From Giant Tortoises to Baby Rhinos: Our Wild Adventure

This week on Wednesday, our youngest learners embarked on an unforgettable adventure to the Mount Kenya Animal Orphanage. The trip served as the perfect, hands-on conclusion to our current topic, "Have we been on Safari?", allowing the children to beautifully consolidate everything they have been learning over the past few weeks.

Throughout this topic, the children have been exploring the fascinating world of wild animals, discovering their unique features and discussing the important roles they play in our world. It has been a wonderful opportunity for the children to develop their communication skills, as they proudly shared their existing knowledge and engaged in lively discussions. Together, we have compared how different animals look, what they eat, where they live and how they survive in the wild.

Our safari adventure started on a high note before we even arrived, as the children spotted wild giraffes and zebras hiding in the bushes just as we entered the gates! Upon arrival at the orphanage, we were welcomed by a fantastic ranger guide who instantly captivated our Crèche learners. She expertly guided us through the sanctuary, introducing us to an incredible array of wildlife, including ostriches, cheetahs, leopards, lions, hippos, a variety of playful monkeys, llamas and a very old, wise owl. We were even lucky enough to see the rare Mountain Bongo! The children were also thoroughly fascinated by a display of indigenous animal skulls, closely examining the differences between primates, antelopes and carnivores.

There were three absolute stars of the show that completely captured the children’s imagination:

• Safari the 'Monkabbon': The children learned about a truly rare monkey born to a monkey mother and a baboon father.
• Nderitu the Baby Rhino: A rescued baby Southern White Rhino who was transferred to the conservancy for intensive rehabilitation. The children loved hearing about his recovery journey.
• Speedy the Giant Tortoise: An Aldabra giant tortoise estimated to be well over 100 years old! We learned that he was rescued and brought to the sanctuary in the 1960s after suffering a broken shell.
  
  

To wrap up our incredible tour, the children were given the unique opportunity to touch a real ostrich egg. There were gasps of shock all around when they discovered just how heavy it was!

It was an incredibly engaging trip, and our wonderful guide was absolutely bombarded with brilliant questions from our curious learners, all of which she happily answered. We are so proud of how beautifully the children represented the school, using their developing vocabulary to make sense of the world around them. It was truly the perfect way to bring our safari topic to life!