Ode to GiGi the Giraffe

I was at dinner with friends last night -- the three of us have a standing monthly dinner date to catch up -- and after an appetizing plate of eggplant, garlic and tomato something-or-other and a glass of wine, the topic of travel came up.

My friend Kate is heading to Spain this Friday - one of my favorite places in the world. She's touring the Costa del Sol with her family and gets back just in time for me to head to Nantucket, before leaving for Rome. Roger is buying a home with his wife - that's his big travel this summer. As we talked about our world adventures, the topic quickly turned to "what's next?" on the travel spectrum...

My parents introduced me and my sister to animals at a very early age. Dogs were always roaming the house and we were foster parents to zoo animals -- one, in particular, was my favorite: GiGi the Giraffe.

Every weekend we went to the St. Louis Zoo to feed GiGi. We got certificates that applauded our efforts to care for the young giraffe. I had giraffe dolls and hung my foster parent award proudly on the wall in my bedroom. To this day, giraffes remain my favorite animal and when I found Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, I knew I had to go.

The Giraffe Centre was built on the Kenya property so that Kenyan school children could learn conservation/ecology. Visitors touring Nairobi have a chance to visit and pay an entrance to the Giraffe Centre and all profits go to various projects in Kenya. What's more, you can actually spend the week at Giraffe Manor caring for the giraffes.

Kate was intrigued, and if I can convince her to go that might be an awesome 2009 trip (maybe 2010; Kenya ain't cheap). Getting to Kenya, however, is no easy trip. I don't mind tiny planes, canoes or jeeps. But if someone says the word, "camp", we're going to have a little bit of a problem...