Hand feed Giraffes at Nairobi’s Giraffe Sanctuary

Impossibly elegant and refined, the giraffe ambles slowly towards me.  I am head height on a raised platform. I hold out a small pellet and her face looms above mine, doe eyes framed by a supermodel's eyelashes. Her mouth yawns and a long blue tongue flicks out to grab my snack with the softest of whispers.   We have been told to be wary of the giraffes, although gentle beasts by nature, Daisy, this giraffe, is fond of head butting. As I gaze at mothers, babies and teenage boys I am struck only by their gracefulness and how tame they are.  

The Giraffe Centre in Nairobi is set up as a charitable trust to nurture and save the endangered Rothschild Giraffe. At the time the trust was created there were only 180 giraffes left in the in their native habitat, since then 40 pairs of breeding giraffe have been released back into the wild.

The Giraffe Centre allows you to get up close and personal to these amazing creatures. You are given pellets and can choose to feed them at ground level or climb a raised platform for a face to face encounter.  These are wild giraffe, given free reign to walk the 100 acres of protected sanctuary, but they are used to humans and interactions are rarely fractious. 

The Giraffe Centre is open every day from 9.00 – 17.00.  

Admission is $10 USD / $2.50 Residents