“I had never realised wild animals could have such definite personalities. Her moods are mercurial: she sulks, laughs, plays, pouts and has moments of ecstasy, is stroppy, confident, insecure, and shows many other facets of personality which would make a psychiatrist reel.”
–Raising Daisy Rothschild, (Betty and Jock Leslie-Melville, Penguin Books, 1977)
The Giraffe Centre is currently home to s, seven female and three male. Six were born at the Centre, while four were translocated from different parks and nature conservancies across Kenya.
Betty
Named after our founder Betty Leslie-Melville, Betty is the oldest of the tower at 17 years. She is a wild girl at heart, having been brought to the centre from Lake Nakuru National Park, north-west of Nairobi. She prefers to hang out in the forest adjacent to the Centre. Read of the heroics of Betty the Giraffe
Kelly
You can identify Kelly by her light-brown coat. She is also the tallest of the females. With her, our Educators like to say it’s ‘food for friendship’, so you had better have some pellets in hand when she comes up to you.. By the way, she’s has 5 months left, as of 12th April 2019, to her 5th born calf.
Daisy IV
Be careful where you stand, Daisy is known to butt heads against guests. She doesn’t particularly like children. Keep watch for a dark-coated giraffe with a clipped left ear, especially if you’ve brought the little ones along. But don’t get her wrong, Daisy can be quite the darling, she’s just choosy about who she shows affection to. It mostly ends up being adults. Here’s a video on our thoughts about Daisy
By the way, as of 12th April 2019, Daisy has 5 months left to have her 3rd born calf.
Salma II
If you like sloppy kisses, Salma’s the one for you. She won’t hesitate to take in your whole face! She’s the feisty one with more white on her coat than the rest. Don’t turn your back to her, she wants all of your attention.
Margaret.
She’s got a shimmery light brown coat, just like her mother Kelly. She has also taken after her mother personality-wise. To get her affection and her attention, you’d be wise to have a fistful of feed for her. Since Giraffe Centre is majorly a breeding Centre, Margaret, after becoming of age, 3 years, she was trans-located to Mwea National Reserve. She was accompanied with Waridi and Jock VI. Under the keen eye of the KWS, they are being assessed on how they are integrating to with other Giraffes at Mwea National Reserve
Edd
He is the biggest of the tower, the father to all our calves, yet the friendliest. Standing at a whopping 18 ft (5.4 metres) tall, 8-year-old Edd loves people just as much as he loves his . He’s a good and will slurp up food pellets from just about anyone’s lips.
Nandi
Nandi is a two years old calf to Stacey. Her name is off the Nandi Flame tree or the African tuliptree. Recently she had some health issues. Thanks to the KWS Veterinary unit, she was treated and she is well. So next time you feed her, do not make sudden movements like reach to your pocket. She’ll run away as she would assume you want to trap her. Watch here as she was being treated
Mpingo
Mpingo is a 1 year old calf to Daisy. He is easy to spot, just look for a bigger and darker that all the other calves around. Don’t let the body fool you though, he’s the second youngest of the calves. as at now, we have 4 calves from 3 cows (Female Giraffe)
Lilly
She’s the youngest of the tower at the Giraffe Centre (or the Journey if the are crossing from one side of the Giraffe Centre Sanctuary to the other). She’s barely a year old. Being the daughter to Stacey, just like the mom, she’s hard to see her. She likes staying far from the platform area. Side note, she’s the baby sister to Nandi.
Olerai
The One year old Olerai got his name from the Maasai Community as they call acacia tree ‘Olerai’. He’s the light skinned male calf to Kelly.
Mtwapa
Kelly’s New Born. Mtwapa is the Sweet Pea flower. She was given this name by our online guests after we requested for a vote.
The Warthogs
Consider them the supporting cast to the giraffe. They tend not to be as stately or as gracious as their taller counterparts. At the Giraffe Centre, expect to see several sounders (that’s the word for a small family group) of warthogs. They too, call the Giraffe Centre home. Like their long-necked neighbours, they eat the same pellets as the giraffe. Throw them some, why don’t you? You can watch as they kneel forward, twisting and turning their heads on the ground to chew them up.
If you want to know more about Giraffes, click here.
