First off, I have to give a shout-out to Jay and Brandi with Wander Africa as they planned one of the best weeks we could have asked for here in Kenya! It was absolutely incredible. There are so many pictures that it was too much to add to every blog. You can check out the rest on the photos pages!

After a short flight from Entebbe to Nairobi, we were met by Faith who helped get us through customs within minutes (we ended up going through the diplomatic line). And then once our bags were secured, we met up with our guide Titus and driver, Godfrey who would take us the short drive to our hotel.

The next morning we grabbed a buffet breakfast at the hotel that included fruits, grilled tomatoes, potatoes, omelet station, and much more. Then it was off to explore Nairobi for the day before we head off on our safari! First stop was the Sheldrick’s Wildlife Trust to see the elephant orphanage. This place rescues baby elephants from out in the different wildlife parks across Kenya who have recently become orphaned and rehabilitates them in Nairobi. After a few years (can’t exactly remember the number), they are able to reintroduce them back into the wild. They said that over 80 new baby elephants have been born from these orphans. It was so cute watching them be bottle fed, play in the water hole, and throw dust on themselves. After a quick hour and several photos/videos later, it was off to the next place.

We headed to the Giraffe Centre where we got to feed them pellets and learn more about them. There were a few facts that we didn’t know and were quite surprised by like:

• They sleep only 5-45 minutes of the day
• There are three different types of giraffes in Kenya: Masai, Reticulated, and Rothschild
• Their heart weighs about 25 lbs and is 2 ft long!

Then it was off for some delicious food and drinks at Tamambo. Grant enjoyed the blueberry gin and tonic as recommended by the waitress while I got the Malibu sunset. After filling up on pizza and salad, it was off to do some shopping in the local shops. We stopped at and arts and crafts store where we explored some local painted plates, wood carvings, and bead work. There was also a shop full of beautiful paintings of the safari animals. One guys paintings looked more like photographs and were so realistic. We ended up getting some colorful small dishes along with a carving of Africa. The worker told us it would be $30 and Grant tried his hand at bargaining. He offered $20 and we met in the middle at $25. Back in the car, we were asking if it’s good to barter with the shops and explained what happened. Both Titus and Godfrey told us Grant did a terrible job and should have started out lower to get a better deal.

Our last set of shops was in Langata Links. My main goal of the day was to try and find a “safari hat”. There were plenty of African designed clothing, homemade soaps and beauty products, shoes, and jewelry. I found one in the beginning but decided against it as it was about $70. I thought I was going to be stuck with my Nike baseball cap, but was able to find one in the last store! And it was a great price!

On the way back to the hotel, we passed a sign that said SpaceX Bar & Grill. I quickly pointed it out to Grant so he could snag a picture. It had the same “X” as they use for their company.

On the way back to the hotel for the night we were on a fairly major freeway when a family of baboons crossed the road in front of traffic and stopped everyone. It was so cool to see the wildlife so intermixed into even a huge city like Nairobi. We ended back at the hotel in the early afternoon and decided to actually get a quick workout in before dinner. As we were working out, we had a little visitor outside the window jumping along the back wall (a monkey), although the guard did try to chase him away. Back in the room, I loaded up our pictures from the day into our Photos page for Nairobi and we enjoyed an episode of Shrinking. (If you haven’t checked it out in AppleTV, it’s pretty good.)

Then it was time to prep our bags and prepare for a new adventure in Lewa Conservancy!