Kilburnlad

We went to Kenya in 2007 as a 'special' holiday, staying first at Ngong House, where we had a tree cabin, and then at Giraffe Manor, where the giraffes roam freely in the grounds and poke their heads through the windows.

I took literally hundreds of photographs and it has been difficult to condense these to the three galleries shown here. Much has been left out !

We discovered that Ngong House was often a stop-over for people who had been on a safari. A couple of days of luxury after the relative austerity of the bush. It was a relaxing place, living among the trees and dining in the garden.

Giraffe Manor on the other hand had the appearance of a Scottish manor house transplanted in Kenya. Constantly surrounded by roaming giraffes there were strict rules to ensure visitors' safety, the chief among which was to head indoors if the giraffes approached. A kick from one of them can be fatal.

We visited some of the local attractions, including the Daphne Sheldrick elephant orphanage and the Giraffe Sanctuary. The local town, Karen, is named after Karen Blixen, the Danish author of Out of Africa. We visited her house. We also went to Nairobi National Park, situated close to the Kenyan capital where, after some negotiations between our guide and the Park staff, we were allowed to sit with a cheetah, one of two that had been raised there from cubs.

While at Giraffe Manor we went to see the alpha male giraffe in a small reservation nearby. We met a group of local children and I took a photograph of each of them, a photo set that I regard as perhaps my best portrait shots.