Giraffe Centre: An oasis of calm in a frenzied city

Giraffe Centre

Nairobi being the ‘wildlife capital’ of the world has animals at its doorsteps. A national park, an elephant sanctuary, three natural forests, and a giraffe sanctuary.

Last Friday, I joined a few friends including some TikTokers for a whirlwind tour of the city. Some in the group were foreigners who were in the country to learn a thing or two about how Kenyans engage on the popular video-sharing platform.

And what a better place to be than at Giraffe Centre where, apart from the zoological lessons, you get to have close encounters with the tallest animal on earth. 

I have a soft spot for African wildlife, having visited almost all parks in Kenya. Leaving the busy metropolis of more than four million people for Kenya’s wildlands is therapeutic.

To walk with lions in Masai Mara, to stay still and watch the sun dip into the horizon, sneak into elephants mining salts in Kitum Cave in Mount Elgon or a visit to Ruma National Park, the last retreat of the Roan Antelope are unforgettable experiences. And so is the Giraffe Centre.

The route to the centre branches off Langata South Road at Hardy Shopping Centre. At first glance, the incline seems to take you closer to Ongata Rongai than to an animal sanctuary. 

I have been to the centre before, close to ten years to be precise. The facility has since gotten a facelift. From the entry point, a small boardwalk takes you to the rondavel where eager volunteers take you through the history of the centre.

It is not just a walk. If you are keen and not in a rush to ‘meet and greet’ the giraffes, you might just catch some fun facts about the centre from overhead speakers.

A giraffe is an animal of superlatives. Okay, it is the tallest. Yet there are some little unknown (but deadly) facts that will make you have some respect for the animal.

A giraffe looks tranquil, even harmless. But that should not fool you. It has one of the deadliest kicks out there. If you have watched enough wildlife documentaries, then you must have seen a number of lions limping, or dead, after a kick from a giraffe. 

The giraffes at the sanctuary are wild and are to be approached with care. 

Ready to feed the giraffes? At the entrance, each visitor is handed a small wooden bowl with some food pellets made of maize, wheat, grass and molasses. Gently, without teasing the animal, place a pellet on the long, grey-bluish tongue.

The raised platform allows you to have eye-to-eye contact with a giraffe, the only time you will be on the same level with the tallest animal on the planet. Here you can literally pet a giraffe, get a kiss and of course, a selfie.

The giraffes here have been accustomed to the pellet bowls and dislike anybody on the platform without their favourite treat. Some giraffes cooperated with this arrangement while others thought we were a nuisance.

During my visit last week, two pregnant females were ready to headbutt such jokers. Be warned! The hairy stumps on their heads that resemble horns can inflict real pain or worse. Caution is key.

But the centre was not always this vibrant. In fact, were it not for the foresight of Jock Leslie-Melville, a Kenyan citizen of British descent, and his American-born wife, Betty, perhaps there would be no Giraffe Centre. 

In 1958, Betty, the woman from Baltimore, USA, came to Africa to visit a friend and fell in love with the continent, ending up with a sizeable piece of virgin land in leafy Karen 12 years later. “It’s magic,” she later remarked.

The couple established a home here, now Giraffe Manor, now running as one of the city’s most exclusive restaurants where residence is only possible through advance booking (no day guests here). That was Africa for her. But this would soon be more than just a home for Betty.

In the late 1970s, Betty noticed the fast decline of the Rothschild giraffe. There were only 130 left in the wild at Soy Ranch which was just about to be subdivided to house squatters. It was an extinction threat for the subspecies.

Together with her husband, Betty brought two giraffes, Daisy, a baby giraffe who had miraculously avoided poachers in western Kenya back in 1974, and Marlon, to their home in Langata in the hope they would breed and save their kin from the decline.

The plan to conserve the vanishing animals worked. In 1979, the couple registered the conservation outfit, African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW) to champion the cause of these animals. Today, more than 300 Rothschild giraffes are thriving in various parks and reserves in Kenya. 

To give the giraffes more roaming space is a 100-acre piece of well-preserved indigenous forest that was part of the Ngong and Ololua forests. The forest has well-marked trails and offers a rare chance to walk on the wild side of life in tranquillity amidst a city that never sleeps.

Like other protected forests in Kenya, most of the trees here are labelled and their medicinal values explained, including orange-leaved croton whose bark can bring down a fever. Another one identified by its Nyamwezi name, Makhuno, is said to be a remedy for syphilis, diarrhoea and bloody coughs in humans but poisonous to cows!

The forest is home to warthogs, bushbucks, and monkeys. Sightings of leopards have been made though I would not go looking for one.

Now you know. The next time you want some tranquillity amid the ‘busyness’ of the city, including the Giraffe Centre and adjacent natural forest in your itinerary.