Reviews of Giraffe Manor
(97%) From 23 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Luxury experience - one of the best stays
The welcome was very warm abd it was one of my best stays in my life, the room was amazing, the giraffes extraordinary. The food absolut delicious. It was wonderful. The waiter were very kind and took a lot of pictures but sometimes 200 from the same motiv :-) - this is a very small thing, that I would criticize.
Read more about the whole tripGiraffe Manor review
The Giraffe Manor was a very special experience with many hands on, up close and personal experiences with the Giraffes in combination with a fantastically warm, professional team of personnel.
Room: Jocks Room 10/10
Getting up at dawn each day to feed the up to 3 giraffes that visited our bedroom window was spectacular.
The room itself was nicely presented and of good size for our needs. The bed was very large (2x queen beds pushed together) and very comfortable. The bathroom was also nicely presented. A negative if nit picking- it was a little cold. On one rainy night in particular, we asked for a small fire to be lit in the lovely old fireplace in the room after our wonderful private dining experience. This was arranged with a team member during lunch. Unfortunately the message must not have gotten through during shift change over and no fire was made. The water pressure in the shower was a little challenging when it came to washing my hair, water was wasted as it took a while to rinse.
Personnel: Warm, friendly, professional and so quick to offer any assistance or advice. The team at the Giraffe Manor, together with the Giraffes, make this such a special experience.
Food/Beverages: 10/10 Fresh, fine dining experiences. Delicious food served with care and attention. Being invited to make use of the private dining room in the outdoor Orchid House was an honour and a very special experience. It was raining cats and dogs on that evening & as such made the service to that outdoor facility so much harder, but our wonderful waiter, although drenched by the end of dinner, was never without a smile, took photos for us and was a step ahead of us topping up wine and taking care of the courses expertly. We felt very special.
Expert Africa comments
We were very pleased to hear these travellers enjoyed their stay so much. However, Giraffe Manor got back to us quickly to explain that because their firewood was wet after so much rain, they decided against making what would have been a smoky fire, and apologised for not explaining to these guests at the time. On the question of the low water pressure, as the manor dates back to the 1930s, and some of the plumbing is from the same era, while they have renewed the plumbing in certain rooms, unfortunately for the plumbing to be renewed throughout, a number of rooms would require walls to be knocked down, which is structurally not feasible. Consequently, water pressure is occasionally low when multiple rooms are filling baths and having showers at the same time and the manor apologised that this was the case for these guests.
Unique, memorable and altogether wonderful!
What can we say???? Everything about Giraffe Manor lived up to, and exceeded, our expectations. The house and grounds are lovely, the staff were delightful, and endlessly patient with over-excited guests, and Tony, the manager, was welcoming, helpful and enthusiastic.
The food was delicious (creative and very well cooked), and as for the giraffes, it was love at first sight! Breakfast seems very mundane without them.
It was very easy to get to other places and we went to the Giraffe Centre, the Karen Blixen house and the elephant sanctuary - even though we had already booked a foster parent visit for our last afternoon in Nairobi, we opted to go on the public morning visit as well, and are glad we did so as we able to see the elephants in different circumstances on the two visits.
We understand that they might build a pool and that’s would be a welcome addition - exercise might help counteract the large meals!
Giraffe manor, a remarkable experience
Giraffe Manor is an experience which could not be equalled. I had a ball. A visit though that I am glad I did at the beginning of my holiday as although they say the giraffe are wild, you really can't call it wild if you can feed it pellets from your mouth (kissing it), not as repulsive as it sounds!!! Again all the staff were wonderful, and nothing was too much trouble.
They surprised me at breakfast my first morning by having baked me a birthday cake in the shape of part of the giraffe's neck, and lots of the staff came out and sung happy birthday to me. The cake was delicious, as was all the food there, I took photos of it and sent home to make the family jealous!!!
Tony the manager also organised for me go firstly go to the elephant orphanage, where I adopted an elephant, and later to a children's home, where I took some teddies, colouring books tennis balls etc . I was humbled by their living conditions, there were youngsters and 18 months -2 yrs, and they didn't know what a teddy was. The colouring books were a great hit, as were the balls.
Giraffe Manor
Giraffe experience exceptional in terms of ability to be close to them and feed them. Personal time with them at afternoon tea etc pleasing in a busy hotel. Kelly Room wonderful for feeding them from the bedroom window.
Strongly approve of the breeding / reintegration programme objectives.
Actual hotel experience disappointing. Room very nice. Bar area lovely. However, check in - waited 15 minutes outside to even be acknowledged having been dropped from the airport and told to take a seat. Took another 10 minutes to actually be seen to. As such, 25 minutes sitting about outside on arrival from airport. Not a premium experience.
Food at lunch good, staff at lunch a bit diffident. Practised some amateur Swahili on them, which anywhere else in Kenya elicits an enormous smile, got a deadpan response - was understood as we got our two coffees, but no warmth whatsoever.
At dinner we elected to dine privately rather than with the group. We were told our table was ready and made clear we were going to sit down immediately. Waited 20 minutes with no staff anywhere. Went to find someone, told them we were at our table, waiting. Nothing happened for a further ten minutes, we then had to go into the main, group dining area and ask a member of staff to come and serve us - so a 30 minute wait for dinner before we got any service whatsoever (we had been forgotten about). Food average.
Felt very like a 'conveyor belt' hotel who could pull guests in and 'wow' them with the environment, overlooking any service touches.
Francis was an exceptional member of staff and twice looked after us, including at breakfast - if all the staff were like him it would have been a different experience.
Would not return and would encourage friends who are keen to go to consider saving the cost and spending the money on a proper, authentic safari experience with a few hours at the giraffe centre to support the initiative instead.
Expert Africa comments
Giraffe Manor responded immediately to Expert Africa about these travellers’ disappointment with aspects of their stay. While they are very pleased that they enjoyed the interaction with the giraffes and are so enthusiastic in their support for the work on the breeding programme, they are very sorry that they felt let down by the manor’s initial welcome and meal service.
Giraffe Manor have checked their records and say that these travellers received a welcome towel and drink within a minute of their arrival. However, a large number of guests all arrived at once and it did take about half an hour for them to be shown to their rooms. They sincerely apologise if these guests felt ignored, as it was the manager’s hope that morning that they would be comfortable soaking up the atmosphere for a while as other guests were being dealt with. The manor fully appreciates this was not an ideal situation and more effort should have been made to explain what was going on during a busy period.
Giraffe Manor is very sorry that the staff at lunch were not appreciative of overtures in Swahili, and have reminded staff that such efforts from overseas visitors are an important part of good relations.
The private dinner was not handled as it should have been, and Giraffe Manor are very sorry for the delays in looking after Mrs H and her husband. They have talked to all the staff involved and reminded them of the importance of efficient, friendly service.
Giraffe Manor has adopted a giraffe on behalf of these travellers and they will be kept up to date with news from the giraffe centre breeding programme. In our experience at Expert Africa, the below-par service these clients received is very rare indeed and Giraffe Manor has assured us they will be looking at their staff training, and updating all staff on the need to look after guests promptly and enthusiastically.
Out of this world
Wow, what a place, just like the TV Programme.
An experience being so close with these wonderful animals.
INCREDIBLE
We had the most incredible experience!
The staff truly made everything so special!
Amazing - Must visit!
We stayed for two night and were glad we did so as it meant we could spend lots of time with the Giraffes but also visit other places nearby.
The building itself was beautiful, we stayed in Jocks room and were very happy with it. It was well furnished, clean and we liked that they lit the fire for us whilst at dinner so when we returned to our room it was warm. All the little touches were very nice and much appreciated; the hot water bottles and little notes about Giraffes on our bed every night, the hand written welcome note on arrival and the Wine and flowers left in our room to help celebrate our honeymoon.
All the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, probably the best of any hotel we stayed in Kenya, we liked that each room was given a specific staff member to look after you so he got to know us and us him. Peter was exceptionally good to us. Before we travelled we read that the rooms don't have locks on which we thought might be a bit disconcerting but once we were there it didn't bother us at all.
All the food was amazing, I don't think we were given anything we didn't like and they catered very well for vegetarians.
The giraffe interaction was phenomenal and well worth every penny to experience. One morning whilst we were at breakfast I went up to the room to find Eddie patiently standing at the window waiting to be fed.
George the driver was very nice and helpful, we had him for our whole stay and he took us to many places, DSWT, Karen shopping mall, the local craft market and Nairobi museum and was happy to answer our questions as we travelled from place to place. As guests at the manor we were given a private guide around the Giraffe centre which was a nice touch.
We both had treatments while staying at Giraffe manor and they were only okay.
We stayed at 6 places whilst in Kenya and I think this would be our favourite, we will definitely be back.
Giraffe in the house!
If Disney did ainimal experience hotels, then Giraffe Manor would fit in very nicely. The girafffes are wild but clearly habitualised and have a well defined routine, which is breakfast at the Manor then stroll to the Giraffe Sanctuary ( which you can see from the lawn) and back to the Manor for afternoon tea!
The Manor is a fabulous building and our room ( Daisy) was immaculate. It had a huge on suite and it’s own balcony for viewing and feeding the giraffes in the morning, but note it is so high up that only the tallest giraffes can reach and you have to kneel down to feed them, but it is still a great experience. The staff here are excellent and make absolutely sure that you get a perfect giraffe experience. At breakfast the giraffes do come through the windows of the dining room and consume huge amounts of pellets which are given to you in abundance by the attentive staff and at afternoon tea the experience is the same, even ‘kissing’ a giraffe with a pellet in your mouth is easily achieved.
The food here is nothing short of fine dining at its best. It was a bit chilly in the evening when we were there in August, but that didn’t stop you eating out in the courtyard as individual charcoal braziers were placed by the table and provided a lovely ambient warmth. Perhaps the only strange thing is having to order your desert at the same time as starter and main course, but this is a very minor issue and didn’t detract from the experience.
Giraffe Manor is definitely a unique experience which I would highly recommend for a visit, although for me 1 night was sufficient to gain the full benefit of this experience.
A Unique Experience
Such fun to be up close and personal with the giraffes. The food was amazing!
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