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| not often a pic captures the exact moment someone falls in love, yet here we are |
I've always had a very strong affinity for giraffes...many, many years ago, my mom gave me a mounted print of the famous giraffe photograph entitled, "The Kiss," which portrays a mother and her baby giraffe. It hangs in my house and I have always loved it, but it has become particularly meaningful to me since losing my mom.
Years ago, I saw pictures from this hotel and it quickly moved to the top of my bucket list. We usually have our big trips planned about a year in advance, but we also have a rough plan for the next five years or so at any given time in terms of where we want to travel. We originally planned to go to Giraffe Manor in Summer 2024, but when I contacted them in June 2023 to book, the property was completely filled for when we wanted to go. I realized that we would need to book even earlier out, so we ended up flip-flopping our plans for Africa in Summer 2024 and Australia in Summer 2025 to give us a the chance to book a stay at Giraffe Manor. It all worked out, because we loved our trip to Australia last summer AND when I inquired about July 2025 availability for Giraffe Manor all the way back in February 2024, I was thrilled to learn we would finally be able to stay there!
It is one of the properties within The Safari Collection, and we worked with a safari expert who planned out our 7-night / 8-day itinerary, culminating with a one-night stay at Giraffe Manor. It was a very long 16 months of waiting for this day to arrive!
We woke up at Sala's Camp, packed our bags, and enjoyed breakfast with a wildebeests on their migration just across the river as we ate.
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| leaving a bit of Avalanche in the wild |
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| one cool thing about our tent at Sala's Camp is that there was a covered window that the staff could access from the outside to deliver our wake up calls in the form of cappuccinos and cookies! |
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| some last pics of the main building |
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| it was incredible |
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| our final breakfast at Sala's Camp |
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| wildebeests across the river |
the Great Migration
one of the staff members feeding the mongooses!
After a teary goodbye to the staff, Jackson and Patrick took us on one last short game drive to see if we could find the wildebeests as they crossed the river. In his eagerness to get us a great viewpoint, which of course, he timed perfectly, we ended up getting stuck up on the hillside (somewhat precipitously, I might add!) overlooking the river in the dense grass. It was super muddy because of the previous night's rainstorm and our vehicle was unable to reverse to get us back on the path no matter what Jackson and Patrick tried. They were absolute pros, not once panicking - as opposed to us, as we repeatedly asked if we should get out of the vehicle in case it went over the edge! Thankfully a guide in another vehicle kindly rescued us by pulling us back up the hill! Jackson and Patrick joked that after two days of very exciting events, they couldn't let us leave with a boring final morning!
we did indeed get to see them cross the river, but
unfortunately, other safari vehicles had blocked their
path, so they turned around and retreated!
Our flight was scheduled for 11:00 am, but it ended up being an hour and twenty minutes late to arrive to the air strip. This did give us time to watch other small planes come and go while Jackson monitored each of the flights and chatted with the pilots to give us updates about our plane's impending arrival and Patrick entertained us with some pretty impressive card tricks! I'm writing this two-and-a-half days after we left them, and I can't even tell you how many times C and I have said to each other how much we miss them!
Our plane finally arrived and we were excited that it was a bit bigger than our previous three planes (it was a twin prop De Havilland Dash 8 with a 2x2 seat layout). When it was time to board, we exchanged very heartfelt hugs with Jackson and Patrick, and then gave our names to the one flight attendant who pointed to the two empty seats in row 2 and told us to sit there! That was it! After a 30-minute flight, we landed at Nairobi Wilson Airport, deplaned, and walked past the hangars to the Arrivals building and then straight out to the parking lot. Airport employees took our luggage off our plane and placed it in a large rolling cart, which was then brought out to the parking lot and everyone just took whatever bags from the cart. It was a bit mental and not secure in the least! We were fortunate in that someone from Giraffe Manor was there to meet us and explain how we were going to get our actual suitcases back (you may recall that the safari company stored our luggage because we were only allowed to bring duffel bags and backpacks with us due to the small planes we traveled in!). Once the luggage cart was wheeled out, we grabbed our bags and were escorted to the car; our driver took us back over to the departure gate where we'd been a week earlier and he went in to collect our suitcases for us!
It was about a half hour drive to Giraffe Manor and as you can see, it is spectacular! It was built in 1932 and bought by The Safari Collection in 2009. It's about 100 acres and home to 12 Rothschild's giraffes! We were given a tour, then had lunch, and spent a little time getting settled in our room before our first encounter with the giraffes when the guests were invited out on the patio. The staff gave a brief educational talk to explain what they do and how to best interact with the giraffes, and then we spent time feeding them! It was so fun!
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| our room! |
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| we had an amazing balcony! |
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| we slept with a mosquito net over the bed (we did the same at Sasaab, but not Solio or Sala's Camp) |
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| our room was on the lower level, with that long balcony |
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| in addition to giraffes, warthogs roam the grounds and although they're apparently not very smart, they can be aggressive! |
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| they bend down and rest on their carpal joints to eat! |
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| the cutest!!! |
Happy Tails to you!
