A Visit to the Giraffe Center
The Giraffe Center has surprisingly little information about the animal it's protecting, but made for a pleasant visit anyway. I had expected to have some type of guided tour of the grounds which have a tourist visiting section to get people close to the animals and nature walk.
The petting zoo, since that effectively is what it is, had a pavilion where you could feed a giraffe pellets. The signage provided amply instructions on how to feed then (be holding the pellet between the fingers) and admonitions on what not to do (don't feed from the palm of your hand, don't lean into the giraffe as they like to head butt, do not tease the giraffe.) A key points, personnel was positioned to observe and, apparently, ignore the mishandling by the people.
The remainder of the grounds in the compound was given over to a gift shop. A quick perusal before I left confirmed that it met the basic standards of all gift shops, having a single minded display of items designed to separate cash from the rubes. It was a tad on the spendy side, shall we say.
What was missing was any sort of information booth, book, video, guide, or sign meant to impart the slightest bit of knowledge regarding the giraffe. I thought the interior of the pavilion would have this kid of information, but it contained children's drawing from a contest. Some of those were quite well done and creative, but not what I was hoping for.
The walking trail on the other side had more appeal to me. The official trail was 1.6 kilometers around, though there are numerous side trials, especially when you get to the Gogo River.
The Gogo River is like the San Diego River or the Todd in Alice Springs, It's more a seasonal trickle of water than a body of swift flowing current.
On the other side of the river, past the 'Do Not Enter' signs there is a ton of single track maintained by the giraffes as they meander. I could've gotten joyfully lost for hours over there, but violating the laws of a host nation seems foolish. I played nice and explore several miles of trail before heading back to the main park. I think I was the only tourist that headed down into that part of the exhibit.
Ever done those "Find the Cat" photos? How many giraffes can you find in the picture below?
Feel free to share the "Count the Giraffes" on Facebook and Twitter-
The next two picture are from the nature walk. My computer is being balky in resizing them and it's almost three in the morning here, so I'm leaving the big. By the way, there are scary things that shriek in the night in Kenya, at least here. Discourages one from night running.
The Gogo River
