We had been told that the giraffes would come around six in the morning to start receiving breakfast. We had a basket of food for them in our room waiting. I had set my alarm for five thirty so that I could shower before breakfast. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the outline of a big giraffe head! It felt like waking up as a child on Christmas morning and seeing that Santa had come! We tried to wake the kids up, but they refused, so Alex and I started to feed the giraffes on our own. It was very dark as it was super early, so my photos are difficult to see.
Good morning giraffe!
I believe this was Kelly.
I took approximately one million photos. This was magic!
Good morning!
I was finally able to wake the kids and they were very excited!!
Eddie was tall enough to feed from the porch.
I could see them getting food from the other balcony as well!
After we got dressed, we went to get some espresso!
The kids had hot chocolate.
Even the tea cups were adorable!
Ethan brought his new giraffe toys to breakfast.
The pumbas clean up the food on the ground.
They couldn't get Waridi to come to the window at first. I went over there and made some noises that I use on Lu and she came right over!
I was afraid this giraffe would drool on me!
Kelly can catch the food if you throw it.
After breakfast, we went back to the room and Harper read a book as I packed.
Goodbye giraffes!
The giraffes head over to the Giraffe Center for more food after breakfast at Giraffe Manor.
The kids really wanted to paint so we made one last stop before we left.
Such a cute bathroom!
Our driver picked us up around ten in the morning and took us to the domestic airport in Nairobi.
We were the only people on the little plane!
We landed in Amboseli and our driver, John, was waiting for us there. He was our guide for our time at Tortilis.
We each had water bottles waiting for us with our names on them.
We saw elephants, ostriches , impala and gazelles on the way to the lodge.
Our first camp was Elewana Tortilis Camp Amboseli. It is an ecolodge powered completely by solar energy. It is named after the Acacia Tortilis tree and is located within a private conservancy bordering Amboseli National Park. It has great views of Mount Kilimanjaro (when it isn't cloudy). We had lunch upon arrival. We had great views of a watering hole where zebras, giraffes and gazelles came to drink while we were eating!
Food at this camp was the best food I have ever had in my life. Every place we went on this trip had meals three times a day, each with three courses. I gained more than a few pounds on this trip!
Little dik-diks were running all over this camp. They are super cute!
There were cute notes for the kids on arrival to our tent.
There are sixteen tents at this camp. There is one family tent and one larger private house. There is a main pool and then a separate one for the family tent and house. We had it all to ourselves!
This view normally includes Mount Kilimanjaro, but it was very cloudy. It did make an appearance during our stay, luckily.
The kids room!
Our room!
This was our place!
After we were settled, John took us out on a game drive. He was constantly looking all around while driving, checking tracks and monitoring animal behavior.
I thought the hyenas were adorable.
The African buffalo is one of the "big five" animals to see in addition to elephants, lions, leopards and rhinoceroses.
We loved all the baby animals.
There were so many elephants in Amboseli. The females were usually in a herd and the males were either alone or with one other male. Males get kicked out of the herd once they are teenagers.
We saw many baboons and monkeys.
Elephant foot print!
After the game drive, we went to dinner.
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