Giraffes and Elephants, Oh My!

June 29th & 30th

Finally more reliable internet after being away for a couple of days. This is a delayed post, but TOTALLY worth the read. Enjoy!

Yesterday and today have been amazing! We began yesterday morning by heading out to Giraffe Manor, which was less than 30 mins away from our hotel in Karen. A driver from the Manor picked us up from our hotel and off we went. We arrived and learned that Jackson would be taking care of us while there. This meant he would wait on us for all meals, guide us walking to The Giraffe Center next door, arrange transportation to nearby locations, provide drinks, make sure we are having A good time and most importantly take pics of us with the endangered Rothschild giraffes. Now, those of you who know Jasmine well, know that she LOVES animals, right??? Every driver and tour guide has caught on to this as well and they have made are girl feel so special by feeding knowledge into her so that she is more eager to learn. Sometimes she gets a little close, but so far, so good…she was head butted once by a giraffe but she was moving at the time so she barely felt it.

We checked into the manor and were provided hot towels to clean our hands as well as fresh squeezed lemonade. A person from the office sat outside with us and went over all the rules of the manor, when we could expect to see the giraffes and meal times. Once done we went to our rooms where our bags had already arrived. We needed to book 2 rooms, as the maximum in one room was 3 people and an extra bed would not be placed in that room. Jasmine was my roommate and Sanaa and Ajali were roommates. We stayed in the rooms “Helen” and “Kelly”. This property only has 12 rooms, so the setting is intimate and everyone always gets a chance for photo ops with the giraffes. On the flip side you need to book about 2 years in advance if you want to have one of two of their bigger family suites. We stayed in the Garden building since there were no main manor rooms available. The garden manor is for those staying at another one of their properties as well. In other words, we had to book another property for at least one night, which we did and it will be discussed in a later post. We started by exploring our rooms. We were lucky to get two rooms with windows that the giraffes come to in the morning for feeding. After exploring the rooms it was time for lunch. The kids menu allowed the girls to have spaghetti, while AJ and I had beef...beef that was not brown enough for us and needed to be sent back lol. When it came back it was SO good! Jackson had chef put his foot in it! It has been a little chilly here lately and Jackson was nice enough to bring the girls blankets while having lunch. After lunch we walked over to the Giraffe Center, as Jackson was our guide. Whenever walking certain places on the property, you need to have an employee with you, after all you are walking

through a wild animals home. The giraffe Center was maybe a 5 min walk from the manor if that. We were given a guide who told us all bout the endangered Rothschild giraffes, what they are doing to conserve them and then assisted with us feeding the giraffes. They are currently 4 pregnant giraffes at the center, one due any day. There are a couple of not so nice giraffes, as they head butt you if you don’t have any food or random other reasons. When these ones are around, staff are more alert, as a head butt from a giraffe hurts! There are lots of Pumbaas on the property and they make great vacuums! While visitors are feeding the giraffes Pumbaas eat the food that is dropped below. Have you ever noticed how a Pumbaa eats? Their necks are so short that get on their knees with their front legs to eat. Their snorting sounds like pigs. As I stated in a previous post, they are dumb and quiet forgetful, but these ones seemed a little more bold and determined, as you’ll see in photos.

Our rooms and lunch

At the giraffe Center

We fed the giraffes and then headed back to the manor, with a guide of course and then awaited tea time at the manor. Tea time is from 430-6p and its when the giraffes come to the manor after the giraffe center closer for the day. Basically what happens is that visitors leave the center (no body feeding them anymore) so they walk to the manor (where there are people who will feed them). The giraffe center closer at 5p. Tea time was beautiful. We were able to hug Ed- the biggest giraffe and the head bull who has fathered most of the babies there. He is 11 years old and 16 ft tall. Ajali and Sanaa have always loved tea, and Kenyan tea has been their go to since we’ve been here. I’m not a fan of tea, but I really like it myself. We will be bringing some home. Tea time included all types of goodies to eat. As always, alcohol was available. Once tea time was over and the giraffes went back near the giraffe center, the Pumbaa came back and started vacuuming lol. They can be an annoyance while guests are sitting there so the staff will scare them off Using an umbrella. It’s actually hilarious and as soon as I learn to post videos I will show you. William, one of the employees at the Manor was seen doing this often and each time we laughed as the Pumbaas would run and then jump over the concrete barrier. Jackson took a different approach, which was even funnier. This man grabbed a large pillow from the patio furniture and started chasing the pumbaas. As they ran I tried to record as fast as I could be it did capture it all. HILARIOUS!

We met a family from Louisiana who were traveling through East Africa with their 5 boys ages 7-11. Like us they were showing their kids the world and we exchanged experiences. Our kids played together, mostly tag, while we chatted. Mom is a realtor and dad a cardiologist. They went to a Maasai school in Tanzania to deliver school supplies prior to coming to the manor, so we exchanged stories about or time at the orphanage in Kenya (yep I still haven’t posted about that yet).

Dinner was great, and although they served fish, chef prepared chicken for me since I don‘t like fish. Prior to leaving for our rooms we were brought. Giraffe spotted cake to celebrate the girls and I birthdays- totally random, as Ajali’s was in May. We shared with Jackson and off to bed we went to await the giraffes arrival in the early morning.

I set my alarm for 6am so I could open the windows for the giraffes. Around 545a I heard some banging but thought nothing of it. At 555a I got up to open the curtains, and not for away I saw giraffes. It was still pretty dark outside. Some visitors were outside waiting to feed the giraffes, but as for me- I was in my PJs still and planned to feed them from my window lol. Most people here don’t have a window where the giraffes come. Since the giraffes were in the distance I climbed back in bed and planned to wait until i saw a head come through BUT then I heard a “bang, boom”! A giraffe was in my window and had knocked over the entire container of food on the floor! It was Ed! I woke up Jasmine and told her Ed came to see her but she rolled over and told me to feed him! Really child??? She said she was tired and they could wait! Well excuse me!

While I cleaned up Ed’s mess on the floor he was not willing to wait for me so he ventured next door to Ajali and Sanaa’s window to see what he could get. Sanaa thought she heard something at the window previously and randomly decided to open the curtains, to her shock as she opened the curtain, Ed’s face was against the window and Sanaa freaked out and screamed LOL. Can you imagine opening your curtains, its dark outside and a 16 foot giraffes face is at your window looking for food??? Ajali could only laugh! They opened the window and began feeding Ed.

Jackson had come to the room to get my phone to take pics from the outside while I used my GoPro inside and Ajali used the DSLR camera in his room. Yep we totally backed tourist gear lol. We got some beautiful shots and will share them here.

I finally got Jasmine up and we headed downstairs for breakfast. At breakfast the giraffes are still at the window looking for food and will join you to eat. Breakfast was delicious and the fresh squeezed passion fruit juice was even better when Jackson brought me a shot of vodka to add to it!

After breakfast we headed back to the Giraffe Center gift shop to get the girls sweatshirts, as its still a little chilly and we hadn’t done laundry yet. At 10am our driver picked us up and we headed shopping!!! First stop was Kazuri bead factory, which provides jobs for single women. I had looked at their website and planned to shop, as it is a cause I can agree with. To our surprise when we arrived the actual factory where the beads were made was closed, as it was being moved. COVID had taken a toll on the company and the owners sold it to Sand & Storm, a company that makes leather and canvas designer bags. We were able to see the making of the products from start to finish. It began as rolled leather procured in Kenya then cut into pieces depending on the product, hand sewn, glued, even down to the zipper. Items are then sent to the quality control table where they may need to add extra glue, do a little trimming, tag it and send items out for distribution and place some in the store at the Kazuri bead factory right there. Now, red is my FAVORITE color and I saw a stack of red canvas bags going through quality control as well as a leather bag I had my eye on. This entire process happens among just a few different rooms here.

We went to the store and I swear this was the wrong place for me to come! I know my mom and sister would’ve loved all the jewelry, so I picked them up something to bring home. My dad got something too. I had a full small basket, but I was missing something- the two bags in quality control that I saw! Come to find out they were not ready for sale yet, but being the patient (not) shopper that I am, I waited about 20 mins and they made sure those bags got through quality control and BOOM- I got 2 new bags!!!! I was SO GEEKED! I was the first to purchase these new items anywhere!!! There was an American couple there and I even told the wife about my new bags and she headed over to pick one out herself! The quality of these pieces were great and the fact that they were made in Kenya and going to a great cause was even better. I was like a kid in the candy store I’m not sure I even took pics…oops lol. I was enjoying the moment! From our understanding this is a decent paying job. Workers are paired the equivalent of $400/month plus bonuses when more than one item is completed in a day, overtime and commission when one of their items sell. They all work from 8a-7p. I also plan to check out the Sand and Storm website to see what I can see :)

Next we headed to the market down the road. Surprisingly, the kids have not been asking for everything like I thought they would. They pick out random things, we negotiate with the sellers and then keep it moving. I consider myself a good Negotiated when it comes to these markets. I know there is an “American price” and I also know what I will not pay for certain items lol. I also know that I’m pouring into their livelihoods and I’m ok with that. It’s that while being here that our entire family has been asked if we are Kenyan, including me lol. Ajali has been asked for his resident card and I was asked if I was from the Kamba tribe. I was told both Kamba and Kikuyus were known to be beautiful people, so we’ll take it! Even though some think we are native, one guy was not sold that Ajali was Kikuyu and it wasn’t until Ajali showed his Maryland ID did the guy open his eyes wide and say OH MY lol.

We then ran to the mall, looked around and then headed to the elephant orphanage orphanage to meet Jasmine’s elephant Tabuu and his friends. Jasmine has been wanting a baby brother and loves elephants, so for Christmas we adopted a 13 month old orphan named Tabuu from Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (Much cheaper than a baby brother). His name means “trouble” in Swahili, as he was in trouble when rescued. Feel free to check out his story on the Sheldrick website. We arrived for our private tour and was greeted by Edwin who brought us to where the elephant heard would be joining for their 3p bottle feeding. He gave us all the rules, to include no screaming, and a moment later the first 3 elephants began running in from the bush to get their milk. The smaller elephants get one bottle while the bigger ones get two. It takes a matter of moments to guzzle the milk (some even hold the bottles themself) and then they either take a mud bath, eat branches or play with the others. there are 21 elephants at the nursery currently and as they get older they are moved to a reintegration unit to assist their transition back in the wild. Jasmine even wore a shirt that said Tembo Wango Tabuu, which means, my elephant Tabuu. Edwin was impressed. He was also impressed about how she just meandered in with the elephants, although she had complained about the mud.

The orphans here are due to loosing their mothers due to drought, human animal conflict or death of the mother due to natural causes. The keepers are with the elephants 24 hours a day and even sleep in the stockades with them. They are out in the bush all day and in the stockades in the evening and night. There are multiple keepers assigned to the orphans, so they won’t get attached to just one person. We also met a blind rhino name Maxwell. He will live in captivity all of his life, as surgery was unsuccessful due to him not having an optic nerve.

Our last stop for the day was a restaurant called Carnivore. This place came highly recommended. The experience is similar to Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse. The meat seemed to be seasoned better than Fogo and other than the typical chicken, beef, pork, and lamb, this spot had crocodile, ostrich and ostrich meatballs. The price included desert, which you could choose from a menu as well. I was shocked at how much Jasmine actually ate since she’s picky. She tried ostrich meatballs and crocodile!