Living with giraffes may seem uncommon for some of us weary travelers, but for the guests at Giraffe Manor hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, sharing breakfast with these pretty creatures is as natural as it gets. This interaction left us speechless and we marked the experience as a “must” on our long list of places to visit.
Today, Giraffe Manor is home to a resident herd of wild Nubian giraffes, which roam freely through the surrounding sanctuary and regularly visit the manor in the morning and afternoon.
One of the main positive features of Giraffe Manor is the building itself, dating back to the 1930s and showcasing an architecture reminiscent of the early days of Europeans in East Africa. The lovely refuge is also home of owners Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville, whose lifelong ambition is the preservation of this threatened species of giraffes.
A 1930s manor with a very unusual breakfast guest
Giraffe Manor was built in 1932 and was designed in the style of a Scottish hunting lodge. Long before it became one of Nairobi’s most recognizable hotels, the elegant house was simply a private residence surrounded by extensive grounds. The giraffes came later.
In 1974, Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville bought the property. Betty, who would eventually become known as the “Giraffe Lady”, had developed a deep interest in wildlife conservation, particularly the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe. The couple adopted a young Rothschild’s giraffe named Daisy and began a conservation and breeding programme at the property. Their work eventually became part of a much larger conservation effort, including the establishment of the nearby Giraffe Centre.
A business with a twist popped up in their minds, which currently allows guests to share their meals in an unconventional manner, with highly unconventional friends: “Whilst the building itself resonates with the past, very much present is the herd of eight resident Rothschild giraffes who tend to visit the Manor in the mornings and evenings to greet guests and sniff out some snacks before venturing out into their sanctuary of 140 acres”, explained the hotel owners.
Breakfast with giraffes
The signature Giraffe Manor experience is exactly what you have seen in photographs. Breakfast is served in the elegant dining room, and the resident giraffes may wander over to the windows looking for a treat. They are remarkably comfortable around people.
A long neck appears; two enormous eyes look at you. A giraffe investigates your breakfast and suddenly your morning coffee feels slightly less ordinary.
The giraffes also make appearances around the property at other times of the day, so the encounter isn’t necessarily limited to breakfast. Depending on where you are, you might find one greeting guests at the front door, wandering across the lawns or peering into a window. It is the kind of experience that makes you wonder whether you have accidentally walked into a children’s storybook. Except you’re in Nairobi and the giraffe is real.
What is Giraffe Manor like today?
Today, Giraffe Manor is an exclusive boutique hotel operated by The Safari Collection. The historic manor sits on 12 acres of private land surrounded by approximately 140 acres of indigenous forest in Nairobi’s Langata area. The property combines the atmosphere of an old country house with an experience that is unmistakably Kenyan.
There are currently 12 rooms, divided between the historic Manor and the newer Garden Manor.The interiors are deliberately intimate rather than ultra-modern: fireplaces, antique furniture, artwork, books, gardens, terraces and cosy sitting rooms create the feeling of an eccentric private residence rather than a conventional luxury hotel.
Every corner of Giraffe Manor is meticulously designed to evoke a sense of wonder and delight. The cozy lounges and inviting sitting areas offer the perfect spot to unwind with a book or indulge in afternoon tea, while the well-curated collection of artwork and photographs adorning the walls tell stories of the manor’s history and the surrounding wildlife. One room is even named after Karen Blixen, the Danish author whose experiences in Kenya inspired Out of Africa.
The hotel is located 40 minute away by car from Jomo Kenyatta airport and 20 minutes from Wilson Airport.
The conservation story behind Giraffe Manor
There is another reason Giraffe Manor has become so significant: staying here is directly connected to the conservation of the Nubian giraffe, formerly known as the Rothschild’s giraffe. When Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville began their work in the 1970s, fewer than 100 of these giraffes remained in Kenya. They eventually founded the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW), establishing a breeding programme that helped return giraffes to protected areas where they had disappeared.
The conservation story continues just a short walk from the manor, at the Giraffe Centre, which was founded in 1979 and combines wildlife conservation with environmental education. Today, the centre welcomes Kenyan schoolchildren as well as international visitors, giving people an opportunity to learn about giraffes at close range. Giraffe Manor contributes to this work through its guests, with a portion of each stay supporting AFEW and its conservation projects. The resident giraffes are not domesticated performers, either: they move freely through the surrounding sanctuary and choose when to approach the manor. Even the special pellets offered to them are carefully controlled, supplementing their natural diet rather than replacing it. In that sense, the real luxury of Giraffe Manor is being part of a conservation story that has been unfolding for more than five decades. [Photography credits: Giraffe Manor]
