Giraffe Center, Nairobi

If you would like the opportunity to get up really close with giraffe then this is the place to go. You have the opportunity to hand feed giraffe and learn more about them through a short presentation by the staff. As well as the giraffe there are also some tortoises and warthogs.
There is a short nature trail with a guide who will tell you about the wildlife and plants.
Karen Blixen's house is very close by, so it would be easy to combine the 2 places in 1 visit.

Giraffes are my favorite for this exact reason. Execpt you might not have to travel all the way to Kenya to experience this. In Colorado, about a half an hour away from COlorado Springs, you can visit Cheyanne Zoo. They have this same exhibits where you are eye level with the giraffes and you can feed them as well. This is the best zoo ever, its built on the side of a mountain (Cheyanne Mountain) and even has a little "ski lift" to the top. Amazing.

The Giraffe centre is actually a breeding centre as well as an education centre for the local school children. In fact, there were several local school groups visiting on the day that we were there. No matter where you are from, local or overseas, everyone has the same look of delight on their faces as they eye the main attraction...the Rothchild Giraffes.

Access to the Rothchild Giraffes is via the stairs that lead you to a purpose built platform that allows you to "look into the giraffes eyes!"

As part of your 500 KSH entry fee, you are handed a small amount of “giraffe food’ to feed the herd. (There are also buckets of food placed areound the entire viewing platform.) This allows every visitor, young or old, to hand feed these gentle giants.
Your kids will love it, especially when the giraffes "let loose" with their 12 inch tongues!

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While in Nairobi, Anne and I decided to hire a Taxi and head out for a half day sightseeing adventure to both the Giraffe Centre and the David Sheldrick Wildlife centre. (An elephant orphanage.)
the Giraffe centre is approx. 20 - 45 minute drive from the city center, depending on the traffic conditions and time of day. At the Giraffe Center you are able to get "up close and personal" with Rothschild Giraffes. This up close and personal experience includes touching/patting and feeding them.
The entire experience will "set you back" a mere 500 Ksh entrance fee for non-residents (another name for TOURIST!)

We had a great experience in Giraffe Centre. In this centre, the guardians provide you with food and you can feed giraffes. Giraffes have a very long tongue (up to 45 cms!) and they get the food from your hands. Really funny!

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I've only ever seen giraffes at the zoo. So tall and graceful, I always really liked them, so imagine my delight when I found the Langata Giraffe Center.

The Langata Giraffe Center offers visitors the chance to see eye to eye with giraffes of the wild. They constructed a large platform that you can stand on and see the world from the giraffes perspective. Giraffes enjoy coming up to the platform to see the visitors, as we are just as strange to them as they are to us, so we're both curious, and that's what makes it fun.

You can feed the giraffes special pellets provided by the center, and you get to learn things about giraffes you never knew, for example did you know that giraffes have long sticky tongues they use to grab their food and that they can produce their own antiseptic saliva to assist their tongues in healing after a meal of thorns?

Aside from the fun of feeding the giraffes (and speaking of tongues, they love to lick, but don't worry, their saliva will not harm you and it's kinda cool to think "I am covered in giraffe spit" ONLY IN AFRICA PEOPLE!) You can also enjoy the warthogs that come in for the feast, and these crazy African swine are VERY enjoyable to watch, especially up close and in a relaxed environment, they are wild, so you'll want to be careful, but even a warthog can appreciate your gesture of some giraffe pellets.

Overall, it's a fun place to visit, great for familes with kids!

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Again, one of the places that had been touted as a "Must do" while in Kenya.
We were glad to have come to it but would not consider it a "Must DO" if you're on a limited time schedule.

Long drive from Nairobi (about 30=45 mins) through some seedy then beautiful areas of Nairobi. Everything seems to co-exist in sharp contrast in Kenya...then, driving past Karen Blixen's house museum and unto the spacious gardens which are Giraffe Manor.
It was built in the 1930's by a british Lord; Sir David Duncan and emcompasses over 120 acres of beautiful land.
The Ngong Hills are the ones depicted in the movie "Out of Africa" written by Karen Blixen.
It serves as a breeding refuge for Rothchild giraffes wihch at one point were highly endangered.

The conservatory and re-hab center is actually where the giraffes are more approachable.
You're able (for a nominal fee), enter and walk up unto the platform/treehouse where you stand eye to eye with various giraffes and feed them pellets.
If you "swing that way", you may place pellets in your mouth and giraffes will kiss you as they remove the pellet.

Before you judge - C'mon, you know you wish you could! How many other times will you get a chance for a picture like the one on this page!?!

At the Langata Giraffe Cnetre it´s not only possible to have a look in the eyes of the giraffes from the wooden structure, but you can also feed them. There is food provided for this purpose.

Admission to the Giraffe Centre is 1$.
The centre is open from 9.30 am till 5.30 pm.
There is a curioshop and you can buy drinks.