Giraffe Sanctuary & Nakuru walk

Went for an early morning run and I had forgotten how much I love seeing a new town waking up. I felt quite safe as there were so many people out and about at 6am.

Then off we went in with our new truck to explore Kenya. First stop the Giraffe sanctuary, it has been vital in helping the Rothschild giraffe from going into extinction. We got to feed the 11 giraffes that were there, their tongues are leathery and bluish-purple. Most of them did not like being touched so we had to wait for Eddie, the oldest and biggest giraffe who likes a pet. We were the first to arrive so had the first 5 minutes to ourselves and then the hordes of tourists arrived jostling for a spot to feed the beautiful creatures. 

We then got a tour of the information centre with a guide, learning about the drop of life (the baby giraffes are birthed standing so have a drop of around 2metres as they are born). There were bones for the kids to carry, the femur has no marrow so is a solid bone making a giraffe’s kick one of the strongest, you do not want to be on the wrong side of a giraffe.

Till this trip I did not  know there were three types of giraffes and we have been fortunate to see the Masai and Rothschild giraffes. Sadly we are not going to the region that has the Reticulated giraffes, they look quite different to the other two in the pictures. 

Next was the drive to Nakuru National park. We camped in its outskirts and then did a guided tour of the village.

There are so many similarities to Indian villages, the cow dung usage for the mud houses and thatched roofs. Similarly most of it is changing to concrete buildings and iron roofs. The best part of it was all the kids playing together. There was football match among the older ones while Aanya did races and cartwheels with the younger ones.

The night ended with an acrobatic performance by a local artist. More than his impressive feats I enjoyed the humour with his - Danger, danger and another design, another design that he made us chant. Aanya’s favourite bit was the marshmallows around the campfire.