Giraffe Manor
A giraffe lowers its head over the lawn as afternoon tea begins, dark eyes fixed on the table. This is Giraffe Manor, a historic manor house in Langata, a leafy Nairobi suburb, where twelve rooms take their names from the resident giraffes. Days might include boules on the lawn or lengths in The Retreat's 21 metre infinity pool next door.
Giraffe Manor
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A Rothschild's giraffe leans its head through the first-floor window at breakfast, ears forward, tongue reaching for toast. This happens most mornings at Giraffe Manor, a stone house set in a forested suburb of Langata, Nairobi, 20 minutes from the city centre. The herd moves freely through the gardens below, and eating breakfast beside one is nothing unusual here.
The house was built in 1932 for David Duncan, a Scottish big-game hunter, its upper floors wood-panelled, its staircase cut from stone. In 1974 Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville bought the property and brought in an orphaned Rothschild's giraffe calf named Daisy, beginning conservation work that grew into the adjacent Giraffe Centre. That work continues next door.
Today the manor operates as a small inn with 12 rooms and suites. Giraffes still cross the lawn in the evening, necks catching the last light. You wake most mornings to birdsong, and sometimes a giraffe's head fills the window frame before the coffee arrives. The house stands at the edge of the forest that borders the Giraffe Centre, on the outskirts of Langata.
The house was built in 1932 for David Duncan, a Scottish big-game hunter, its upper floors wood-panelled, its staircase cut from stone. In 1974 Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville bought the property and brought in an orphaned Rothschild's giraffe calf named Daisy, beginning conservation work that grew into the adjacent Giraffe Centre. That work continues next door.
Today the manor operates as a small inn with 12 rooms and suites. Giraffes still cross the lawn in the evening, necks catching the last light. You wake most mornings to birdsong, and sometimes a giraffe's head fills the window frame before the coffee arrives. The house stands at the edge of the forest that borders the Giraffe Centre, on the outskirts of Langata.
