Our final night in Kenya brings us to the whimsical world of Giraffe Manor. Here, Rothschild’s giraffes bend their elegant necks through windows to join us for breakfast, their gentle eyes and long lashes creating moments that seem almost too magical to be real.
Buffy and I had been here before. We spent Christmas in this wonderful hotel on our honeymoon in 2014 when, sadly, I had been laid low by a 24hr bug. This time, we arrived on December 30th with Stu and Sophie, having said goodbye to Rob and Katie when we landed at Wilson airport from Naboisho.
The drive through Nairobi was a sensory jolt after days in the wilderness—honking horns, colorful markets, and the bustling energy of city life highlighting just how dramatically our environment had changed. All our senses were on high alert as we navigated through the capital’s vibrant chaos.
We were greeted at the manor with afternoon tea on the veranda, complete with champagne—the perfect welcome as we watched Rothschild giraffes roam the grounds alongside warthogs who seemed oblivious to our presence. The manor’s colonial grandeur provides a fitting finale to our journey—a place where wild Africa meets graceful civilization.
We stayed in the original manor house in Betty’s room, with its art deco bath featuring a lion’s mouth for the tap—a detail that delighted Buffy, who immediately indulged in a luxurious soak. Stu and Sophie were just down the hall in Jock’s room. The historic elegance of these spaces transported us to another era.
The ladies couldn’t resist photos on the manor’s famous swing, with Buffy and Sophie taking turns posing as the afternoon light turned golden. We all ventured outside to feed the giraffes, capturing those intimate moments of connection with these gentle giants. More champagne flowed as the sun began to set.
Dinner was served outside under the stars—the food was incredible, a gourmet farewell to Kenyan cuisine. We couldn’t help but notice a group of Russian women meticulously documenting every moment for Instagram. Each to their own, but not quite our approach to experiencing such a special place. I, of course, made friends with the resident cat just as I had during our previous stay. Some things will never change..
Morning brought the iconic Giraffe Manor experience—breakfast inside the dining room as giraffes peered through windows, their long tongues delicately taking treats from our hands across the tables. We also fed them from our balcony, marveling at how their heads reached up to the second floor with such graceful ease.
As this perfect Kenyan finale came to a close, we spent our last day at The Retreat, chilling in the pool, indulging in massages, and savoring a few last sundowners before heading to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Our next destination: Dubai for New Year’s Eve.
This last breakfast, with giraffes peering in through the windows, served as a gentle transition back to the world we’d soon rejoin, carrying with us memories of a Kenya both wild and welcoming—from the rugged landscapes of Tsavo and Amboseli to the untamed beauty of Naboisho, and finally, to this enchanting manor where wilderness and refinement exist in perfect harmony.
The small plane that brought us from the dusty plains of Amboseli touched down on the lush green airstrip in Naboisho Conservancy on the edge of the Maasai Mara and just like that, I was transported into yet another world. As we began our drive to Naboisho Camp, the Kenyan wilderness immediately welcomed us with its wild inhabitants—a curious hyena watching from a distance, towering giraffes gracefully moving between acacia trees, dazzles of zebra creating living optical illusions across the golden savanna, and two Thompson’s gazelles engaged in a territorial dispute, their horns locked in an elegant dance of dominance.
The Naboisho Conservancy was born from a groundbreaking conservation model that balanced ecological preservation with community empowerment. Established in 2010, the conservancy emerged through a unique partnership between over 500 Maasai landowners who pooled their land parcels to create this 50,000-acre wildlife sanctuary. Rather than selling their ancestral lands to outside developers, these landowners opted for lease agreements with tourism operators, creating sustainable income while maintaining their traditional connection to the land. This innovative approach allowed the once overgrazed cattle ranching area to regenerate its natural ecosystem, creating a vital wildlife corridor adjacent to the Maasai Mara National Reserve while ensuring economic benefits flow directly to local communities through employment, education initiatives, and conservation fees.
Our first evening game drive delivered encounters that would have made any wildlife enthusiast weak at the knees. We stumbled upon a group of adolescent male lions, their manes not yet fully developed, learning a harsh lesson in savanna hierarchy as they were unceremoniously chased off by a protective herd of buffalo. The balance of power in the wild is ever-shifting, and we had witnessed a moment where the young predators were reminded of their place.
As the golden hour cast its magical light across the landscape, we experienced what would become one of the highlights of the trip—a female leopard moving silently from thicket to thicket with her adolescent daughter. The younger cat was learning the skills she would need to survive, mirroring her mother’s movements with a mixture of playfulness and precision. We sat in awed silence, privileged witnesses to this intimate family moment.
The second morning began with a spectacle of aerial combat that left us breathless. Two eagle owls, talons clutching fresh prey, found themselves under attack from three determined eagles. The battle played out above us—wings beating frantically, fierce calls piercing the morning air—until the owls, overwhelmed by the larger predators, abandoned their catch and fled for their lives with the eagles in hot pursuit. Nature’s theater had opened its curtains for the day, and we were the sole audience.
As the day progressed, we encountered rafts of hippos submerged in muddy waters, their eyes and nostrils creating rippling patterns on the surface. Nearby, a pair of crocodiles basked motionless on the riverbank, prehistoric survivors playing the long game. The vibrant colors of bee-eaters flashed as they darted after insects, their beauty a stark contrast to the intensity of the lions we spotted later, the graceful silhouettes of giraffe against the horizon, and a lone hyena trotting purposefully with a wildebeest leg clamped firmly in its powerful jaws—a reminder of last night’s unseen drama.
The evening brought us to a hyena den where cubs tumbled and played under their mother’s watchful eye, challenging our preconceptions about these complex and intelligent creatures. As the sun began its descent, we found ourselves witnesses to one of nature’s most intimate rituals—a mating pair of lions calling to each other across the golden grass, their deep rumbles vibrating through the vehicle and into our bones. Their eyes, turned amber in the fading light, seemed to hold secrets as ancient as the savanna itself.
Our third day began with the quintessential African sunrise—the sky painted in impossible shades of orange and pink as we came upon a pride of lions sprawled by a track near their favourite thicket, their bodies stretched languidly across the warming earth. Secretary birds stalked through the grass on impossibly long legs, their formal appearance at odds with their deadly efficiency as snake hunters.
Nearby, zebras created clouds of dust as they rolled and twisted in communal dust baths, their black and white patterns temporarily muted by the ochre soil. Giraffes stretched their necks toward the highest branches, their long blue-black tongues wrapping around tender acacia leaves. Young topi pranced near their watchful parents, and wildebeest herds moved in unison across the plains. Elephants appeared as if conjured from the landscape itself, moving with surprising silence for creatures of such magnitude.
This morning drive with Andy—just Buffy and me—created a sense of intimacy with the wilderness that would become one of my most treasured memories.
The evening reunited our group of six, the shared experiences of the past days having forged connections that felt oddly timeless. We followed a coalition of lions as they patrolled the edge of a dense thicket, their movements purposeful and coordinated. As darkness approached, our guides surprised us with a mobile bar set up in a clearing, sundowner drinks in hand as the African sky performed its nightly transformation. The moment called for celebration, and soon we were taking jumping photos against the blazing sunset backdrop—our silhouettes suspended in air, capturing the pure joy that comes from being in a place so wild and beautiful.
On our last morning, the drive to the airstrip delivered one final dramatic scene. A group of young male lions had successfully brought down two warthogs beneath a copse of trees. The kills had occurred directly beneath a troop of baboons, now trapped in the upper branches by the predators below. We watched, fascinated, as individual baboons assessed their chances, gathering courage before making desperate leaps and sprints to safety. Their calculated risk-taking—the momentary freeze followed by explosive movement—was a perfect metaphor for survival in this unforgiving but magnificent ecosystem.
There was something deeply personal about these final hours in the bush, as if Naboisho was sharing its last secrets with us before our departure. As our plane lifted off the airstrip, I looked down at the landscape that had given us so much in so little time. Naboisho isn’t just a destination; it’s a reminder of what this world once was and what we must strive to preserve. In this corner of Kenya, the ancient rhythm of life continues—predator and prey, birth and death, survival and adaptation—a complex tapestry of existence that both humbles and inspires. The memories of dazzling zebras, trumpet-calling elephants, and leopards in golden light will remain long after the dust of Africa has been washed from my clothes. Naboisho doesn’t just offer safari experiences; it offers transformation, perspective, and a profound connection to the wild heart that beats within us all.
Deano's World 