Giraffe Center, Nairobi, Kenya
This centre, which protects the highly endangered Rothschild’s giraffe, combines serious conservation with enjoyable activities. You can observe, hand-feed or even kiss one of the giraffes from a raised wooden structure, which is quite an experience. You may also spot warthogs snuffling about in the mud, and there’s an interesting self-guided forest walk through the adjacent Gogo River Bird Sanctuary.
This is one of Kenya’s good-news conservation stories. In 1979 Jock Leslie-Melville (the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish earl) and his wife, Betty, began raising a baby giraffe in their Langata home. At the time, when their African Fund for Endangered Wildlife was just getting off the ground, there were no more than 120 Rothschild’s giraffes in the wild. The Rothschild’s giraffe had been pushed to the brink of extinction by severe habitat loss in western Kenya.
Epic Kenya Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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