Fancy breakfast with the giraffes?

by Abha Malpani on

When I was 6 years old, I was taken to Longleat National Park in the UK, where our car got attacked by monkeys, chased by lions, and gazed at by giraffes. I recall desperately wanting to pat and feed the giraffes; those tall, magnificent, doe-eyed, beautiful monsters. I also remember feeling like a Lilliputian in front of them, but they are so adorable that their sheer largeness didn’t scare me. I was smaller than the leg of an adult giraffe, and fed them however I could, sitting on the shoulders of my uncle. Pretty awesome.

So when I read that you can go to Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, where you might get woken up by a giraffe tongue in your ear, I was strangely excited about the concept.

Located in the Langata suburb, the Manor spans an area of 140 acres, and has 6 bedrooms for rent. The area is inundated with dozens of giraffes and the Manor’s windows are made so that the giraffe can let his neck in for breakfast. After the first jolt you’ll get facing a giraffe for breakfast, getting used to the idea will certainly make it the most pleasurable and unique part of the day. Giraffes are harmless herbivores, so you really have nothing to worry about.

The history of the place is interesting as the Manor used to be the house of people who spent a large part of their lives working for the cause of endangered wildlife in Africa. The family started the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife and the Giraffe Center, and now run the Giraffe Manor. Each room costs $275-360, but that includes all meals with wine, alcoholic beverages, a sight-seeing vehicle, entrance to the Giraffe Center, and taxes, so it’s not a bad deal for doing once. The Manor’s website has a cool picture gallery, check it out here.

Oh, and happy Boxing day!

How not to go to New York

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I’m sitting on a bus right now, on my way home to Manhattan. I just spent the last two nights in Reading, PA with my wife’s family. What does this mean? I’m on a bus full of people who are making their annual trek to the “Big Apple.” Right next to me is a family trying to agree on what to do. You can tell it’s going to be a project from the stack of menus (Italian restaurants only) they have printed and are reviewing).

“I have no interest in shopping,” man says to woman, “you know, shopping for dresses and stuff.”

Next comment: “Aw come on … She wants to go ice skating.”

Finally: “I’m not saying I don’t want to spend time with you; I just don’t want to go shopping.”

Then, they give up for a while.

A bit of advice for anyone heading to New York anytime of year. While the city is big and can be intimidating, don’t over-engineer your visit. There is a lot you can discover just by walking around and getting lost (thay’s how I found Gramercy Park). Plan to have fun; don’t plan every movement.

If these people do anything else funny, I’ll let you know

Passengers sickened when de-ice fluid seeps into aircraft

by Grant Martin on

There’s nothing like adding insult to injury when it’s snowing like cats outside, your flight is already late and you have to pull up to the de-ice pad for a half hour of soaking.

When flight 528 from Seattle to Burbank moved up for de-icing this week though, that’s exactly what happened. Apparently during the process, some of the fluid seeped into the aircraft’s ventilation system and dispersed into the cabin, choking passengers and raising alarm.

Amazingly enough, despite passengers vomiting and getting ill, nobody wanted to return to the airport to get checked out because the flight was already late. Despite their wishes, however, the aircraft was returned to the gate and nearly twenty passengers were evacuated and treated for their injuries. Nobody was seriously injured.

Normally, de-icing is a fairly standard procedure, as our resident pilot, Kent Wien detailed in one of his earlier posts. This isolated incident may have just had to do with improper de-icing techniques or a malfunctioning ventillation system.


Other tales from the skies
Amazing and insane stories from a real-life flight attendant and co-pilot

The global childhood and “Third Culture Kids”

by Jeremy Kressmann on

I was recently introduced to an interesting term – “third culture kids.” With an increasing number of families drawn abroad for the purposes of business, government, military or missionary work, the children of these families are being raised in a plurality of cultural environments. Apparently the term came about as these children merge their “birth culture” with the culture of their new country of residence, merging the two to create an entirely new “third culture” hybrid of the two.

The idea behind “third culture kids” has taken on additional significance in recent months due to one of most famous products of this phenomenon – Barack Obama. Obama, as many may already know spent several years as a child living in Jakarta, Indonesia with his mother. In addition, Obama has appointed several other “third culture kids” to his administration including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Security Adviser James L. Jones.

According to work done by sociologists who have studied children raised in such environments, third culture kids tend to be highly adaptable and intellectually flexible, allowing them to “think outside the box” and invent novel solutions to problems. However, this same research also cautions that these same children can also feel “groundless” and struggle to find their identity.

Whether we’re talking about the President-Elect or a child of former missionaries, one thing is clear – third culture kids are not going away anytime soon. As childhood becomes an increasingly global phenomenon, it’s likely to have a large influence on the cultural and personal identities of countless individuals, breaking down the barriers that demarcate sovereign countries.

Cultural identity is not likely to go away any time soon, but perhaps this is further evidence of the increasing creep of an emerging “global society.” I find that the more I travel, the more I have in common culturally with the individuals I meet there. We know the same music, have seen the same TV shows and bear witness to many of the same world events. I think that’s ultimately a good thing – whether we as travelers choose to embrace it or run from it is a far different matter altogether.

10 snowmen from around the world

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s a bit of winter fun you can do wherever there’s enough snow to make a go of it. Build a snowman. Even if you only have enough snow for a small snowman, go for it. One group of guys advocates building the biggest snowman you can make in a friend’s yard in the middle of the night. Your creation will be a big surprise in the morning. (Click here for picture.)

One of my favorite memories is going to the Great Wall in China right after it had snowed. There was a whimsical snowman greeting people at the top of one of the sets of stairs.

Here are some snowmaking tips. The one I thought was a great idea was to use three different size buckets as molds for the body. You add snow to the bucket shape to create the roundness. For snowman inspiration, here’s a sampling of snowmen from around the world.

MGShelton, who took this picture, said this fella was in her neighbor’s backyard in Birrmingam, Alabama.

This snowmen crowd was shot by showbizsuperstar in Japan at the Sapporo Snow and Ice Festival.

Last January, NINJ4 and a friend built this snowman on the lawn of Andersen Hall at Kansas State University. It looks like this one is hanging in as the snow is melting.

This snowman in Glascow, Scotland looks like a character in a children’s book or something. I think it’s the hat and scarf combo. Hodgers took this picture in his front garden.

According to thisisbossi who took this picture in Altoona, Pennsylvania, his aunt’s snowman frightened the cat. I think it’s sweet.

This leaning guy was at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. before the snow melted. I’m impressed by the jaunty hat and smile. Joe in D.C. took this picture.

Although this snowman probably saw better days, it’s background is truly international. ericaflynn, who took this picture in China, said that it was made by two Scandivanvian children.

This snowman in Tokyo, Japan should win the darling prize if there was such a thing. I love the expression that OiMax captured with just the right angle.

This snowman overlooking his kingdom in Denmark was made to sit in a flower box on metal-dog’s balcony.

If you have more time on your hands build a snowman grouping like bgilliard did in Ontario, Canada. He titles this David’s and Goliath. One commenter noted that Goliath looks like a penguin.

If you build a snowman, take a picture of it, post it on Gadling’s Flicker photo pool, and tell me where it was taken in the comment section of this post, I’ll create a Gadling reader’s snowman post where you can share your handy work.