NAIROBI, KENYA: A LONG TALL STORY

As we conclude posts from this remarkable 17-day journey in Africa covering four countries, I can’t think of a better place than Giraffe Manor in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi.

These exquisite creatures are not simply here for the guests’ pleasure.  They are part of a larger endeavor to not only preserve the animals but to help them repopulate.  So, visiting here is truly a win/win.  I highly encourage you to click on the following link, which tells the history of Giraffe Manor and the important work that goes on to this day.  Giraffe Manor History

“Objects may appear larger ….”

Some fun facts we learned along the way:  Giraffes sleep just 30 minutes each day in 5-minute increments.  The calves sleep up to 2 hours per day.  A giraffe’s gestation period is approximately 15 months.  They give birth to one calf who is typically around 6′ tall and weighs 100-150 pounds.  They give birth standing.  The calf drops several feet to the ground which stimulates their first breath.  We saw several females who were clearly pregnant (a very good thing).

They eat non-stop. The Manor has bowls of special pellets everywhere (shown below) with advice for humans not to eat.  Likewise, our food is a no-no. They also eat vegetation.

Below:  Airport pick-up (note the colorful giraffe as part of the sign); giraffe carafe; our room “Helen” – all rooms are named after either giraffes or people who have a connection to the Manor.  The large windows are where a big head appears in the early a.m. hours! And a table in the room with a bowl of pellets.

The AFEW (African Fund for Endangered Wildlife) Giraffe Center is next to the Manor (guests have free access).  There guests can feed the giraffes and learn more about their history.

Below, a “who’s who” list of current giraffes.  Daisy and I had a special thing going … 

Most impressive is the center’s conservation programs.  They collect all of the kitchen waste and make compost.  They use recycled plastic bottles for planting seedlings that ultimately become trees and shrubs.  The best?  Collecting used paper towel/hand towels, which they dry out and compress into briquettes.  These are given to locals to use for heating and cooking food — akin to charcoal briquettes.  And they collect rainwater and even kitchen water which they then reuse.

Below, the “briquettes” distributed to families for use in cooking (they ignite easily)

Below, a couch made out of used plastic water bottles.

Feeding at the Giraffe Centre.  These are the same giraffes that wander over to the Manor.

If you have heard of Giraffe Manor, then you have likely seen the photos of the giraffes sticking their heads through the dining room windows where guests are eating.  Before that, the giraffes appear at 6am outside the guest accommodations (mostly the upper floors).  They must know about those bowls of pellets in each room!

And good morning to you Daisy!

After a bit, guests go down to the dining room where the iconic photos are taken. The giraffes hang around until 8-8:30 or so and then go back to the sanctuary. High tea is served to guests on the patio at 4:30 and the giraffes show up again at 5.  There’s no prompting of any kind.  They do this by body clock and instinct.  It is remarkable.

Work, work work .. 

Proper High Tea is served, and the giraffes miraculously appear.

A beautiful send-off from the staff

After our one night, we spent the rest of our brief Nairobi stay visiting the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where orphaned elephants found in many locales (with the occasional zebra and/or rhino) are nurtured and rehabilitated.  The process of preparing them to return to the wild can take a couple of years.  It depends on their physical circumstances when they arrive.  They are gradually exposed to their natural habitat and, when they are ready, they go out one night and just don’t come back.  That is how it works and it’s a beautiful thing. Otherwise, they are returned to their spacious pens on the property during the nighttime.

Above and below, the elephants are bottle fed twice daily and absolutely gulp down the milk!  They are not naturally that color — they cover themselves in the brownish soil/mud as it protects their skin from insect bites.  

Something I learned on this trip is that people often go to the Nairobi National Park for a mini safari as it has 4 of the “big 5” — lions, leopards, rhinos, and Cape buffalo (there are no elephants in this park). So, if one had a long layover in Nairobi, it would be easy to do a day trip to the park and experience the same wildlife that often takes a long haul to get to in the middle of nowhere!

Finally, as someone who has repeatedly watched Out of Africa, I was determined to visit the Karen Blixen Museum.  If you haven’t seen the film, it won Best Picture and, most deservedly, Oscars for cinematography and score. I can hear that iconic overture as I’m writing this.

The home, above.  Below, fans of the film will no doubt remember this gramophone given to Karen (Meryl Streep) by Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford).  A love story for the ages.

And then it was time to say farewell to Africa for a bit of R&R in Oman before heading home.