Nairobi, Kenya

Giraffe Manor

Just outside of Nairobi lies a large estate surrounded by endangered Rothschild giraffes, who have been fed from the window by Mick Jagger and Walter Cronkite.

The Rothschild Giraffe is one of the most endangered giraffe subspecies in the entire world. They have gone extinct in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and only remain in Kenya and Uganda, where their numbers are quite scarce.

To try to combat this problem, the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife founded the Giraffe Center in 1979 with the intention of breeding Rothschild Giraffes on a 140 acre plot of land. Their attempt to increase the population of the giraffes and return them to national parks was a success. Since then they have been focusing on educating Kenyan youth about the importance of conservation.

The founders of the Giraffe Center also needed a place to live, and there happened to be an ivy-covered, brick mansion located right in the middle of the breeding grounds. After residing there for a few years, the founders came up with a brilliant idea: turning the mansion into a luxurious 10-room hotel called “Giraffe Manor.”

It couldn’t have been a better idea. Nowadays, Giraffe Manor is one of the most iconic and unique hotels in the world. Every morning, the giraffes from the Giraffe Center walk from their natural habitat to the windows of the Giraffe Manor to eat breakfast with the guests. Seriously.

They either crane their necks down to reach the lower rooms or they stretch their necks up to reach the windows of the upper floor. They slurp up whatever is on the plate, with their faces right next to those the hotel guests. Since they have unrestricted roaming rights, this is purely by choice. When they’re done eating, they maneuver their heads out of the giant windows of Giraffe Manor and continue on with their normal lives.