Welcome To The Motherland
Welcome to Mama Africa!
Arrive in Nairobi, where you are met and transferred to your hotel. In the afternoon visit the Giraffe Centre and Kazuri Beads
The Giraffe Centre: Giraffe Centre is the headquarters for AFEW, the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. Made famous by Daisy Rothschild - a giraffe calf rescued from Soi on the border of Western Kenya. Giraffe Centre was established in 1983 as a sanctuary for the then endangered Rothschild giraffe.
The breeding Programme has been a great success and visitors can now watch these gentle giants at eye level from a raised platform. There is also the opportunity to learn more about giraffe at the interpretation centre and hand-feed them whilst watching the semi-tame family of warthogs snuffle around their hooves in search of tidbits.
Kazuri Beads:Kazuri Beads was set up as a small business making beads in a shed, by the late Susan Wood. She started with two single women as assistants but before long she noticed that many women in the villages around Nairobi were struggling single mothers who needed jobs. In 1988 Kazuri Beads began its long and successful journey as a help centre for needy women and now employs over 350 local women. In the early 1990's Kazuri decided to diversify into pottery and create a product that could be sold in the home market. With the help of a ceramic expert from England, a pottery business was borne, reminiscent of the pottery industry of England 100 years ago.
You have an opportunity to meet and talk to the women as they work shaping, painting or stringing the beads by hand. The beads are polished and kiln fired, painted and fired again before being strung into a necklace which in then sold in the Kazuri shops, Kenya and globally.
Welcome dinner today is at The Carnivore restaurant.
At Carnivore, meats are roasted on traditional Maasai swords over a huge charcoal pit that dominates the restaurant's entrance. The rough-hewn beams combine the rustic feel of a rural setting with that of a medieval banqueting hall.
The Carnivore doesn't conform to the familiar restaurant traditions. First, the soup of the day along with a plate of home baked bread and butter are served. Then, an army of carvers move table to table, swords laden carving juicy cuts onto sizzling cast-iron plates. Accompanying the meat feast is a selection of salads, vegetable side dishes and sauces.