After trekking around Ethiopia for 2 weeks, I was so excited for our excursion to Kenya…a chance for me to be the tourist!
Upon our arrival in Nairobi, we were met by staff from &Beyond who immediately whisked us away to our hotel. The wisdom of booking an all-inclusive safari was immediately apparent to us. No haggling with taxi drivers, no negotiating the streets of Nairobi with a map and a prayer….just an effortless, stress free transition, served with a complimentary bottle of water.
Although all of us desperately desired a bit of R&R, we couldn’t be in Nairobi and not SEE Nairobi. With the help of the hotel concierge we contracted a cab for the afternoon and set off. Our destination—the Langata Giraffe Center, a sanctuary for a handful of Rothschild’s giraffes.
You may wonder why we would choose to visit an animal sanctuary when we would be spending the next 6 days in the Masai Mara. Me too. Upon my sister’s return from Kenya she couldn’t say enough about this place and insisted that we would not be disappointed. We weren’t!
Our visit to the sanctuary was fabulous. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about how these particular giraffes came to live at the center or anything else related to the center as I spent my entire time with the giraffes. For two hours we fed, watched, petted, and even kissed a giraffe or two. I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to interact so closely with these gentle giants on stilts. Oh…and to prove how close we were, their eyelashes are a mile long!
Upon our arrival in Nairobi, we were met by staff from &Beyond who immediately whisked us away to our hotel. The wisdom of booking an all-inclusive safari was immediately apparent to us. No haggling with taxi drivers, no negotiating the streets of Nairobi with a map and a prayer….just an effortless, stress free transition, served with a complimentary bottle of water.
Although all of us desperately desired a bit of R&R, we couldn’t be in Nairobi and not SEE Nairobi. With the help of the hotel concierge we contracted a cab for the afternoon and set off. Our destination—the Langata Giraffe Center, a sanctuary for a handful of Rothschild’s giraffes.
You may wonder why we would choose to visit an animal sanctuary when we would be spending the next 6 days in the Masai Mara. Me too. Upon my sister’s return from Kenya she couldn’t say enough about this place and insisted that we would not be disappointed. We weren’t!
Our visit to the sanctuary was fabulous. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about how these particular giraffes came to live at the center or anything else related to the center as I spent my entire time with the giraffes. For two hours we fed, watched, petted, and even kissed a giraffe or two. I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to interact so closely with these gentle giants on stilts. Oh…and to prove how close we were, their eyelashes are a mile long!
Mom enjoying a little 1:1 time with a friendly giraffe
Dad made this one work for a food pellet.
There probably aren’t too many people in the world that can say they’ve been kissed by a giraffe. And, in the effort to get the perfect shot, I endured this not once, but three times!
