Standard Touristing

This morning, my roommate, a friend, and I trekked out at the healthy hour of 8:30 to do some sightseeing around Nairobi. Our early-bird-ness played to our advantage as the roads, typically choked with traffic, were clear and we arrived at our first stop in no time. The Karen Blixen museum is housed in, well, the house of Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa. Blixen, a native of Denmark, lived in the house from 1917-1931 and ran the plantation's coffee business as well as managed the land. She is remembered for her insistence that a school be established for the children of the plantation workers (most of whom were Kikuyu) as well as her aptitude for treating illness among the communities that worked and lived on the land. Our guide remarked that Blixen was admired among local and colonialist communities for her determination and compassion. After leaving Africa in 1931 due to bankruptcy and illness, Karen became an established author in Europe; though she wrote under various male pseudonyms (the most well-known being Isak Dinesen). The 1985 film Out of Africa features Meryl Streep as Karen; a clip of the film's intro can be seen below. 

 After a refreshing turn about the sprawling gardens and woods of the Blixen museum, we headed for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, home to an elephant orphanage. The trust is located in the grounds of Nairobi National Park, a sprawling savannah-like area that is home to a variety of wildlife including ostrich (we saw one on the drive in!), lions, warthogs (in kiswahili it's pumba!), gazelle, hyena, and cheetahs. The wildlife trust adopts baby elephants who have been orphaned, many by poaching, and raises them until they can be independent, about 3 years old. 

We had the immense pleasure of visiting the elephants during a feeding hour. You may be asking yourself, 'is that a picture of a 2-year-old elephant being bottle-fed?' Why yes, yes it is. There were 22 elephants brought out for 'playtime' and feeding, the youngest of whom were 2 months old. They were absolutely fascinating to watch, and, just as the keeper told us, each one had a distinct personality. Or elephant-ality, I suppose. Either way they were downright adorable. 

The keepers of the wildlife trust care for the elephants and acclimate them to independence in the wild until the elephants are 3 years old. Because many of these animals have suffered loss, are quite vulnerable, and need constant care the keepers sleep with the elephants every night. At right, you can see them romping about; they also came right up to the fence and seemed to enjoy being petted by ecstatic tourists.