Feed a giraffe? Of course! This is Africa!

If someone were to ask me to recommend the most memorable place in the center of Nairobi, where would it be?

There are so many things to see and enjoy in Nairobi, often referred to as the city of tourism, but I would definitely recommend The Giraffe Center, because it is a cool place where you can feed and touch the giraffe you only see in the zoo, TV documentary programs or in cartoons, just like you would with a puppy.

You can easily think that it’s just an exotic zoo, but just take a visit and you will be able to see why the Center is so unique. Different people would bring back different experience, but The Giraffe Center conveys ‘warmth’ rather than the typical coldness of the steel cages found in traditional zoos. I hope that the following photos deliver the warmth of the Center – although amateur skills fall short of successfully capturing it.

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Wow! A giraffe!! I hurry to buy the admission ticket.

-Even from the outside, you can see the head of the tall giraffe.

Admission fee is around 12 dollars for foreigners and 1.5 dollars for Kenyans. It’s a little expensive, but considering that the admission fee for the National Park is 60 dollars, it’s not that bad.

(The admission income is used to protect wild animals and to provide education to the poor children.)

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The Center in Saturday afternoon is busy with tourists, local visitors and students who are thrilled to see the giraffe.

A giraffe standing right in front of you is so huge that it reminds of ‘Jurassic Park’.

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If the giraffe approaches the watch tower, you can really feel how tall they are.

A grown-up giraffe can measure as high as 6 meters.

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A close-up of giraffe face? No problem!

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A carnivorous-turned giraffe

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The tall giraffe captured in one shot!

- Thanx to the ample wide lens.

Those with sharp eyes must have noticed by now that people are holding this thing in their mouth that looks like a dog feed.

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Kiss!

Many let the giraffe touch their lips with the tongue that feels like sand paper to capture this shot.

The tourist suddenly frightened (and thus shaken photo).

The giraffe uses the rough tongue to eat through the small thorny Acacia leaves.

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Man!! Only one?

Actually, in busy days like today, the tourists are allowed only small portions, because the giraffe can easily suffer indigestion. Of course, you can feed them as much as you want in less busy days.

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Sculptures of Masai sold inside The Giraffe Center.

These senior people are often referred to as ‘the wise’. Resembles elder people gathered for a party…

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The long neck of giraffe makes it easy to be expressed in alphabets.

Did you find the ‘warmth’ that I told you about?

As you have seen here in the photos, the giraffe here live in vast plains, not in confined cages. So, I am liberated from the depressing ‘poor-animals-trapped-in-small-cages’ feeling you get while feeding the animals in typical zoos. The giraffe here have become accustomed to human beings that they willingly come close and pose for a photo when you stroke their head – like a friend, not animal vs. human being.