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Areas of interest: Karen Blixen Museum, Coffee Garden and Pub, The AFEW Giraffe Centre & David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

Activity: Historical Site, “Out of Africa” House and Gardens, Giraffe Feeding and Close Contact, Giraffe Conservation, Baby Elephant and Rhino foster care, Conservation

Country: Kenya

There are a number of remarkable attractions within less than an hours drive from Nairobi including the historical home of Karen Blixen which has since been turned into a museum, the giraffe centre where you will have never been so close to a giraffe and the David Sheldrick Wildlife trust where elephants and rhinos are hand reared by foster parents and then released into the wild.   

There are a number of remarkable attractions within less than an hours drive from Nairobi including the historical home of Karen Blixen which has since been turned into a museum, the giraffe centre where you will have never been so close to a giraffe and the David Sheldrick Wildlife trust where elephants and rhinos are hand reared by foster parents and then released into the wild.     

 The Karen Blixen Museum is the farmhouse where writer Karen Blixen aqua Isaac Dinesen lived between 1914 and 1931.  The baroness was a coffee planter and lady aristocrat who became one of Africa’s most legendary writers. Her book “Out of Africa” was made into a movie filmed in and around the farmhouse on the edge of the Rift Valley.  The house was offered to the Kenyan government at independence by the Danish government along with the nearby agricultural college.  It is placed in exquisite gardens on Karen Rd and is quite a fascinating place to stroll around.  There is the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden along side a smart upmarket restaurant set in a very English country Garden with excellent food and a very friendly, popular bar.

The AFEW Giraffe Centre is run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife; here you can hand feed the Rothschild’s Giraffes and it is quite an experience to get so up close and personal with the giraffes.  There is a display of information about giraffes and an interesting forest walk.  

 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is a small, flexible charity, established in 1977 to honour the memory of a famous Naturalist, David Leslie William Sheldrick MBE,the founder Warden of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, where he served from its inception in 1948 until his transfer to Nairobi in 1976 to head the Planning Unit of the newly created Wildlife Conservation & Management Department.  David died 6 months later but his legacy of excellence and the systems he installed for the management of Tsavo and wildlife generally in Kenya, particularly in the sphere of wildlife husbandry and ethics, lives on.

At the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, you get the opportunity to play with and feed baby elephants and rhino.  The wildlife trust also encourages you to adopt a baby elephant or rhino so that proceeds go to their conservation efforts!