GoToKenya

A great fun trip to do in Nairobi, when you don't want to go very far, is the Giraffe Sanctuary in Langata, near the Hardy Dukas.

This sanctuary was created to protect the Rothschild giraffe. These giraffes were extremely endangered before Jock Leslie Melvie (guess where he originates from) decided to save them. He and his wife lived in what can only be described as a massive Scotish-style country house. (Perhaps mahoosive, better describes this house which is now one of the most luxurious hotels in Kenya). There were at the time only 130 of these giraffes left, now there are 400 and they have been reintroduced to the wild again.

Rothschild giraffes are different from the Masai and Reticulated (Ridiculous) giraffes and are easy to spot.

Ridiculous giraffes have regulated spots, pretty much square, in a formal pattern (reticulated you might say). Masai giraffes' spots are squiggly, and not regular at all. Rothschild giraffes are like Ridiculous giraffes, but they have pretty socks. Like the good old colonial gentlemen, they have knee socks in a fetching shade of yellow.

If you are loaded you can stay in Giraffe Manor and have a giraffe sticking its head through the window to say hi at breakfast time.

If you're not loaded you can go to the sanctuary and feed the giraffes and learn all about them. There is also an info centre here which gives a Kenyan view to the various wildlife issues. There was a film I watched with my parents about the elephant culling in South Africa which I wouldn't recommend to the faint-hearted. but every other time I went there it was brilliant. (Even the culling film was very informative and interesting explaining the different views there are on this, and why Kenya has decided never to cull, even in times of severe drought, but I couldn't take that much of it).

You can feed the giraffes from the viewing platform with dog nuts. Did you know that giraffe's have blue tongues? They also have saliva that is really antibiotic as they are always cutting their tongues on thorn trees. Well I'll leave you to find out about the other cool things, including the warthogs, so that you have a reason to go there.

It's also a great place to go for a walk, if you, like me, struggle to find places to walk due to lack of secure parking and places off the road that are safe enough. It's certainly not a long walk, but you can wander about freely away from a road, and that's rare enough. There is also a rather odd cafe here if you want a bit of a cultural experience.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Giraffe Sanctuary

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