Travelin' Fullers Blog: Leaving Nairobi for the first game camp

Well, what a FABULOUS day we had! It started with a tour of the Karen Blixen House/Museum. The township we are in is quite affluent and is named Karen for Karen Blixen who first came to Africa as a young bride in the very early 1900's. She was quite a pioneer. For those that have seen the Meryl Streep/Robert Redford movie, Out of Africa, that was the story of Karen's life. She was one accomplished lady! She married a Baron who came to Africa to grow coffee. It was a marriage of convenience for both. Karen wanted the title of Baroness and had money which the Baron needed. She divorced him five years later. He had given her syphillis which she treated with arsenic. The treatment made her malnourished and she was a heavy smoker and acquired lung cancer. She had several years of happiness with her lover, an Englishman hunter and adventurer, Denys Finch Hatton. But alas, he was killed in a small plane crash in the bush in 1931. Karen was greatly loved by the people during this period of colonialism because she gave her workers land to live on and a decent wage. She was also the Dr. on the coffee plantation, treating workers with medicines. She set up a school for the worker's children. She was also a VERY fine artist. We saw copies of her work (originals are in a Danish museum) but we were not allowed to photograph them.

After the tour of the Blixen House, we went to feed the giraffes! How much fun that was! Duffy even fed several. Their lips are velvety soft and on so gentle as they take the pellets from your hand. In fact, they are so gentle, you can "kiss" the giraffe by putting a pellet in your teeth and the giraffe will gently take it from you. I have a great photo of Grant doing just that, but unfortunately I couldn't download

all my photos today. I think my camera card 64g was too large. I have now changed the card to 32g and it seems to be fine. Suffice it to say there IS a picture of Grant "kissing" the giraffe.

After a beautiful lunch at our hotel, we went to a baby elephant orphanage. It is a large rescue center for baby elephants with the goal of releasing them back into the wild when they are between 3 and 4 years old. Some of the younger ones are on milk every four hours provided by the handler that stays with them. The handlers even sleep in the stall with their charge. You can "adopt" a baby elephant

and they send you monthly emails and photos of your "adoptee"! They even let you know when they are released back into the wild. So, of course, we adopted several babies. Bill and I adopted two females born In August for Gaby. Our family adopted one for our friend and travel agent, Arlene Feen. And of course, Grant found one he was partial to and then Duffy needed one! Boy was that orphanage happy to see us! Lol!

We're all packing tonight for a 6:15 am departure from the hotel to the small airport where we catch a small plane to our first camp, Ol Donyo Lodge. We're told by locals that the lodge is amazing! Hope we have good wifi so I can report tomorrow night.