Giraffe Centre

Giraffe Center
Feeding a giraffe
Date opened 1983[1]
Location Langata, Kenya
Coordinates 1°22′28″S 36°44′32″E / 1.374469°S 36.742324°E / -1.374469; 36.742324Coordinates: 1°22′28″S 36°44′32″E / 1.374469°S 36.742324°E / -1.374469; 36.742324
Website www.giraffecenter.org

The Giraffe Center is located in Lang'ata, approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the centre of Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in order to protect the endangered Rothschild giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi, that is found only in the grasslands of East Africa.

In 1979, the Giraffe Center, a nature sanctuary for visiting and including wildlife conservation education for urban school children, was started by Jock Leslie Melville, the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish Earl, when he and his wife Betty captured two baby giraffe to start a programme of breeding giraffe on their Langata property, site of the present Centre. Since then the programme has had huge success, resulting in the introduction of several breeding pairs of Rothschild Giraffe into Kenyan national parks.

By 1983 enough money had been raised to establish the Giraffe Visitor's Center as a tourist destination just outside Nairobi.

The main attraction for both school children and visitors is feeding giraffes from a raised observation platform. The Giraffe Center is also home to several warthogs which freely roam the area along with the giraffe.

Notes

  1. ↑ "African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (Kenya) Ltd". giraffecenter.org. African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (Kenya) Ltd. Retrieved 2 June 2012.

Further reading

  • Leslie-Melville, Jock & Betty (1979). Raising Daisy Rothschild. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-89948-8.

Official website

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