The Fashionable Frequent Flyers

If you have an Instagram account, there is a 90% chance you’ve heard of Giraffe Manor or at least seen a post or reel featuring Giraffe Manor. Giraffe Manor is a highly sought out boutique hotel located in the Karen/Langata suburb in Nairobi, Kenya. Giraffe Manor is a unique establishment, likely the only one of its kind in the world, and is set on 12 acres of land, surrounded by 140 acres of forest. The manor harks back to the 1930s when Westerners arrived in Kenya in droves to enjoy the safaris in the country. The crown jewels of this property are the 12 on-site Rothchild’s giraffes (6 females, one male, and 5 calves). Each with their own unique personality, they are without question the primary reason to visit this fantastic property.

Giraffe Manor is one of the most sought out properties in the world. Therefore, in order to secure your booking, we recommend that you book well in advance and have some flexibility in your booking dates. Thus, for example, if you plan to visit Kenya for 10 days, make sure that your Giraffe Manor night(s) can fit anywhere in those 10 days. We would recommend staying a night or two maximum, as that provides sufficient time to make the most out of your stay (we stayed one night and were fulfilled). It’s pretty costly to stay at Giraffe Manor, with rates at approximately $1100 a night per person. We would recommend using a travel agent to book your stay; we used Gameland Tours in Kenya and they made the reservation process seamless. If you intend on visiting soon, Kenya has pretty strict Covid restrictions and Giraffe Manor is no exception. Guests are expected to be masked indoors in public areas around other guests and if you have any Covid symptoms, your stay will have to be canceled.

What to expect from this unique and luxurious hotel? First, the manor assigns you a private server for your entire stay. This gentleman or lady will take care of you during your entire stay: they will be aware of your entire schedule, and dietary needs, help you feed the giraffes, and will be taking photos of you and your new friends! In addition, expect to be fed really well! After you check in, there’s a beautifully plated lunch which consists of four-course meals primarily featuring Kenyan cuisine. For example, one of our appetizers was Ugali nachos. Then there’s afternoon tea with the giraffes, followed by dinner (also a four-course meal). Basically, you get lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and breakfast included in your package. Lastly, expect to be blown away by the giraffe galore hotel décor; from the bed sheets and the art to the plating and kitchenware, Giraffe Manor makes sure you are well aware that your primary reason for visiting is the giraffes.

Giraffe Manor offers a number of photo opportunities for you to flex your content creation muscles. By now, I’m sure you’ve seen quite a few on Instagram. We thought it would be helpful to offer some potential options for you for planning purposes for your visit. First, there’s the afternoon tea photo-op with the giraffes. This includes an intimate, up close, and personal feeding of the giraffes as well as the famous swing feeding photo, which is every Instagrammer’s dream. Second, you can feed the giraffes from your room balcony or bedroom window (if your room provides this option) at 6 AM. Rajab, our server, brought a giraffe to our balcony in the morning and we woke up to that beauty and fed her her breakfast. Third, you can feed the giraffes at breakfast and get a photo with the giraffes’ heads sticking throw the windows in the breakfast room — what a surreal experience. These are just some suggestions; provided it’s safe, the staff can accommodate most bespoke requests. Finally, as a bonus, there are no giraffes but still nice pictures you can take at the hotel.

In all, our experience was beyond anything we could ever have imagined. The highlight was of course getting to interact with (and know) the various giraffes on the property, from Lilly’s picky eating habits to Ed’s robust and protective demeanor. The staff, especially Rajab, were just excellent and made the entire experience one we will never forget. Being the fashionable frequent flyers, we of course went all out in our content creation, which was especially fun. But even absent the content, the whole experience was once in a lifetime! We would absolutely love to do this again in the future and we could not recommend this more! Check out our Instagram pages (@qinstilettos and @justintensitysworld) for Giraffe Manor video content.