Feeding, Hugging and Kissing a Giraffe

Today, we went to the Giraffe Center, which is a center where Rothschild’s giraffes are taken out of the wild and placed here until they are three years old. At that point, they are released back into the wild.

The reason they are taken out of the wild for a temporary period of time is because the Rothschild’s giraffe is endangered, and the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife runs the center.


There are three different types of giraffes. Reticulated giraffes have rectangular spots and are seen mostly in northern Kenya. Rothschild’s giraffes look similar to reticulated giraffes except their spots are lighter and there are no spots on their legs. Instead, there’s just white hair on their legs so it almost looks like they are wearing socks. Rothschild’s giraffes are only seen near Lake Nakuru. And lastly, the Masai giraffes have dark jagged spots and are commonly seen southwest of Nairobi, particularly in the Masai Mara National Park.

At the center, you can observe, hand-feed and even kiss Rothschild’s giraffes from a raised circular wooden structure.


The Rothschild’s giraffe has the longest tongue I’ve ever seen and it’s gray, not pink like ours.


One of the center’s staff members warned me to not get too close to the giraffes when I don’t have food in my hand because they will head butt you if you don’t have food!



Once I got comfortable feeding the giraffe, I gave the giraffe a hug.


And then the staff member encouraged me to kiss the giraffe. So I took a piece of food in between my teeth and leaned in towards the giraffe. I pulled back the first few times because the giraffe’s huge tongue shooting straight towards me was a bit intimidating.



But eventually I got up enough courage and let the giraffe take the piece of food out of my mouth. In other words, I let it kiss me.


I got giraffe slobber all over my chin but it was still worth it. It was so freaking cool to be that close to a giraffe, which by the way is my favorite African animal.