subject: The Karen Blixen and Giraffe Centre in Nairobi Kenya [print this page] The Karen Blixen and Giraffe Centre in Nairobi Kenya
Drive towards the Ngong hills and pass the Ngong village to the Karen Blixen Museum which for many years has been the home of Karen Blixen. The museum is open to the public everyday including weekends and public holidays. It is located 10 km from the town centre. The farm house which gained international fame with the release of the 'movie Out of Africa' belongs to a different time age in the history of the world. Guided tours are offered at the centre. There is a museum shop in the vicinity that offers handicrafts, posters and postcards, the movie 'Out Of Africa', books and other Kenyan souvenirs.
The gardens may be rented out for wedding receptions, corporate functions and other events. Karen Blixen Museum was once the centre piece of a farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills owned by Danish Author Karen and her Swedish husband, Baron Fincke. Later proceed to the Giraffe centre to see and feed the famous Rothschild giraffe and her family. The giraffe centre was started by jock Leslie Melville, the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish earl, when he and his wife Betty captured a baby giraffe to start a programme of breeding giraffe in captivity at their home in Langata, home of the present center.
Since then the programme has had huge success resulting in the introduction of several breeding pairs of the Rothschild Giraffe into Kenyan national parks. The Giraffe Centre is located in Langata, approximately 5km from the centre of Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in order to protect the endangered Rothschild giraffe, giraffa Camelopardalis Rothschild that is founding the grasslands of Africa.
