We got up this morning (without a wakeup call, for once), and got our breakfast downstairs. At 8:30 we were off in a different van, but still with Charles. Our first stop was the Giraffe Center, where the guide gave us a very well done presentation on the three subspecies of giraffe in Africa, and the many activities the Center is involved in to not just rescue babies and heal sick ones, but more now to educate the community in general on the value of the animals to Kenya now and for future generations. We then went to the platform where we got up on the second floor and with food provided for us to give to them, fed two adult females and a youngster that were there. Down on the ground, there were four warthogs making sure that none of the feed that didn’t get to the giraffes went to waste.
Got some great pictures of Gwen, Dee and Gretchen holding food in their mouths so one or another of the giraffes could give them a “kiss” to get it.
We toured the rest of the Center, including an area where they had some giraffe bones, enabling us to see just how bid the animals were. 
Gwen got a good view of a giraffe jaw, for example.
We then went off to the David Shellbeck Wildlife Center, which specializes in caring for elephants and rhinos that are orphaned in the wild. In both cases (the giraffe and elephant centers), the idea for the orphaned animals is to put them back into the wild when they are old enough, and when they can find a place in the animal society. After gaining entrance to the Wildlife Center, we walked down to an arena where there were already elephants drinking what looked like milk from large containers (it wasn’t milk, but a mixture of nutritional components that David Shellbeck had taken 30 years perfecting to maximize the opportunities these orphans had to survive childhood).
One of the younger (and they all were young) and smaller elephants fell into the central pond, but was able to make his way out without a lot of trouble.
The area inside the arena had a couple of watering holes, where the elephants can play and get wet, and plenty of dusty clay to throw on their backs to keep the sun off. The elephants were there to eat, and you can see the large “milk” bottles in a couple of the pictures. T
The keepers had some leafy branches and a soccer ball in the arena as well for the elephants to play with (and a couple of ostrich females that were there as well). The ostriches ate the leaves on the tree branches more than the elephants, but all seemed to enjoy their time in the arena. One of the keepers took to a microphone and told about the work done by the Center, and then proceeded to introduce each of the elephants by name, age and reason for being there.
That was quite a thrill, but after that was finished and they took the first group back out of the arena, a second group was brought in and the process started again. There were about 30 elephants total between the two groups.
That ended the show, and so we headed off to a restaurant with outdoor seating where we enjoyed a very nicely prepared lunch off the menu.
Firefinch, Red-Billed
Afterwards, Charles drove and Philip introduced us to the various buildings in downtown Nairobi. As it is Sunday, traffic was not that bad (it was bad enough), but we were told it is much worse during the week.
Eagle, Tawny; a city park dweller.
Stork, Marabou. These storks abounded in the city, much to our surprise.
Well, we are now back in the Eka Hotel, resting and getting ready for our trip back to the airport and our farewell to Nairobi, to Kenya, and to this safari adventure!
Bearded Wonders 