giraffe centre, nairobi

giraffe centre, nairobi, originally uploaded by suddenly.

the next stop on the freakishly big-and-tall animal petting trail was the giraffe centre in nairobi. the giraffe centre was established for the endangered rothschild giraffe, yet another example of white people setting up a sanctuary to save animals in africa.

as soon as you walk in, the friendly staff will force some green pellets into your hand and instruct you to feed the giraffe one pellet at a time. the best way to feed them is to lay the pellet flat in your palm so that the giraffe laps it up with the tongue or drop a pellet onto the giraffe’s outstretched tongue — otherwise they may accidentally bite your fingers. being herbivores, their teeth aren’t sharp but still, those are some monster chompers.

giraffes are fairly gentle creatures but if you don’t continually give ‘em some grub, they may headbutt you on the feeding platform. and seeing as how a giraffe’s head is as big as a grown man’s torso, you’d best keep the food coming or get out of the way.

the staff will also encourage you to kiss the giraffe, i.e., put a pellet between your lips and let the giraffe lick it out of your mouth but that just seemed gross to me.

unless you’re a resident of kenya, you’ll have to pay the inflated foreigner rate of 700 kenyan shillings (=US$9) for the admission fee.