The unique Giraffe Manor Hotel offers giraffe dinners

Imagine that you are drinking coffee in the morning in a hotel room, by the window. And suddenly, through the half-open door, a giraffe's head penetrates into the room! This is not at all fantastic if you are lucky enough to rent a room at the Giraffe Manor Boutique Hotel. It is located in the suburbs of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, right in the middle of the reserve.

The hotel belongs to the company with the eloquent name Safari Collection and offers guests 12 rooms. Around the complex there is a tropical forest, interrupted by patches of savanna. The hotel building is an architectural monument built in the colonial style in 1932.

Once this hotel served as a hunting house and hunters who came on safari stayed here. But now it is forbidden to kill wild animals in Kenya and wildlife lovers, often with children, live in the rooms. Everything has changed thanks to the Melville family, who bought the house and the surrounding forests from the hunting club.

The African Fund for the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals (AFEW) was organized in the estate. The territory began to be populated with rare animals and the first inhabitant of the forest was a giraffe named Daisy. Now 8 giraffes and many other animals live on 47 hectares of the reserve.

Animals do not get here by chance — Safari Collection collects sick, wounded and orphaned animals. These are not only giraffes, but also antelopes, rhinos and even elephants. Most of the rescued animals, having recovered and become stronger, go to the national parks of Kenya. But some of them remain to live near the Giraffe Manor Hotel.

Now the hotel and the forest are owned by Mike and Tanya Carr-Hartley. They purchased them from the AFEW Foundation to establish an unusual hotel here. It is worth noting that Safari Collection owns a whole chain of boutique hotels, but this one with giraffes is the most unusual and popular among tourists.

The hotel is appreciated by many celebrities with world names. Mick Jagger, Brooke Shields, Ewan McGregor, Richard Chamberlain and many other stars have stayed here. Giraffes living in the vicinity of the hotel are not afraid of people at all. They come to the building several times a day and stick their heads through the windows, begging for a treat.

All local giraffes belong to the same endangered species. These are Rothschild's giraffes, of which there are no more than 700 individuals left in the world. Therefore, the guests of Giraffe Manor are given a unique opportunity to see and even pet an animal that is incredibly difficult to meet in nature.

In addition to giraffes, antelopes, cheetahs, wild boars, hyenas and more than 200 species of birds live in the reserve. Guests of the hotel can visit the Safari Collection Rehabilitation Center located nearby. There, specialists rescue wounded and weakened animals.

To see Rothschild's giraffes, it is not necessary to rent a hotel room. Dozens of guests come to the reserve every day to enjoy the pristine African nature. But such visitors are deprived of the main thing — the opportunity to have breakfast and lunch in the company of graceful giraffes. This is one of the important privileges that only guests who have rented rooms have.