Rescuing Wild Animals

Our first outing on Saturday was to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  This group rescues baby elephants whose mothers have usually been killed by poachers.  Occasionally, a baby elephant has fallen into a well and can't get out.  The park ranger calls this group to rescue the baby.
There are 30 baby elephants in the "nursery".  We were able to see 26 of them, from 2 months to 5 years.  For the first 3 years they are bottle fed, up to 18 liters a day.  Generally, after 3 years, they are transferred to a transition phase in a national park.  The attendants there introduce them to several herds.  It takes 5 years, but eventually they are adopted by a wild herd.

Our next stop was the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi.  We were each handed a handful of pellets and encouraged to feed the giraffes.  Jessica, our housemate, agreed to put one in her mouth and feed it to the giraffe.  You could walk upstairs to a pavilion where you would be eye-to-eye with the giraffes.  They have very long thin black tongues!  This centre focuses on breeding Rothschild giraffes and restoring them to national parks in Kenya.