Nairobi City Tour Guide | Visiting Elephant Orphanage & Giraffe Centre
The Nairobi City Tour Itinerary Guide (Visiting Elephant Orphanage & Giraffe Centre) -Which are the greatest spots in Nairobi to see if visitors have a day or even a little more than 4 hours before their flight? The David Sheldrick Elephant Animal Orphanage and the Giraffe Center are two of Nairobi’s top tourist attractions, and they are both included on our custom Nairobi City Tour Itinerary. Additionally, you get to see some of Nairobi’s most beautiful landmarks, such as the aerial perspective of the city from above Uhuru Park. The Nairobi City Tour and Nairobi National Park tour can also be combined.
A 1-2 day Nairobi city tour combines wildlife, history, and culture, featuring the only national park within a capital city. Key highlights include morning game drives in Nairobi National Park, feeding giraffes at the Giraffe Centre, visiting baby elephants at the Sheldrick Trust, shopping at Maasai Market, and dining at The Carnivore
Click here to see a detailed list of top things to do in Nairobi.
A Detailed Nairobi City Tour Itinerary
1. Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage
A herd of impatient newborn elephants dashes across the clearing in pursuit of their caretakers, who are holding their milk bottles. After their bellies are filled, they play in the crimson mud until it’s time to go. An important source of funding for the ongoing conservation of orphaned newborn elephants is a visit to the Sheldrick Orphanage.
A haven for newborn elephants left for dead due to the ivory trade is located on the outskirts of Nairobi National Park. Many elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation have found a home at the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Kenya.
At eleven in the morning, the young elephants rush out of the acacia thicket and into the muddy area around the watering hole to meet their caretakers for feeding time.
The calves frolic amongst themselves, roll around in the mud, and spray muddy water into the air as a means to alleviate their full bellies. You will get the opportunity to see them from the sidelines for a little period of time before they return to the forest. Stop by the orphanage and talk to the caretakers about what they do and why their conservation efforts are so important.
You can learn more about conservation and witness the comfortable stable the elephants share with their caretaker if you return in the evening between 5 and 6 pm, when the calves return to their stalls, if you’ve adopted an elephant.
Where does the Orphanage fit into your Kenyan Adventure?
Nairobi National Park is the most adjacent national park to any capital city and is home to four of the five Big Five. A morning game drive in the park, which includes the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, is a great way to start the day.
Visitors often continue their safari experience after seeing the elephants at the Nairobi Giraffe Centre, where they have the opportunity to feed the endangered Rothschild giraffe from a lofty viewing deck.
All three tours add up to a full day, so if you have some additional time in Nairobi before or after your main Kenyan tour, it’s worth it to spend it doing these.
2. The Nairobi Giraffe Centre
You anxiously place molasses pellets, one by one, onto the giraffe’s impatiently extended grey tongue. You can get up close and personal with Africa’s tallest animal—the Rothschild Giraffe—by visiting the Giraffe Centre, which also helps to preserve these endangered animals.
The Giraffe Centre, which is known as the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife Giraffe Centre, is an important part of the effort to save the Rothschild giraffe, a subspecies of giraffe that is in grave danger of extinction.
There were only about 100 Rothschild’s giraffes left in the wild before conservation efforts started, and their numbers were rapidly decreasing owing to habitat loss and widespread killing.
After caring for a Rothschild giraffe named Daisy in their Langata house, Betty and Jock Leslie Melville (the grandson of a Scottish nobleman) established the fund in 1979. its attempts to preserve the species have paid off, and its population is now 300 strong across Kenya.
You may get a good look at the giraffes from a distance and even feed them by hand from the elevated wooden platform (giraffe height). Snuffling at their hooves, warthogs scavenge on the pellets that have fallen to the ground.
Sip some tea in the tea house and take it easy. On your way out, stop by the Daisy Zoovenir Shop to pick up some souvenirs. Entrance fees, the curio shop, and the tea house provide 90% of the funding for the giraffe center.
You can take a 1.5-kilometer self-guided woodland walk in the neighbouring Gogo River Sanctuary when your giraffe encounter is over. The track offers stunning views of Nairobi and the Ngong hills.
Where does The Giraffe Centre fit into your Adventure?
The Giraffe Centre is located in the Langata district of Nairobi, which is just a short drive (depending on traffic) from the city center.
The giraffe center is a great complement to an early morning game drive in Nairobi National Park, which is home to four of the Big Five and the nearest national park to any capital city.
The next destination is the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage, where the young elephants rush to get milk between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.
After that, you can visit the Nairobi Giraffe Centre to feed the endangered Rothschild giraffes by hand from an elevated viewing deck.
If you are planning a longer safari in Kenya, it is worth staying an extra day in Nairobi to do all three of these excursions, as they take up a full day when combined.