Giraffe Centre

While our house isn’t really located close to the city, there are several interesting things to see right nearby.  The first of these that we explored was the Giraffe Centre.  Only about a 10 minute walk from our place, the Giraffe Centre is both an educational centre to teach people about conservation, and preservation of the natural habitat’s of animals such as giraffe’s, and is a breeding centre where they are working to breed the endangered Rothschild giraffe.  That all sounded great when Joce was reading the description to me, but wait…we get to pet and kiss the giraffes?  What are we waiting for? 

What a beautiful animal.  We arrived and were given a couple handfuls of ‘giraffe treats’ and up the stairs to the feeding platform we went.  Two of the younger giraffes were already hanging out there, trying to snag as many treats as possible.  If you have treats, the giraffes are your friends.  Put one in your mouth, and they will give you a nice wet kiss while they take it with their impossibly long tongues.  They are very gentle social animals, a lot of fun to feed.  We went on a short hike through the preserve area with a guide from the centre.  Then it was back to the feeding platform as Hellen, the matriarch of the herd, had come over to visit.  Hellen is the most social giraffe at the centre, and very pregnant.  She is due to deliver her calf this month or next.  Hellen was much bigger than the other two giraffes we were previously feeding, but very calm and friendly. 

Hellen has lived at the centre all her life, and will remain there as part of the breeding program.  The calves however spend about 3 years at the centre and then are released into the wild in an attempt to revitalize the population of this, the only endangered species of giraffe.

-steve