I Touched a Giraffe. It was Awesome.

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Girl what dates you talking about? June 3rd

 Nairobi National Park, Giraffe Center, and Animal Orphanage

A duo of Giraffes in the Nairobi National Park. Photo by me. 

View of Downtown Nairobi skyline from the National Park

Now, I've already written about the nonsense that happened after the day after the trip to the safari. However, the morning/early after was rather fantastic. Located just 4 miles from downtown Nairobi is the Nairobi National Park. At 45 square miles, it is enormous. This is the sort of land conservation that a country can engage in when it is not cursed with oil (though oil was very recently discovered in Kenya this year... so we will see how this plays out in the future). When non-Africans ask me questions like, "oh, you're African? Do you have giraffes in your backyard?" It now seems a little less silly (only a little). If you live in Nairobi, that's kind of the situation.

Faces filled with glee on a safari!

I guess because Kenya is the African hub of tourism, the image that is the Nairobi National Park is the one that everyone associates with the African continent (you know, when it's not pity porn staring starving children, endless war, or famine). It was incredibly beautiful, though. Even after waking up at 6:30 am after a few hours of sleep, cruising around the park was rather breath-taking.







Sadly, The Kenyan government has just approved the construction of a road that passes through the National Park.  There is currently some opposition to this plan. I hope they are successful shutting this down because this sort of thing sets a precedent for more development projects that would eat away at the park.

The Giraffe Center and Animal Orphanage were good but it just didn't compare to seeing the wildlife in their natural habitat. The Giraffe Center Provided for some intimate moments with the animals. I did not engage, however the rest of the crew I was with each took a stab at getting the giraffes to eat food from their mouths. Sadly, no pictures to report because my camera died at this point.

The animal orphanage was home to some elephants and rhinos. One of the baby elephants was a ham:

Selling "African"

So as I've continued to explore, I must say that I really don't like going to the places that attract tourists. While the reverential treatment of white folks I referenced earlier contributes to that, the biggest problem I have with these places is their desire to live up to the expectations of tourists looking for an "African" experience.

Here's an example: Prior to entering Mamba Village, there was a quartet of young men donned in full Maasai traditional garb, neck beads and all, singing and dancing in the hopes that people will ask for pictures in exchange for tips. A similar group was present at the Nairobi National Park upon our exit. Ain't nobody just rolling around in full Maasai garb just on the regular, not even in the Maasai Mara, let alone Nairobi.

Upon entry, you see signs for a "crocodile farm" ---a man-made pond with Nile crocodiles (who the hell knows how and from where they were gathered). The is arranged in the shape of the African continent and the decor is vaguely pan-African. It looked like a golf resort with some kind-of-African decor thrown in with some caged animals. The vibe of the place was just really... off. Now, on one end I get it: "lets try to make as much money off the tourists as possible".  However, in these tourist spots, it's starts to cross the line of being a bit of a minstrel show. I dunno... it's a bit irksome. In the past couple of days, I've been away from these sorts of locations and it's made the contrast even more clear.

Up Next: The Bus System in Nairobi, The Kenya National Archives, and Getting my Hair Did

P.S.

Why did the ostrich cross the road? To get away from the obnoxiously squealing Americans.