Description: We decided to take a day tour to the Karen Blixen House, with a stop at the Langatta Giraffe Center afterwards. The hotel arranged for a tour company in Nairobi to take us there, and the cost of the tour was $40 per person. The cost included entry fees to the Blixen House and the Giraffe Center. The tour to the Blixen House was short; we were there in all of 10 minutes. If you saw
Out of Africa, you saw the house. That's about all there is to it.
The Langatta Giraffe Center is about 6 to 7 minutes from Blixen House. This was more interesting. At first I thought it was just going to be a quick stop for a photo opportunity showing us feeding the giraffes. But the guide at the Center was quite knowledgeable, not only on the Rothschild Giraffes, but on a wide variety of flora and fauna. Of course he told us how to hold the food to feed the giraffes, but he also showed me how to hold a piece in my mouth so the giraffe could kiss me. It's not as bad as it sounds. We learned that the giraffe's saliva is antiseptic. The reason for that is that the acacia trees, which they are so fond of, have thorns. When they happen to chomp down on a thorn and it pierces the inside of their mouth or their tongue, their saliva will help heal the wound. There were lots of little warthogs around too, which were funny to watch. They get down on their front knees to eat. The two giraffes that came to greet us were Daisy and Laura. Laura is pregnant, so the male giraffe had to be kept across the road in a different enclosure to keep the baby safe when it is born. We were taken across the road to the Nature Trail, where the guide told us of the different trees and animals. In all, we were there about 45 minutes. Giraffe Manor, the hotel where you can feed these same giraffes from your upstairs bedroom window, was just across a large lawn from the Giraffe Center. I felt this visit alone was worth the time and the cost of the tour.
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