Every day around 11 a.m. a small group gathers by a watering hole in Nairobi National Park. Soon “oohs’’ and “aahs’’ are heard. Baby elephants come into view as their keepers lead them into a pen. All under a year old, the calves are immediately fed from a large plastic jug of baby formula. After gulping down their favorite beverage, they are free to swim, wrestle, kick a soccer ball, and, of course, be photographed.
Not long ago, travelers heading to Kenya would spend one night in Nairobi after their international flight and make their way the next morning to safari in the Masai Mara, or this time of year, the beaches of Lamu. Now Nairobi is becoming a destination in its own right, thanks to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage and a growing number of sites, restaurants, shops, and hotels in the capital.
The subject of a soon-to-be-released
In the serene neighborhood of Roslyn Park, overlooking the Karura Forest, we stroll past horses on the way to One Off Contemporary Art Gallery. For the past decade, Carol Lees worked as a curator at RaMoMa Art Gallery, where she displayed works of Kenya’s top contemporary artists. She has since branched off with her husband, Dominic Amatin, to create One Off in a modern wing of her home. Call for an appointment to see the Basquiat-like paintings of Ehoodi Kichapi, politically-charged landscapes by Timothy Brooke, and the naïve figurative works of Richard Kimbathi.
Much of the exquisite jewelry seen at nearby Gemini was created by homeless women or unwed mothers. Purchase a necklace or bracelet consisting of amber, turquoise, or black coral and it will be packaged in a box made by street children, so they too can profit. As manager Genny Sarkar says, “We need to take care of our own.’’
Whether you’re deep in the bush or near the country’s largest city, wildlife insists on catching your eye.
