We slept reasonably well despite the rather noisy road outside. After showers we headed downstairs to organise some day trips and get breakfast (being more than 8 hours since eating!) There are 2 guards on the landing by the stairs and one of them is intent on teaching us Swahili. So far we have: Jambo =hi; Karibu =welcome; Ndiyo= yes; and asante =thank you. Everyone is very friendly.
The concierge suggested we visit the elephant orphanage, the giraffe sanctuary and the Karen Blixen museum. He told us exactly how much the entry would be to each place and organised a driver to take us and stay with us for the day. $100US excluding entrance fees, which we thought was fine. We arranged to be collected at 9.39 which gave us nearly an hour.
The dining room is at the front of the hotel and looks out onto a colourful garden. The dining room itself has lots of dark wood and pretty tables. There was a fruit and cereal section, hot foods, chefs making omelettes and different types of toast. We both had some fresh fruit and vegetarian omelette with home baked grain toast. Mike also had the lamb mince on toast – so far there’s a bit of a theme here! The coffee was excellent and came with hot milk.
Our driver was called Matthew. He comes from about 3 hours north where he has a small bit of land. His wife and kids live there and he goes home every other weekend. He used to be a school bus driver at one of the private schools for 15 years but then the school was bought and the new owner didn’t pay them. They had to go to court (our team knows about that) and he left to become a cab driver. The concierge had given instructions to go to an ATM and the mall for water, and to show us the city centre. We struck it lucky with Matthew. The school he used to work at was near all the attractions we went to and he knew the area well. He was also an excellent tour guide. 
Matthew showed us the various government buildings, churches, monuments and hotels in the city. Also the site of the US embassy bombing back in the 1990s. Because it is Sunday, and most of the population (mainly catholic) was either at, or on the way to church, the streets were almost empty. Ideal for sightseeing. We noticed that Nairobi does not have the same profusion of power lines all over the place that you see in Vietnam or even Seoul. In fact, the power is underground with the only wires being for decorative lighting. The parks are very dusty. Actually what I thought were parks might be carparks, which don’t seem to warrant any maintenance.
After a tour around the CBD we set off towards the south, stopping at the mall on the way. I can confirm that Nairobi’s Galleria is pretty much the same as malls everywhere. We picked up some water and then set off for the elephants. I thought we’d have to go miles but no. The Nairobi national park extends over 10,000ha between the city and the airport. There are fences around some sides but not all, and they have had trouble with lions coming out and getting livestock. The elephant orphanage is a charitable undertaking within a section of the park. It was established by a conservationist who also figured out how to adapt baby formula to feed infant elephants. They look after orphan elephants from different regions in Kenya and then gradually reintroduce them back into the wild from about 3 years old. The babies require milk until they are 2-3 years. 
At 11am each day they feed the elephants and give a commentary to the assembled visitors. It was pretty busy being Sunday with about half and half locals and tourists encircling a large dust bowl/paddock with a couple of ponds. They brought down two different groups of babies with 10 in the first and 14 in the second. The come down into the arena in groups of 3 or 4 and immediately got 2 x3litre bottles of milk. Really cute. We had a good view from on top of a small rock wall. The commentary was excellent and each elephant has its own name and the keeper explained where it had come from, why it was there and it’s approximate age. At least half were rescued after falling down wells left behind by nomadic farmers. One of the 2’year olds loves playing with this crushed rugby ball and he was really quite skilled. He can toss it to the keepers from any of his 4 legs. Matthew later told us that they love rugby 7s here – more so than soccer (which is full of corruption) and Kenya has the top 7s team in Africa. Thank goodness the elephants can’t play.
After the show we located Matthew and the car and headed around the corner to the giraffe sanctuary. They have a small herd of about 6 females, one male and a baby in an area next to a courtyard and viewing platform. It seems to be in the grounds of a flash hotel where people can sit out on the terrace and watch the giraffes, except they were all over with the tourists gobbling up the food pellets. The keepers give you a handful and the giraffes come and lick them out of your hands. Their tongues are quite smooth and very long. Upstairs you need to be careful not to stand too close to the edge as they’ll head butt you if you’re not feeding them. The male was a bit of a bully and tried to push the others out of the way, even the warthogs. There is a tub nearby with water, soap and paper towels which was good and also some very clean restrooms. 
Next it was off to the Karen Blixen museum. Karen was an author who wrote Out of Africa. She and her husband (Baron Blixen) established the fist coffee plantation in the area and she was an all round good sort, ensuring local kids of both sexes got educated and helped with medical care. The museum is her original house (think Merilyn Streep and “I had a farm in Africa” and you’re in the right place). We had a guide but her English and our accents were an unmatched combination. Mostly we got the drift but she wasn’t too good ‘off script’. Plenty of great antiques in the house and an original coffee bean drying machine in the woods nearby. 
Matthew had asked if we wanted to see crocodiles (mamba) so off we went to the Mamba village. Between Karen Blixen and Mamba we drove through the Nairobi version of Tamahere (on steroids) where there are enormous mansions behind walls fortified with razor wire and often electric (Gallagher signage) fences above. Many of these are under construction and part of land owned now or previously by the missionaries. Most seem to be owned/occupied by government ministers.
The Mamba village comprised a series of different pools with crocodiles of various ages in each. We had a guide who selected a baby for us to hold, though rather reluctantly (both us and the croc). He did secure its jaw with a rubber band but nevertheless had hopped into the pen with some reasonably big ones in order to get the toddler. Then we walked around the lake shaped like Africa before setting ourselves down on the lawn to have a late lunch. 
Matthew joined us and we had a very pleasant hour alongside numerous family groups all enjoying a day out in the park. There are heaps of cats also, which evidently do a great job with the rats. 
We got back to the hotel at 4.30ish in time for a shower and relax before the our meeting at 6.
Our room was made up beautifully. 
We have a group with 2 other kiwi couples (both from Havelock North but unknown to each other) a couple from Perth, from Victoria and a lady from Melbourne. Our final member arrives this evening. Our tour leaders are Erellah and Martin, who seem friendly and patient.
After the meeting we had a restrained dinner well, I did. Mike had the tomato soup and we both had the Caesar salad. I ordered the Cajun chicken Caesar and Mike ordered the bacon. When it turned up we realised that the chicken, beef, bacon and spring roll were not alternatives. It was all yum.
Tomorrow we are off on safari leaving at 7.30am.