Giraffe Manor provides guests with one of Kenya’s best safari experiences: the unique and thrilling opportunity to have breakfast with giraffe in a gracious, colonial home in the outskirts of Nairobi. There is only one place in the world to experience it, and that is Giraffe Manor in Kenya. I couldn’t wait for breakfast, knowing it was to be like no other I’d ever experienced. Breakfast with giraffe: what a ridiculously marvellous idea!
Giraffe Manor boutique hotel in Nairobi is an exclusive hotel with a resident herd of wild giraffes. Owned by The Safari Collection, Giraffe Manor Hotel blends extraordinary wildlife encounters with exquisite hospitality and a long-term commitment to giraffe conservation. This historic manor house is set in 12 acres of private land within 140 acres of indigenous forest in the Langata suburb of Nairobi and is one of Nairobi’s most iconic buildings. It has extraordinary appeal that harks back to the 1930s when visitors first flocked to East Africa to enjoy safaris.
The house is modelled on a Scottish hunting lodge, and was constructed in 1932 by Sir David Duncan, a member of the Mackintosh family. I loved its stately façade, elegant interiors, verdant gardens, sunny terraces and delightful courtyards: wonderfully colonial and old world. The moment we stepped through the front door, my partner exclaimed: ‘It’s just like walking into a scene from the film Out of Africa.
There is only one way to describe this place… beautiful. This old manor home dates back to 1930’s when the first Europeans came to Kenya for safaris. Since then it has been converted into a hotel with 12 unique, elegant rooms, ranging from 2 people to family suites. Aside from these incredible rooms, what really makes Giraffe Manor so special is the Rothschild Giraffes that roam the grounds early morning for breakfast and early evening for afternoon tea.
The historic manor house is set in 12 acres of private land within 140 acres of indigenous forest in the Langata suburb of Nairobi and is one of Nairobi’s most iconic buildings. Each morning, the giraffe come to the house and poke their heads through the open windows hoping for a treat, before heading back to their forest sanctuary. Loping across the manor lawns and peering in through the large windows with their elegant necks, encountering our endangered Rothschild’s giraffes at such close quarters gives a real appreciation of just how beautiful and soulful these creatures are.
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Giraffe Manor 2015
The Breakfast Experience
Breakfast with giraffes has been on my bucket list for such a long time. Waking up to breakfast with a giraffe must be one of the most incredible and unique experiences anyone can have. This activity is reserved exclusively for overnight guests of Giraffe Manor and is one not to be missed.
Breakfast starts at 06:30 which is the best time to get there if you want to maximise time with giraffes. The giraffes will already be in the grounds waiting for you. Giraffes need on average about 2 hours sleep per night. There are actually two breakfasts, the giraffes are fed first. Which is good because it is the biggest distraction from food that I can think of. By 08:00 the giraffes have had a lot of food and slowly start wandering over to the giraffe centre. Once they have gone it is time for human breakfast, which is delicious.
There are two different breakfast rooms for the two different manors. The other dining room is for guests staying in the Garden Manor. It has one window that the giraffes come to compared to multiple ones in the sun room. In the Sun room there are 3 tables by the window and another 2 by the wall. The tables are randomly assigned and labelled by room names. Please note that breakfast tables are assigned by management based on safety, traffic flow, group size, and other factors. Guests are not able to reserve specific tables in advance, and staff cannot accept payments for preferred seating.
The earlier you get to the dining room, the better chance you have of getting a better seat next to the window, although it also depends on the configuration of guests, such as how many is in each party. Tables are carefully allocated considering group size and to protect guests from the long, powerful necks of the giraffes, who join in on the fun. While guests cannot reserve specific tables for breakfast, everyone will have the chance to feed the giraffes, and we do our best to help guests capture memorable photographs. Our breakfast rooms are intimate, allowing for meaningful interactions with the giraffes.
Having breakfast on the second day was just as exciting as the first. The pictures from breakfast are some of my favourite travel photos ever. This is because the staff at Giraffe Manor were so helpful and great at photography. However breakfast was quite hectic because there is limited space and some of it is taken up by long giraffe necks. They also have short attention spans and move quickly.
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When feeding the giraffe it is better to give them one pellet at a time. Watch out for their inquisitive tongues, which can grow up to twenty inches long, as they investigate what’s on offer; luckily, it’s nutritious dried grass pellets that they’re after, not your pancakes!
We fed them a variety of ways; on our plate, off our hands, from the bucket, on their tongue and from our lips (ooo the slobber!). Now, we’d like to say we nailed this photo on the first go but we all know that isn’t true. These giraffes have a mind of their own after all!
Conservation Efforts and the Rothschild Giraffe
One of the most fascinating things about Giraffe Manor Hotel is its resident herd of Nubian/Rothschild’s giraffes who may visit morning and evening, poking their long necks into the windows in the hope of a treat, before retreating to their forest sanctuary. The Nubian/Rothschild’s species of giraffe was once highly endangered, but Giraffe Manor has long been part of a breeding programme which has successfully grown their numbers in the wild.
The story began in the 1970s, when the population of the Nubian subspecies of giraffe (formerly classified as Rothschild’s) had fallen to fewer than 100 in Kenya. Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville, then owners of the manor, founded the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW) and started a breeding programme on the grounds. Thanks to their efforts, and continued work by AFEW and The Safari Collection, the population has grown to over 1,000 today.
Part of the estate is given over to the Giraffe Centre, run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), a charitable organisation set up by Jock Leslie-Melville. The centre was established as a core breeding site for Rothschild’s giraffe, which are then reintroduced into parks and conservancies around Kenya. The Giraffe Centre is a non-profit organisation whose main objective is to provide conservation education for school children and the youth of Kenya. All education programmes are offered free of charge.
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Today, every stay at Giraffe Manor contributes directly to giraffe conservation. A portion of each guest’s fee supports AFEW, whose Giraffe Centre next door now educates over 50,000 Kenyan school children a year. During your stay, you’ll also learn the fascinating story of the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe at a local conservation centre.
Other Activities and Amenities
Giraffe Manor has painting activities, several garden games like boules, giant Jenga and a large swing from which the giraffes can be fed. We also have some puzzles, colouring pages and board games including a lovely chess set to enjoy between giraffe feeding. Children might like to enjoy a swim in our 21 metre infinity pool at The Retreat - our wellness centre right next door to Giraffe Manor.
Guests of Giraffe Manor also have complimentary access to the neighbouring Giraffe Centre where children can learn more about different giraffe species and feed them from a raised platform. Many of our guests also opt to partake in neighbourhood excursions to local shops, museums and restaurants with the family.
The Retreat is an ideal place to enjoy the serenity of our wellness centre and Daisy’s Café. Indulge in a pampering spa treatment, enjoy the hot tub, sauna, steam room and gym or simply relax in the gardens overlooking the giraffe sanctuary. It overlooks the giraffe sanctuary so you may be able to glimpse a giraffe or two as you swim up and down!
More adventurous guests may wish to partake in a game drive in the nearby Nairobi National Park, visit a countryside tea estate or embark on a helicopter safari to some of the country’s most magnificent landmarks.
During our stay, we had fantastic meals provided 3 times a day including an English style afternoon tea, unlimited alcohol with an extensive bar, extremely friendly staff who were continuously smiling, beautiful courtyards, a fireplace, many different lounge rooms to rest and relax and a peaceful atmosphere.
Planning Your Visit
Note: Giraffe Manor books out a year or more in advance. A lot of people plan their entire Africa trip around getting a night in at this property so keep that in mind when making your African plans. If you ever have the chance to visit Nairobi, Kenya, we strongly recommend booking yourself a night in this amazing establishment.
The Safari Collection is a collection of 4 properties, including Giraffe Manor, located throughout Kenya. We wish we had the chance to visit all 4 of them (what heaven!) but we’ll have to settle for just Giraffe Manor… for now. Their other camps are Sala’s Camp, Sasaab and Solio Lodge, all of which are high-end luxury safari camps offering some of the best safari trips in Kenya.
Rooms in all sections of the manor can be booked four weeks before your travel date, provided they’re available. Giraffe Manor does not have a reception area or restaurant for guests to wait in. It is still very much like a family home. Should guests wish to arrive or depart outside of check-in times, The Retreat next door offers day rooms and day passes for access to all the wellness facilities and the restaurant, subject to availability.
If you’d like to relax before or after your room stay you can head just next door to The Retreat at Giraffe Manor, which offers several options: an Early Bird package for morning arrivals, a Retreat Day Pass, or a full Day Room. Guests not staying at our other properties may book The Retreat as a standalone option (subject to availability within four weeks of travel).
It is 27 kilometres from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport which takes around 40 minutes to drive (but we always allow longer in case there is traffic). The latest pick-up time for your transfer to Giraffe Manor is 11:00 pm. Many people therefore spend only one night at Giraffe Manor, yet they still have a wonderful experience. Those that do stay longer get the chance to really enjoy some of our extra activities and get to know Nairobi’s hidden treasures. Generally, we would recommend two nights as the ideal and no more than three nights and then we can certainly help organise the rest of your itinerary around Kenya.
Rooms Available
- Nine superior double rooms
- One triple superior room
- Two family suites
The Safari Collection Properties
- Giraffe Manor
- Solio Lodge
- Sasaab
- Sala’s Camp
- Siruai Mobile Camp
Money can be earned back but experiences are completely priceless, with memories lasting forever. Bucket list item complete. No regrets.
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tags: #Kenya
