On my many excellent trips with Odysseys Unlimited, one constant has been the friendliness, competence, and knowledge of the tour managers. I already know my upcoming tour of Kenya and Tanzania will keep that streak going.
Our guide for the next two weeks, Edwin Mapelu, met me curbside at the Nairobi airport following a quick and comfortable flight from Addis Ababa. During our twenty-minute ride to the hotel, we talked about everything from wildlife to politics – admittedly, it can be difficult to tell the two apart – and by the time we arrived, I was confident that this will be another enlightening and enjoyable tour.
In Nairobi, we’re staying at the Fairmont the Norfolk, which has considerably more charm than its clunky name would suggest. It opened in 1904 and has the look and feel of a classic colonial lodge, with a beautiful garden and attractive common areas. The rooms are well-appointed in an unfussy, early 20th century manner.
Our tour group convened Tuesday morning for an introductory meeting. There are only eleven of us, and I think we’re already well on the way to bonding as a group after spending the day together. I know I’ve said this before, but people who travel widely tend to be interesting, open-minded, and personable, and this group seems to check all of those boxes. (If any of my fellow travelers are reading this, the pressure’s on!)
We began our tour with a drive through Nairobi’s crowded, chaotic streets, where jaywalking is an art and motorcycles skitter about with blind faith in the hair-trigger reactions of those driving larger vehicles – perhaps they can’t find their way home or feel the presence of the lord, and if you know the band and the songs I’m alluding to, we are equally superannuated.
Augmenting the degree of difficulty, more than a few traffic lights are non-functioning – “for esthetic purposes only,” as Edwin commented. There are few cities in which I would hesitate to drive, but Nairobi joins Naples (Italy, and Florida also for that matter, given what Florida drivers are like), Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh city on that list.
From Nairobi, we headed to the Giraffe Center, a non-profit established in 1974 to save the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe. (This particular subspecies is by far the wealthiest of the giraffes; moreover, along with their friend Mouton the sheep, they produce a fine Cabernet Sauvignon.)
Just seeing if you are paying attention! The Rothschild’s giraffe is one of three giraffe subspecies in Kenya. The Center runs a breeding program that has helped boost the number of these animals in the wild from a hundred or so in the mid-1970s to roughly 2000 today.
If that doesn’t seem like a huge increase in half a century, consider that a giraffe’s gestation period is 15 months and calves nurse for 12 months, so a female giraffe can give birth only once every three years or so.
At the Giraffe Center, a fenced walkway stands ten feet or so above ground level. The giraffes line up at the fence and wait for you to place food pellets into their mouths. They exude a gentle, serene air, but apparently their kicks can be lethal, as many a lion has found out.
I found the experience exhilarating: looking into their soulful eyes left me floating on a sea of joy – yet another great Blind Faith song – with the sense that I’d been granted a special privilege. What a wonderful way to start this tour!
We headed back to the hotel around three o’clock for a late lunch and a very nice local lager.
Tomorrow we begin the safari proper, driving to Amboseli National Park. Stay tuned ….
PuffinlessTravel 
The eyelashes on those giraffes: unfair! 😉
Africans have an uncanny talent for carrying massive amounts of material with seeming ease, be it stacked on their heads or along their backs.