Ever heard of Giraffe Manor in Kenya? Maybe you’ve seen awesome pictures of it on Pinterest? They look something like this:
Well I, for one, think it looks fantastic! In fact, one night while The Big Guy was out of town, the kiddo was in bed, and I was sipping wine and binge watching Big Love, I got adventurous and looked it up.
What did I find?
Well, Giraffe Manor has a near perfect Trip Advisor score, which is completely unheard of. There were literally thousands of glowing reviews, all made by seasoned travelers who know what they’re talking about. The photos visitors posted were beautiful – almost larger than life – and I started to dream. Maybe, just maybe, as a “we got out of debt” present out ourselves, we could take baby RB40 to Kenya to see the Giraffes. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see the wonder on her face? To be pampered for the first time in 3 years?
Yes, it would be amazing, but here’s why we’re not going. There are no prices on their websites, which in itself is not a problem. But, being the antisocial person that I am, I certainly was not going to call them. So, the next logical thing to do was binge-read about a hundred Trip Advisor reviews, and hope that someone divulges the price. And guess what….
Over $1,000 for ONE NIGHT???? I don’t think so! I don’t care who are what we are dining with – spending $3,000 on one night for our family is so not worth it!
There is, however a less expensive option that still involves seeing the Giraffes. On the other side of the manor, with direct access to the exact same giraffe’s (albeit, there’s a fence in the way, so you don’t have complete access) there is a park. A FREE park, I might add, where we could go see, pet, and feed the giraffes. It’ll be a blast, and it will save us roughly $2,800.
Or on second thought, maybe we’ll just go to Thailand and see the elephants….
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Sounds like an inexpensive trip to the zoo is in order at your house! =)
Yep – and it free here!
Even though it looks really cool, I can think of way better vacation packages to spend that much money on.
Yeah, you could almost buy an entire week’s vacation on a tropical island for that!
Wow, a grand a night…that’s nuts! I’m with you on this one. The review didn’t seem all that great either. I never heard of giraffe manor, it would probably be cool, but not a thousand dollars a night kind of cool. Hey, I want to see the elephants too!
Whoa! I’m all for animal encounters, but that is outrageous! They better have giraffes that sit up, talk, and serve you breakfast in bed for that price!
For sure!
I’d be willing to bet there are other places to see giraffes that aren’t quite that expensive. Our local zoo does overnight stays for a couple of hundred dollars a night where you camp out in the zoo and get to see the animals in their nocturnal habitats through night vision goggles. Might have to splurge for that sometime. =)
Yea, not sure if that would ever be in my budget, not matter if I get crazy rich… some things just aren’t worth it.
I have this theory…if you take your kids on too many fabulous holidays and to see too many wondrous things you will ruin their early adulthood. Of course I’d love to take my kids on safari, but actually, wouldn’t it be more fun if they did it by themselves when they were older? I did all my exotic travelling when I was in my ’20s, Thailand, South America, Tibet – and it was great. If I’d already seen all those things as a child would I have had the same sense of wonder and accomplishment? And if you have seen all this at a young age – what is left to be amazed at? Nah, my two can cope with a few more years of buckets and spades and then don a backpack and navigate their own travels. #parentingpinitparty
Just a short drive from San Francisco (where I live) there is a place called Safari West where you basically go on a safari, they put you on a jeep where you can sit on the top and they put leaves on the top of the jeep to attract the giraffes to come eat off of it. It was a great trip, and I think it was only like $70 so that was something I could stomach. There was a lot more than just giraffes there too. I think that’s close enough for me, maybe next time I’ll just bring a breakfast sandwich or something and call it breakfast with the giraffes.
That sounds amazing! And certainly much more affordable than doing the whole Kenya thing. Maybe not as authentic, but still :-) We will definitely have to check that out!
A woman I worked with a long time ago actually went and the pictures she posted were amazing. It’s been a dream of mine for a long time. I was talking to a travel agent friend of mine a while back and I mentioned it and she got out a file that she’s been keeping on it…turns out it’s a dream of hers too. But back when we were talking about it, she said it wasn’t the safest place to travel to at the moment so she was waiting. We never talked about the costs though.
Wow! It sounds like a lot of people are interested, but it’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing!
I vote elephants! Thanks for sharing. Hello from Craft Frenzy Friday.
Wow! Now that’s an expensive holiday!
Thanks for linking up with the Parenting Pin it Party this week x x
Looks cool but wow expensive. Thanks for linking up to the Bloggers Brag Pinterest Party.
Hi, I have lived in Nairobi, Kenya from 20007 to 2010. I have been many times to that giraffe park next to Giraffe Manor. There is NO free entrance but it costs only a few dollars. And they expect also a ‘free’ donation when feeding the griaffes. But it’s really worth it!
I’m just curious where you got the figure of $3000 for one night for your family? Are each of the 3 of you getting your own room at $1000 per night?