A Day in Karen, October 18, 2014

We were picked up by a Me to We driver this morning and taken to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, home of the elephant orphanage. It is currently run by David's widow, Dame Daphne Sheldrick and her daughter Angela and husband. Anyone who knows me will be aware that I do some reading and research before travel destinations. So naturally I had read Daphne's book on her life and the orphanage which made me really pleased to see the facility in person. I was disappointed to not actually see Daphne, although she couldn't have signed my book anyway as I read it on my Kindle!

Seeing the young elephants was an amazing experience. They ranged from two months to three years. We learned some interesting facts. A keeper actually sleeps in the stall on a raised bunk with the infants. The keepers constantly rotate so the elephants don't become attached to one human. You can't help but pity these poor babies who lose their mothers often due to human greed for ivory and the poaching that provides it. After three years juveniles are moved to Tsavo where they are reintroduced to the wild, a process that takes five to ten years!

We had lunch at Utamaduni where there is a hotel and craft centre. It was a nice place with barter-free shopping. Love that! We also had a brief (perfect!) tour of a bead making workshop called Kazuri. This place provides employment and health benefits for single mothers. You might find some of their work at places such as Ten Thousand Villages.

Skip has not experienced the chaos that is downtown Nairobi as our time has been totally in this affluent suburb of Karen.

A young boy of perhaps eight years came into the hotel with his mother last night. His name is Finn!

Note to self: I must remember to take some photos on my iPad today so I can post them.

Travel and Arrival

Left Toronto October 15 and arrived Nairobi October 17, 2014.

Thankfully the air travel was largely uneventful and we managed a few hours sleep on each flight. We had 8 hours to kill in London and so went into the city to revisit an area of Covent Garden, specifically Sophie's Steakhouse, where we'd been with James in 2012. I had a bit of a meltdown as soon as we got off the plane at Heathrow. We had a couple more together at Sophie's as we shared memories. I'm looking forward to the time when reminiscing will be less sorrowful and more about the happy times we shared as a family.

We are staying at House of Waine, a small, quaint boutique hotel in the Karen area of Nairobi. (Karen is named for Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame.) The staff here bend over backwards for your comfort. We had the full English when we arrived and then went back to our room where, despite plans to the contrary, we fell asleep for a few hours. We saw monkeys from our terrace! They keep them off the property with fences as they (the monkeys) behave like, well, monkeys, stealing food from guests and other naughty things.

I mustn't forget to note that Skip had his first African road experience as we bumped and wound through large red muddy potholes, and all this only a half hour from the international airport!

We enjoyed a couple of Sierra Platinums from a local micro brewery by the fire in the charming lounge. There are lots of local and general African books to look at there. Heaven! We've seen a few showers today and the thunder we are hearing at the moment adds to the atmosphere created by the scent of the fire. We are going to enjoy our dinner I think - the first solid meal in a couple of days.

BTW London was not as warm as the weather we left in Canada and despite the forecast it rained while we were there. It's all part of its charm!