13moons

Hi Everyone,
What does one think I should do with my 1/2 - 2/3 in Nairobi? I have a day room at Giraffe Manor and my flight for SF doesn't leave til VERY late. Should I try to sight see, ship til I drop? What? where? how? I will be on my own. I know some of you will have just the best ideas! You are all so generouse with your info. It sure is sooooooooo helpful to a newbie like me!!

sandi

Assume you'll arrive Giraffe Manor about 1pm and with a day-room here (w/dinner? or not?) you'll be departing for the airport for your late flight about 8pm, 9pm latest.

Nearby is the Giraffe Center... in fact right on the property. GM can arrange for you to visit the nearby Karen Blixen Museum, shopping at Kazuri Beads or Utamuduni. Or a taxi to downtown NBO for other shopping, but if you have dinner included, you've got to be back in time for this.

safarimama

Not to worry about a thing. They'll suggest stuff for you to do at GM and take you there. In addition to Sandi's suggestions, I suggest adopting a baby ellie at the Sheldrick orphanage and go at 5pm. There is also Matbronze nearby for excellent shopping of bronze sculptures and jewelry and those wonderful animal footprint trays.

OnlyMeOirish

Safarimama, You got in there before me - I second the 'adopt an ellie' and go at 5pm... this was one of the most AMAZING experiences of my life. Two things to remember though - you must make an appointment to do this AND if you do decide to go 13moons PLEASE PLEASE, if you can at all, take some things for the keepers. These guys 'live' in the sheds with the ellies with VERY sparse bedding etc., they get up every 3 hours to feed the ellies and only get 4 days off per month!. They really have a very hard life (although, in Nairobi I suppose they are lucky to have a job at all. I LOVED visiting the ellies here but I was a bit upset with the keepers' conditions and if you can spare ANYTHING in the line of blankets, clothes, etc. I'm sure it would be much appreciated. I was really sorry I hadn't known to do this before my visit (ie take some things with me) but we left a some $$ with the head keeper to divide up instead. So if you do decide to visit please try to remember those guys doing the hard work

Imelda

Marija

Please tell me why 5 PM is the preferred time for the Orphanage. I thought noon was when they fed the elephants. We plan to visit it in September from Giraffe Manor. Thanks!

HLester3

Hi. Please elaborate on adopting an elephant. Do I just adopt and elephant on the web site? How do I contact them to do this special thing at 5:00 p.m.? Please give me some more information. Please post or e-mail me. My e-mail is HLester3 @ AOL dot com. We are also visiting in September (9/16-10/4)and are also from the San Francisco Bay Area (13Moons), are you flying KLM through Amsterdam?
Thanks, Heather

safarimama

At 5pm they let you come in IF you are an adoptive parent ($50 minimum) for one hour and tuck the babies into bed. GM will call ahead and tell them you are coming to adopt a baby (make the reservation). I adopted Makena. You get adoptive parent's papers and every month you get a watercolor painting by David and Dame Daphe's daughter Angela along with updates on your ellie and other babes. It's much less crowded than at noon when the parking lot is full of tour buses and you stand 3 or 4 people deep to see the ellie's bathing in the mud, which is alot of fun too. More info can be found at http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/fostering.asp
At 5pm they are in the "stables" with their keepers/surrogate mothers and getting ready for bed. OnlyMeOirish pointed out how deficient the keepers' lives are and I didn't know this. Is this really true? They seem to love their jobs and their baby ellies so much and from talking to them I didn't get that impression at all. I know one of the keepers was killed by a baby rhino though, so their job is dangerous. They also rear infant rhinos there. I have pictures posted beginning with http://67.171.25.95/2006/Kilimanjaro...ick/jvn001.htm from the 5pm visit compared to the noon visit at http://67.171.25.95/2006/Kenya/Orphanage/jvn001.htm

Patty

I've only been to the 11:00am to noon mudbath/feeding hour which is open to the public. It was somewhat crowded (I'd say about 40 people that day) but we still enjoyed it. Afterwards, one of the staff asked if we wanted to adopt an ele. When I told her that I was already a foster parent, she asked if we wanted to return later at 5:00pm when the eles return to their stable for the evening which is open only to foster parents. We were unable to do it as we were leaving that day. Had I known about the opportunity in advance, I would've arranged it for the previous afternoon. I think you can email Sheldrick directly to arrange this. It also sounded like same day notice was sufficient since we were invited to return that same afternoon. If you have time, you might want to do both.

Marija

Thanks! Maybe I'll let my two little nieces choose an elephant each to adopt and then we can visit them and bring back photos.

OnlyMeOirish

Safarimama has it covered re the adopt a baby. You can also adopt on the website - this is what I did and then when they sent me the monthly update I replied to the e-mail requesting the 5pm visit. The evening we were there there was only two other people there and you get to go around to say 'hello' to all of the babies (includind the Rhino). You can also stroke them and let them suck your finger!!! (Which they LOVE) In fact one of the older orphans didn't want to let go of my finger which was sooo cute. The following day we visited at 11am for the mudbath but there were at least 100 people there. It was a Saturday and it seems that most locals come on the weekend. The Ellies didn't actually have a mudbath that day as it was quite cold by Nairobi standards and the Rhino only hangs around for the first 10 mins because he gets impatient so if you want to see him make sure you are there at 11am sharp.
The 5pm visit was AWESOME, no comparison to the 11am visit so if you can, do it! And the money goes to a very worthy cause as all the Elephants are rehabilitated back into the wild - the only place in the world that does this.

Safarimama, The evening we were there to visit the Ellies, Kennedy our guide was with us. While I know the keepers love the Ellies their lives are very hard. While we were there one of the keepers got his 'evening meal' brought to him.... I honestly thought the lady was coming to the stable with a 'treat / suplement' for the Ellie!! It was a very small bowl of corn and cabbage and certainly didn't look like anything substantial enough to maintain a full grown man who needs the energy to get up every 3 hours to feed his baby Ellie! I was actually shocked and also, in the stables, each keeper only seemed to have two flimsy blankets to fend off the cold. Kennedy told us that these keepers only get paid around $100/month and Nairobi is expensive so this is VERY little money to try to live on. That and just 4 days off per month - I REALLY felt sorry for these people. I didn't hear any of them complain, I suppose they are glad to have some sort of a roof over their heads and 'some' food but after our visit I thought a LOT about them and felt some guilt towards me adopting an Ellie and them getting so little - I would MUCH prefer to be asked for more money to adopt and some more of that money going towards better provisions for the keepers. These are just my thoughts.

Imelda

HLester3

Thank you all so much for your posts. I had read something previously about this in passing, but could not find any information. I will definitly be adopting an elephant before we leave!
And I will be sure to bring something extra for the keepers.
Thanks, Heather