African Safari Day 8: The Retreat at Giraffe Manor

Sadly our safari adventure has drawn to a close, but we made the most of our final day!

"joy" is such a small little word,
yet it conveys such a huge emotion

Before sunrise, the giraffes came over to the manor and we were able to feed them right from our balcony! Is there a better way to start one's day? I don't think so!

The staff had told us the previous day, "no food - no friendship," meaning that as long as we had food, the giraffes would hang around, but they would quickly lose interest in us once we ran out. This was one hundred percent true! As soon as we had no more food to give them, they wandered off, since we clearly no longer served a useful purpose for them!

no food, so she's done with us
LOL

After the giraffes had wandered off, we went to the breakfast room and ate before having yet another cool opportunity to feed them. This time, the staff opened the windows to the breakfast room and the giraffes poked their heads in to be fed! It was adorable!

crying bc I am completely overwhelmed
with happiness

Unfortunately after breakfast, it was time to pack up (we only spent one night at Giraffe Manor), but since our flight out of Nairobi wasn't leaving until almost 10:00 pm, we had booked a day room at The Retreat at Giraffe Manor. The Retreat was about a thirty-second walk from Giraffe Manor and I don't know what I was expecting, but I was blown away. The building and the grounds are impeccable and we had a spectacular room where we could relax, nap, shower, and hang out all day long! There is also a fantastic restaurant on property where we ate lunch!

outside the breakfast room

this is where they poked their
heads in through the windows!

a little Avalanche left behind

The Retreat at Giraffe Manor

our room for the day

Right beside The Retreat is The Giraffe Centre, which is focused on environmental and conservation efforts, particularly those of the Rothschild's giraffes. This particular species numbered only about 130 in the late 1970s / early 1980s, and I was so happy to hear that there are now about 1400 Rothschild's giraffes! School groups who are welcomed with no entry fees because the message of taking care of the earth's creatures and resources is one that the Giraffe Centre wants to share with kids (I loved this because the cost of field trips can be so prohibitive). Guests have the chance to interact with the giraffes and learn about the work that has been done and continues today to support these amazing beings! As guests of Giraffe Manor, our stay included admission to the Giraffe Centre, and we were escorted over there (free roaming giraffes and warthogs means no wandering around the grounds without a staff member!) and then an intern who is studying to become a veterinarian gave us a tour, which was awesome!

I love this picture because C was having
a grand old time with the giraffe,
our tour guide was using my phone to
take pics of the two of them, and I'm
just peppering him with a million questions
about the centre and the giraffes and not
even paying attention to what C is doing
(I was pointing to the large male giraffe)
LOL

We left The Retreat at Giraffe Manor at about 7:15 pm to head to the airport, and enjoyed chatting with our driver along the way. We were feeling sad because both our time in Kenya and our safari were officially over, but we tried to focus on being excited about the next leg of our summer trip!

Happy Tails to you!