Lunch and High Tea at Giraffe Manor

This is so cute.  Look at their iPad cover! 

I could soooo get used to this...

Everything was delicious

I want a pair of salad servers like this!

After lunch we rested a bit and was also presented with a little gift

Before we knew it it was time for high tea...I wasn't even hungry!

I did steal a chocolate chip cookie though.  I couldn't resist!

Yup, a full bar was also available

I just love her tongue!!

Kenya and The Giraffe Manor

So you remember the crazy place that we stayed the first night in Kenya?  Well here it is..Safi Budget Apartments.  Sorry, these are the only two pics I got.  I wasn't too excited to take pictures of the place.

Oh, and do you remember my hot water incident?  Well go figure...the next morning while I was washing my hands in the sink look what I found:

They just happened to forget to mention this when we checked in.  By the time I saw it I didn't have time to take another shower.  Randy got to take one though.

Our ride was promptly there at 7am to take us to Giraffe Manor.  This is Sammy, our driver.  Everyone here is so nice.

This is the entrance.  So cute yah!

The Giraffe Manor has been around since the 1930s but opened in 1984 as a quaint hotel where the guests could interact with the endagered Rothschild giraffes.  They greet you in the morning at breakfast and also during high tea.  The hotel is situated on 12 private acres within 140 acres of forest land in Nairobi.  There's a history with the film "Out of Africa" but I forget the story.  I gotta watch the movie one day...

The reason for this post is to show you all the special touches that this place has.  They thought of everything!

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the food this morning

Tomorrow:  Lunch and High Tea!

Rhino, Rhino, Everywhere! You Sure They're Endangered?

Monday, March 20, 2017

Before heading out we had some lunch on the patio...it's so cool because the animals hang out right outside the fence and you can watch them from your seat

Solio is special because it is situated on a private reserve and no other lodges are built there.  It is home to about 200 black and white endangered rhinos, cape buffalos, lions, giraffes, zebras...and the list goes on and on.  We had our own private game drive, with the whole place to ourselves.  It was amazing.  

Notice the difference in zebras?  The Grevy zebra at Sasaab had stripes closer together.  These are the common zebras.

This is the white rhino.  They are more abundant than the black.  They are also calmer.  The black rhinos are kinda skiddish so we had to be very quiet around them.  The white rhinos don't give a hoot.

Cape buffalo....aren't they cute?

Sorry, I just can't get enough of these guys. They're so cute!

Let me introduce you to Mr. Water Buck.  He was spotted on day one at Sasaab, a million miles away from where we were parked.  The spotter noticed him in the distance and everyone took out their binoculars or zoom lenses, ooohed and aaaahed when they caught a glimpse of him.  But not Leslie.  Leslie is blind as a bat.  I'm not kidding, it must've took me ten minutes to finally see him after EVERYONE in the jeep gave me some kind of landmark to go by.  They said they weren't moving until I found him.  It was kinda embarassing.  This must've happened at least 5 times during the trip and by the time we got to Solio I was a pro, I think only because the water bucks were hanging around closer so they were easier to find.  Sheesh.  I'm getting old.

As the sun was setting we ran into a pride of lions.  This one was really cute, there were a lot of cubs in this one.  There are two prides living in Solio, I can't remember how many are in each pride, it was something like 14 in one, 22 in the other.  So cool!

We stopped in this spot for our sundowner, what a beautiful sunset.  There was actually a rhino hanging around here, and by sundown he was literally about 20 feet away from where we were standing.  It was a little unnerving but he just minded his own business and did his thing.  I wish I got pictures but it was getting dark and yes, once again, my flash was broken.

On the way back to the lodge we used a spotlight to take some night pics

See you tomorrow!