This morning we visit the Giraffe Centre. Founded by Betty & Jock Leslie-Melville to save the endangered Rothschild Giraffe from extinction, this centre plays an important role in educating Kenyan school children on the country's wildlife and environment. It also allows visitors to come into close contact with the world's tallest species, including the opportunity to feed a gorgeous giraffe.
We then visit the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage (open only from 11 to 12 noon). It took Daphne Sheldrick 28 years of trial and error to perfect the milk formula and complex husbandry required to rear orphaned African elephants, during the period that her husband was warden of Kenya's largest elephant sanctuary in Tsavo East National Park. Since then this sanctuary has gone on to save the lives of many orphaned elephant calves.
Afterwards enjoy a game drive in Nairobi National Park. This was the first national park created in Kenya and, despite its relatively small size and close proximity to the skyscrapers of the city, it boasts a large and varied wildlife population. Animals migrate to this park during the dry season, as it offers them a permanent source of water. You can hope to see lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino - but not elephant as the park is not large enough to sustain them. You can also see giraffe, zebra, eland, impala, Grant's gazelle, Thomson's gazelle, warthog and ostrich in the woodlands and open plains, and hippo in the Mbagathi Athi River which is lined with fever and acacia trees. The park also has a very successful rhino sanctuary. A picnic lunch is included today.
Note: Visits to Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage can only be booked 90 days in advance and are subject to availability (maximum 100 visitors per day).