Giraffes!

I am finally starting to do some fun things and it is coming at the perfect time. Harriette's friend and her two year old son are visiting from Boston so she is taking them on the touristy rounds and I get to tag along. On Friday we were supposed to go to the Giraffe Center, the Karen Blixen Museum and some bead factory which I can't remember the name of but we ended up only going to the Giraffe Center. At the Giraffe Center they give you these little pellets and you get to actually feed the Giraffes. The kind of Giraffes that they have are Rothschild the rarest of three kinds of Giraffes in Kenya and they are easily distinguished by their white legs. There was only like 100 left because loss of habitat and Idi Amin the Ugandan dictator in the 70s killing tons of them for fun and meat. I know all this stuff because we all sat in the a little educational presentation they have at the center. It was interesting that they mentioned Idi Amin because I had just started reading, The Last King of Scotland, so I actually knew who they were talking about. Back to the Giraffes, I was hesitant at first when I was watching all these people feeding them because it looked pretty gross. There were some people who were putting the little pellets in their mouths and it was so weird. I don't know if I am the only one who feels like this but making out with Giraffes is not my idea of fun. I decided to be brave and give (feeding them normally) a try and I got to tell you if you ever have the opportunity to feed a giraffe take it it's so fun. There tongues are like dark blue and super slimy and strong and they just curl their tongue around the pellets and slurp them up. I was holding Skye, Harriette's four year old daughter, and at first she didnt want to do it but eventually she started feeding them too and was having fun. There was a group of school children from Kibera, the biggest slum in Africa and a 5 minutes walk from my house, and they were so cute. They were all in line and in there little uniforms, smiling and laughing as they all took turns feeding the Giraffes. It is a super touristy thing to do but it is worth it and really fun.

Fun Face: The Giraffes tounge is blue because it needs to be able to reflect the sunlight and not get burned when they are sticking it out to eat all day.

My camera died so I don't have the pictures. I will add them on when I get them from Harriette's camera later.