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Where in Kenya can you share breakfast with a Rothschild Giraffe?

Albee Yeend
By Albee Yeend
05 May 2017
Giraffe Manor Kenya Luxury Safari Rothschild Giraffe.jpg

From Nairobi’s international Airport, Jomo Kenyatta, it is around a 40 minute to 1½ hour's drive to Giraffe Manor, as this very much depends on the traffic and the time of day.

There is honestly nowhere else quite like Giraffe Manor! Where else in Kenya can you eat your breakfast with a Rothschild Giraffe!

 

Giraffe Manor has become an icon of Nairobi’s historical landscape, and with just ten luxury rooms, it is one of the most exclusive places to stay in the city and also a fantastic place to stay for those contemplating a family safari in Kenya or elsewhere in Africa. This homely baronial manor is located in the leafy suburbs of Langata on a 140 acre sanctuary of indigenous forest and offers a unique opportunity to meet the resident giraffe, all of whom are the endangered Rothschild species.

 

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It is also within easy reach of the city's popular attractions and a must during your stay is a visit to the nearby Daphne Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, where you can meet and adopt a baby elephant.

 

Giraffe Manor was built in 1932 by Sir David Duncan, and is a classic ‘Manor House’. In 1974 Jock Leslie-Melville, grandson of a Scottish earl, and his wife Betty, who founded the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), bought the Manor.

 

They then moved five young calves of the highly endangered Rothschild giraffe to their property where they have been successfully reared and now have their own calves. When Jock died, Betty decided to open the house, which she decided to call the Giraffe Manor, to visitors.

 

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The manor is set in 12 acres of private land, in a 140-acre pristine giraffe sanctuary within Nairobi. The Main Manor has five rooms plus one family suite and the Garden Manor has three rooms plus a family suite. Children of all ages are welcome and we recommend that families book the Karen Blixen Suite or the Finch Hatten Suite. Also all rooms in the Garden Manor can accommodate an extra bed for children under 15 years.

 

Variously described as exclusive, spacious and elegant, Giraffe Manor is the only place in the world that you can feed giraffe from your second floor bedroom window as well as the dining room! Betty’s room, a favourite of ours, is a large room decorated in whites and mahogany wood, with the most beautiful art deco bathroom. It also has a balcony and from here one can feed the giraffe’s pellets!

 

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There is a lovely dining room where everyone dines together, hosted by the resident manager Nik Mitchel. The food is very good and my last meal there consisted of basil gnocchi to start, followed by fillet of beef with risotto. There is a separate library with television, and there is also Wi-Fi and broadband, however there is no swimming pool.

 

Drinks are often organised on the terrace early evening, watching the giraffe stroll by. They also offer comprehensive massage facilities and guests can feed and photograph the giraffe and the warthogs at the Manor as well as wander through the adjoining primeval forest to view the bushbuck, dik dik and more than 180 species of birds.

 

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One interesting feature is that one of the bedrooms is furnished with all of Karen Blixen's (Out of Africa) furniture that she gave to Jock's mother when she left Kenya.

 

Your stay here includes all meals and locally produced drinks, also included are the specially formulated pellets that these giraffe love – don’t be surprised when munching on your cornflakes a head appears through a window into your room or over the breakfast table for a nibble on one of these tasty morsels! Always keen to be hand fed, these endangered Rothschild giraffe help to produce extraordinary memories.

 

Giraffe Manor is the perfect peaceful retreat to start or end a safari in Kenya.

 

 

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