You might have seen a hotel called Giraffe Manor in Nairobi on TV or in magazines, where giraffes poke their heads into rooms to get their breakfast.  When I saw this I thought it looked magical, because I just love being up close with animals.  But when I made plans to go to Kenya in early 2020 I found the Giraffe Manor hotel to be quite expensive and with small rooms.  Then I discovered that the giraffes visiting this hotel are actually looked after in a Giraffe sanctuary just next door, so I booked into a better value (but still luxury) hotel near-by and made plans to visit the sanctuary one morning before we flew off on a safari in the Masai Mara.  Yes we’d see giraffes in the wild on the safari, but I have a very strong weakness for getting ultra-close to animals, so the Giraffe Sanctuary was something I was really looking forward to.

We arrived at the Giraffe Centre on a cloudy Sunday morning, after just a 15 minutes drive from our hotel, through expensive residential suburbs reminiscent of the Surrey Hills or even the Wentworth Estate.  Our first (and only) challenge was paying to get in: it is not possible to use cash at all in the sanctuary; not even in the coffee shop.  Only credit/debit cards or a mobile banking app called MPESA, which is widely used in Kenya. We’d left our credit cards in the hotel and come with only cash.  But fortunately our driver offered to pay the KS1500 each (about $15) through his phone, and we gave him the cash.

The sanctuary is dedicated to the conservation of the Rothschild giraffe which used to roam right across Kenya. During our visit there were 8 Rothschild giraffes in their care.  Rothschilds have dark ‘crazy paving’ patches on their pelt separated by a creamy colour, and they have only white colouring below the knee.

The sanctuary isn’t very big and upon entering one can pick up a bowl of pellets (free) just like one would use to feed pet rabbits, and then make a bee-line for the feeding platform. The floor of the platform is about 2m above ground and it wraps around a learning zone with tons of information about giraffes, other wildlife and Kenya.

Tall giraffes pop their heads into the platform viewing deck to snuffle up the pellets you place on their long tongues, but you’ll have to lean over the protective fence to feed the younger members of the herd.  Several volunteer “Educators” (guides/naturalists) are on hand to make sure both humans and giraffes behave themselves, and to offer insight and information.  The ones we spoke to were charmingly friendly, which I later realised was a common trait amongst Kenyans.  And whilst this giraffe interaction was safe enough for even toddlers to feed one of the giant animals, I must point out that Daisy, the herd’s matriarch, butted me quite firmly in my chest a couple of times when she thought I wasn’t giving her enough pellets!

But overall it was a gentle and magical experience to be able to pet and interact with these magnificent iconic animals.

The sanctuary has a 1.5km nature trail down to the Gogo River, but we didn’t venture out to it because some heavy rain sowers came in, plus we had to get back to our hotel to freshen up before our flight to the Masai Mara.

The experience and the memories are worth much more than the $15 entrance fee, so I would heartily recommend a visit to Nairobi’s Giraffe Centre and award it 10/10