Baby Elephants

A highlight of our time in Nairobi was our visit to The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I'd been wanting to go there since last year when Jon, Nena and Suha visited. The trust takes in orphaned elephant babies who would be unable to survive in the wild (elephants subsist exclusively on their mothers' milk until they're two years old), hand rears them in the "elephant nursery," and then gradually reintroduces them into the wild. The nursery is in Nairobi National Park and the public is invited to see the keepers feed the elephants (using elephant-sized baby bottles).


After eating, the elephants drink water,


play,


and cool off in the mud.



The whole experience was just as cool as I'd imagined. I even got to pet this elephant, who was feeling friendly. She was quite bristly feeling, since she was covered with short wiry hairs, and rather muddy.


If you ever find yourself in Nairobi, this is a must-do activity!

Merry Christmas from London

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Lucy and I arrived in London for the holidays early Thursday morning after being snowed out in Nairobi for a few days. We changed from our shorts and flip flops at Heathrow and took the subway into town looking a bit like a traveling circus.

We are staying in a very nice flat in Chelsea that belongs to a friend of Lucy’s family.  Our blood has thinned significantly since leaving Hanover so it feels quite cold to us here and are each wearing multiple layers of long underwear at all times for safety.  The grocery store around the corner has been visited four times and we have stored up butter, cheese, and chocolate for the long winter ahead.

Yesterday afternoon we went to St. Paul’s for a carol service but were unable to get inside it was so full.  They had set up a jumbo screen to broadcast the service in a nearby square so we stood in the cold singing carols with a couple hundred of Lucy’s fellow countrymen.

After the service, we took the tube back to our neighborhood and did only what seemed appropriate when in England on Christmas Eve: stopped in the local pub for a snack and beer.  We had some excellent warm brie with red onion chutney and some sweet potato fries (Lucy: “best I’ve ever had”) to go with my Guinness and her blueberry cider.

This morning Lucy had a stocking for me with dark chocolate covered ginger and an orange in it.  We had tea and french toast for breakfast.  We went to church at St. Luke’s (built in 1825) across the street from the flat.

We have a small tree from Nakumatt in Nairobi with two maasai angel ornaments on it.  We don't have any presents, but we feel quite festive and are certainly happy to be here.

Nairobi Safari Day

This morning we did the Nairobi safari loop of Nairobi National Park, Elephant Orphanage, Giraffe Sanctuary, and Karen Blixen House.  We ran into a male lion on the side of the road while in the park and have some pretty awesome pictures.
 

Queue music from The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

 Our flight was canceled to London tonight so we are in Nairobi for a few more days...