's plans were around Kenya, where they have been or where they are going. We eventually went to sleep and set the alarm for breakfast the next morning. At around 7am, I scooted to the restroom and when I returned, Dan was laughing. I asked what was so funny and he told me to pull back the curtain. I left the windows open all night as there's no AC and the air is cool. I pulled back the curtain to find... Betty.
We spent the next half hour or so feeding Betty from our room, through the window. Seriously. Is this real life? Someone pinch me. When we ran out of pellets, we went downstairs for one last breakfast with the giraffes. It was drool-free and uneventful. We checked out and waited on my friend, Sarah, to arrive and pick us up for a local's guide to Nairobi. More on that next time.
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