Elephant Orphanage, Giraffe Center

Yesterday we went to an elephant orphanage and a giraffe center! The baby elephants were adorable. The orphanage takes in babies for up to three years, they integrate them into herds and then release them into the wild. Most of the elephants were orphaned as a result of poaching, many of them were found standing by their mother's carcasses. Both poaching and selling ivory are against the law in Kenya, punishable by years in jail. Elephant's tusks do not begin to show until they are older so baby elephants are not targeted by poachers. The elephants which were not orphaned as a result of poaching were orphaned as a result of the drought. Last year there was a severe drought in Kenya, people, livestock, and wild animals all died.
Elephants are truly amazing creatures, they are social and intelligent. An elephant will always recognize its trainer, even after years in the wild. The orphanage does not tag the elephants, partly for funding reasons and partly because elephants live so long. The chips implanted in the elephants would die before the elephant (at least that is what the guide said). However, if the elephant comes back to the orphanage (which they do frequently) it will recognize its trainer and respond to its name. It was sweet to see the bond between the trainers and the elephants, the trainers sleep on a bunk in the elephant's stall, they spend literally 24 hours a day together.
After the elephant orphanage we went to the giraffe center. The giraffe center is just that, a place to hang out with giraffes. I petted a giraffe I nicknamed Leonard, it seemed like a lanky sort of name. You can feed the giraffes pellets so they come up to you and you can interact with them at their level from a balcony. There are even opportunities to kiss giraffes, you hold a pellet between your lips and the giraffe eats it from your mouth. I did not kiss a giraffe, Leonard and I kept the relationship strictly platonic.
Tomorrow I am going to the Kibera WEEP center and I think I will have an opportunity to travel to some of the women's homes.
Best,
Margaret