In pictures: Melania Trump's whistle-stop Africa tour

Melania Trump visited a Kenyan elephant orphanage on Friday where she bottle-fed one of the babies. She was given one of them to adopt.

US First Lady Melania Trump is visiting Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt to promote children's welfare on what is her first major foreign trip alone.

President Donald Trump has not visited Africa since taking office in January 2017. In February, a row broke out after he allegedly used "shithole" to describe some African nations.

Mrs Trump's week-long trip to the continent is seen as an attempt to heal some of the divisions.

The US First Lady's decision to wear a pith helmet on safari in Kenya has drawn criticism. The 19th Century headgear is seen by some as symbolic of colonial rule.

Her tour began in Accra on Tuesday where she later took tea with Ghana's first lady and visited a healthcare clinic.

These Ghanaian women in the capital, Accra, did not look overly impressed as Mrs Trump's motorcade passed by.

She visited a former slave fort the next day and is pictured here in the "Door of No Return" - the last bit of African soil slaves touched before being sent to the Americas.

Cape Coast Castle was a major outpost on the Atlantic slave trading route. "What happened so many years ago is really a tragedy," she said.

Like many first ladies, Melania Trump has chosen to use her platform to discuss issues affecting children.

Her tour of four African nations is to be completed within less than a week.

Malawi's First Lady Gertrude Maseko welcomed her US counterpart on Thursday.

Mrs Trump met children at a primary school in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe.

The US First Lady watched an outdoor lesson at the school in Malawi

In Egypt, Mrs Trump visited the Giza pyramids near Cairo

Sporting a Panama hat, the First Lady also posed for the cameras in front of the Sphinx

Mrs Trump was welcomed to Cairo by her Egyptian counterpart, First Lady Intissar Amer al-Sisi

Pictures from AFP and Reuters