Good morning from South of the Equator!

Jambo and good morning, my friends. Words can not describe our amazingly wonderful 1st full day in Africa. We went to bed last night with happy hearts and giggles from our various adventures!

After breakfast in our lovely hotel, we ventured to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust area where the Elephant Orphanage is located. We were allowed access for 1 hour during the elephants "feeding" time, and what a site to behold! These elephants ranged from 6 months to about 3 years old, all rescued for various reasons, mostly "manmade" between their mothers being illegally poached or the little ones falling into water wells. Once a baby elephant is identified in distress and rescued, they are immediately airlifted to the elephant orphanage. Although this is a much more expensive proposition than driving them, experience has shown that they can quickly lose the will to live in this stressful situation, and surrounding them with other elephants is so comforting and much more promising for their overall survival rate. Elephants need milk until at least 2 years old, so the Sheldricks developed a special milk formula from milk powder human babies use, since elephants are allergic to all cow and other animal milk. You can not imagine how adorable this sight was to see 2 waves of 10 elephants each running down a little hill to get their BIG bottle of milk. They are fed at the same location every day, each bottle labeled for the elephant's unique mix of vitamins, medicine, etc. It was truly incredible. After 3 years old, the elephants are moved further out into Nairobi National Park, and gradually the elephants acclimate to their new surroundings, befriend other "wild" elephants, and by 5 years of age depart with their new family with 100% success rate.

More details about our day to follow later on- enjoy for now! :-) Chris and Jane