Do you love giraffes as I do? I bet yes since you are here to know where to spot them in Kenya.
They are so elegant, beautiful, classic, and sassy. Their walking styles are just attractive and gives an impression of a huge tall beautiful giant.
Let’s get a little deep and know a few things about Giraffes before sharing destinations where you can spot them. I will post a few facts about African giraffes.
Top 3 Facts About Giraffes
- There are four distinct species of giraffe: Northern giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis, Southern giraffe giraffa, Reticulated giraffe G. reticulata and Masai giraffe G. tippelskirchi.
- Giraffes have unique skin patterns, just like zebras stripes and humans fingerprints are.
- The giraffe is the tallest mammal in the world. Even newborn giraffes are taller than most humans.
We have highlighted 3 top facts about giraffes, these will help us understand them in-depth as we distinguish their different locations to sight them in Kenya.
Kenya has 3 famous giraffe species, namely,
- Masai Giraffe: mostly found in the Southern part of Kenya. Amboseli, Masai Mara, Tsavo, and many other wildlife protected areas. They are distinguished by their skin color and patterns. The Patterns are dark and not uniform, with star-like formation.
Masai Giraffes in Masai Mara – Best Places to Spot Giraffes in Kenya - Rothschild Giraffes: Mostly found in the southern part of Kenya as well. These are endangered species, with very few remaining. They are in protected areas in order to protect them from extinction. Their distinction is the white section under their belly and the other that rises from the hooves to the knees. Their patterns are a bit uniform.
Rothschild Giraffes Lake Nakuru – Best Places to Spot Giraffes in Kenya - The Reticulated Giraffes: mostly found in the northern part of Kenya, such as Samburu National Reserve, Shaba National Reserve, and many other destinations located in northern Kenya. They have almost uniform patterns, with huge hexagonal formation.
Reticulated Giraffes – Best Places to Spot Giraffes in Kenya
So let’s get into the best locations we can spot these beautiful Giraffe species. Above we have mentioned just but a few, at least to guide through to where we can spot them easily and in plenty.
Best Places to Spot Giraffes in Kenya
- Masai Mara National Reserve:- one of the largest reserves in Kenya, the reserve is home to numerous numbers of giraffes. You will be lucky to Spot a Masai Giraffe in Masai Mara. The Masai Mara is a land populated with acacia trees that giraffes love to feed on. This helps them populate evenly within the reserve.
- Lake Nakuru National Park:- It’s known to be home to the greater and lesser flamingos. They flock here every year formating and in search of food. You can as well spot the Rothschild giraffes in this park, gracefully feeding within the confines of Lake Nakuru National Park.
- Ruma National Park:- Located in Homabay Western Kenya, Ruma National Park is home to the endangered species of giraffes, the Rothschild Giraffe. It’s a less-visited park that its mandate is to protect these species.
- Nairobi National Park:- It’s the only city with a wild park in the whole world. It’s home to some of the big cats like lions and leopards and recently cheetahs were spotted. It also hosts a huge Number of Masai giraffes the peacefully move around the Nairobi National Park ecosystem.
- Samburu National Reserve:-One of the best and famous reserves, after Masai Mara National Park, located North of Kenya. A beautiful rustic and wild destination that’s home to the special five. Special five species include the reticulated giraffes, beisa oryx, gerenuk antelop, Somali ostrich, and the grevy Zebras. It hosts these beautiful species in quite some amazing numbers. You will spot them in most sections of the reserves.
There are many other main destinations like Tsavo East and West National Parks, Conservancies in Laikipia, Meru National Park and many others where you will be lucky to spot these species.
Next we will highlight about the rare species of ‘white’ giraffe spotted in Garissa County.
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