Nairobi

We flew back to Nairobi last night and today we boarded our minivan to explore Kenya. Our first stop was the Giraffe Center where they are raising Rothschild giraffes and releasing them into the wild. This subspecies of giraffe is the least plentiful, only five hundred exist. We got to feed the giraffes, their 18 inch tongues are quite flexible in order to peal off new Acacia leaves, which are protected by thorns. By holding the feed between our lips, we were both kissed by the giraffes. The young are born after 15-18 months (varied based on weather and food conditions). At birth, they are 6 feet tall and weight 65 kg. Females grow to be 14-16 feet and males to 20 feet. Giraffes nap for 3 to 30 minutes with their eyes open. They protect themselves from predators by kicking. But they are very vulnerable when they drinking water, since they need to spread their legs to drink.

Mary being kissed by a Giraffe

We headed to Karen Blixen's house, the author of "Out of Africa". She moved from Denmark to Africa in 1914 at age 29 and left in 1934, afterwhich she started writing. The home was moderately interesting - less than half of the furnishings were original.

As we continued on, it was obvious when we entered the Great Rift Valley,

which extends over 3700 miles from Turkey to Mozambique. Here 2 tectonic plates are separating. At the bottom of the rift are geothermal features that provide 15% of Kenya's power. The lakes in this area are highly alkaline, since there is no exit to the sea.

Our last stop was Crescent Island where "Out of Africa" was filmed. Most of the animals in the film were brought in and now this is a wildlife refuge. Lots of water-buck, zebras, and giraffe. In fact, we saw a week old youngster with her mother. The island is now a peninsula in Lake Naivasha because of a drought. The area was covered with Yellow Bark Acacia trees.

Mother Giraffe with 1 week old

Our lodge for the night, Lake Naivasha Simba is absolutely stunning on grounds where impala and water-buck are roaming. The room is spacious with both an indoor and outdoor shower and the food is delicious, a mixture of Western, Indian, and African.