United States First Lady Melania Trump is in Kenya, on her third stop on a five-day African visit.
She landed in Nairobi on Thursday night where she visited an elephant orphanage, a children’s shelter in the capital and then held talks with Kenya’s first lady Margaret Kenyatta.
The two ladies then held private talks at State House Nairobi, where Mrs. Kenyatta told Mrs. Trump through her maternal and child health care projects.
US first lady Melania Trump – accompanied by her host visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – a shelter for elephants orphaned through poaching.
At first a little shy – maybe scared of the 18 calves – then she warmed up to them and even feed one of them some baby formula.
Head Keeper of David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Edwin Lusichi says, “I was happy that she wanted to interact more. I was happy that she even went ahead and fed an elephant which I did not expect. That means a lot because I believe she is going to talk about it to many people and being that big figure it will make a big change in the lives of elephants so she was a little bit scared but excited to be with them and wanted to interact more. I was happy to see that.”
One of the calves even playfully charged at his VIP guest. The visit at the shelter and a game drive immediately after sought to highlight the East African nation’s conservation efforts.
“I want to believe this is going to make a big change in general, in terms of conservation of wildlife in Kenya and on the trade in ivory. I believe it will make a change because people need to know that the tusks don’t drop off from an elephant, people kill the elephants to get the tusks. And so people should stop trading in ivory.
“Those people that are buying anything that is associated with ivory and rhino horn should stop it with an immediate effect because that endangers all the animals and if you are not very careful we will end up losing these animals. And so I believe her (Melania Trump’s) interactions, her coming here will create a lot of publicity to the elephants in general and people will know that these elephants have a right to life and need to be protected,” Lusichi argued.
Later in the afternoon she watched entertainment by traditional dancers at the Kenya Cultural Centre in Nairobi.
Melania will depart Kenya later Saturday for Egypt, the last country in her first extended solo international trip.
