Sep 29, 2009, 17:26 GMT
Nairobi - The giraffes appear to be in the mood for a cuddle as they gently nuzzle each others' necks and rub heads.
They completely ignore the car that is parked just a few metres away because, as far as the giraffes are concerned, humans with their cars and cameras are part of everyday life in Nairobi National Park.
It is fair to say the majority of tourists in Kenya head towards the famous Maasai Mara park reserve, Amboseli Park at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro or the enormous Tsavo National Park.
Nairobi, Kenya's capital with its three million inhabitants, does not register for most people as a safari destination.
However, just 20 kilometres from the heart of the city is the oldest national park in eastern Africa with 117 square kilometres of land and over 80 species of mammals.
As soon as you leave Nairobi's office block towers and the apparently endless corrugated roofs of Kibera district - the biggest slum in Africa - behind you, you enter another world.
Upon entering the park it is difficult to pick out animals in the undergrowth, but when you arrive at the Ivory Memorial Burning Site you are treated to a picture-book sight of Africa: wide open savannah dotted with acacia trees.
It usually doesn't take long before the first zebras and antelopes appear or the giraffes block your car's path. The Ngong mountains or the roofs of the Nairobi suburb of Karen, the place where Danish author Karen Blixen who wrote Out of Africa once lived, can be seen in the background.
Just a few metres away is the first of many picnic spots in the park where - and for safety reasons here only - visitors may step out of their cars.
There are lions and leopards in the park and with a little luck may be seen in the early morning or the late evening.
The park's buffalo population is also a potential source of danger. The ban on getting out of cars has not been thought up to spoil the fun of visiting the reserve.
The Ivory Memorial Burning Site is a reminder that what appears to be an idyllic part of Africa is in fact under threat.
Twenty years ago Kenya's President Daniel arap Moi ordered the destruction of 10 tons of elephant ivory on this spot. The ivory had been seized from poachers. Moi took the action in protest at what at the time was the legal trade in ivory.
Today, trade in ivory has been banned, but poachers continue to hunt elephant and rhino in Kenya and other African nations.
Daphne Sheldrick from the elephant orphanage just outside the park has first-hand experience of the sad extent of the bloody trade in elephant ivory. The centre where she works takes in small elephants who have lost their mothers - in many cases to poachers.
Visitors to the centre can watch as the baby elephants suck on milk bottles, splash in their mud pool or play with each other.
Visiting times are limited to just one hour as the centre is neither a zoo nor a circus. Its philosophy is to prepare the animals for a life in the wilderness.
The elephants are eventually integrated into herds in Tsavo National Park. Volunteers may adopt an elephant for 50 dollars a year and follows its progress. Every month the adoptive parent receives an email detailing the elephant's progress.
Entrance to Nairobi National Park costs 40 dollars for tourists. The reserve is open from 7 am to 6 pm. If you don't have your own transport you can book a trip in Nairobi.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant orphanage borders the park. Entry costs four dollars and visiting times are from 11 am to 12 pm every day.
Internet: www.kws.go.ke/nairobi.html, www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org.
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