After a long flight we arrived the bustling city of Hanoi. Upon arrival we are met by our local guide Wuan and transferred to the Silkpath Hotel located in the city centre.  Once settled in we set out to discover the city with a walking tour in the neighborhood.  The streets are bustling with people and thousands of scooters. We use a funny term when crossing the road. Sticky rice. This means stick together and walk with conviction, no stopping or sudden movements or you might get hit by one of the scooters. What an experience.
The stalls are brimming with foods, clothing, flowers, vegetables, meats and much more. Little restaurants set up on the side walk, serving the popular street food.  It’s such an exciting place, full of activity.
We enjoyed a very delicious dinner at  Wild Rice Restaurant.  A little tired from jet lag we called it an early night , tomorrow is a busy full day of touring Hanoi.

Hotel: Silk Path Hotel, Hanoi

This afternoon we visited the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers. It was founded in 1977 and now has 137 women working together to establish themselves and educate younger women. We enjoyed the tour and many of our group purchased pieces that were handmade by these women. The hard work and dedication that goes into this is amazing.

We have arrived at Sweetwaters Tented Camp where we’ll be staying for the next couple of days. So excited as this is a sheltered oasis clustered around a water hole. We ventured out in the afternoon and we are happy to say we’ve now seen the BIG 5-Water Buffalo, Elephant, Lion, Leopard and Rhino….SOO HAPPY! This place is amazing outside our room are animals. A little piece of heaven here. We visited Baraka, a blind rhino who we were able to feed and touch.

We explore this beautiful land which is home to numerous hippo, crocodiles. Shaba offers sanctuary to large herds of elephants, healthy lions, leopard, cheetah, reticulated giraffe and over 100 species of birds. We visited the Umoja Women Group, a women only village and cop-op dedicated to informing women about health and human rights issues that funds itself through the sales of beautiful handicrafts. We shopped of course!

Today observed baby elephants playing like little puppies at the Daphne Sheldrake Animal Orphanage . We got close enough to touch them and watched them being fed from large baby bottles. We then ventured of to the Giraffe Centre, founded in 1979 and has become a world famous Nature Education Centre. Some were brave and got up personal with a few of the as you can see. In the afternoon we visited Karen Blix Musuem. It’s history dates back to 1914 when Karen Blixen arrived from Denmark. Many of you who have seen “Out of Africa” know her story and saw where we were today. The clothes you see are the originals worn by Robert Redford in the movie. The afternoon it was off to Kazuri Beads for some shopping!

The group enjoyed a lovely WELCOME DINNER at Carnivore.  The name says it all.