Nairobi Giraffe Centre & Karen Blixen Museum Tour Private Guide

You feed the giraffes by hand at the centre, then walk through the colonial home that inspired the famous film.

A small-group guided tour of Nairobi that combines the Giraffe Centre, where you interact with endangered Rothschild giraffes, with the Karen Blixen Museum and a stop at the Kazuri beads factory run by local women. A professional guide leads the route, hotel pickup is included, and the day runs about six hours. The tour bundles three distinct stops—wildlife, history and community craft—into a single morning or afternoon without requiring your own transport.

Step-by-step itinerary

Visit Giraffe Centre and Karen Blixen Museum

• Explore Giraffe Centre with guide
• Visit Kazuri Beads factory
• Tour Karen Blixen Museum

The Experience

The Giraffe Centre is where you spend two to three hours with the animals themselves. Your guide provides conservation information about the species and the trust's work protecting them, and you get to feed and interact with the giraffes in a way that most visitors don't expect to do on a city tour. The centre sits within Nairobi, so there's no long drive into the bush—it's accessible and intimate at once.

From there, the route includes the Kazuri beads factory, where you walk through the production process and see how single women in the community earn a living making the beads. It's a working space, not a museum display, and you can buy pieces directly to support the makers. The stop adds no extra cost to the tour price, since it sits in the same area as the other sites.

The Karen Blixen Museum closes out the day. It's the home of the white settler whose story became the film Out of Africa, and the guide walks you through how she shaped the lives of the local people around her. It's a famous piece of Kenya's colonial history, told in the actual house where it happened. Your guide handles all the talking points, so you're not reading plaques or figuring out the timeline yourself—you're hearing it from someone who knows the place.

What’s included

• Private transportation from your hotel.
• entrance fees to the Giraffe Centre and Karen Blixen Museum.
• a professional English-speaking guide.
• and a visit to the Kazuri beads factory with the chance to buy directly from the makers.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfant seats availablePublic transport nearby

Operated by PERFECT WILDERNESS TOURS AND SAFARIS

Is this one for you?Book this if you're staying in Nairobi without your own transport—the pickup from your hotel covers three scattered sites (giraffe center, elephant orphanage, women's bead factory) in one morning.

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Top questions

Can I get picked up from my hotel in Nairobi for this tour?

Hotel pickup is included in the tour price. If you're arriving at the airport instead, the driver can collect you there as well for a small additional fee.

What exactly happens at the Giraffe Centre?

You spend two to three hours there with a guide who explains the conservation work and the giraffes' endangered status. You interact with the animals directly, including the chance to feed them by hand—it's hands-on, not observation from a distance.

Is the beads factory visit included in the price?

Yes, the stop at Kazuri beads factory costs nothing extra. You walk through the workspace where women produce the beads and can purchase pieces to support the makers if you choose.

How long does the whole tour take?

The tour runs about six hours total, including all three stops—the Giraffe Centre, the beads factory and the Karen Blixen Museum.

Do I need to pay separately for Nairobi National Park entry?

The Giraffe Centre entrance is included in your tour price. If you visit the SWT Elephant Nursery as part of a separate trip, Kenya Wildlife Service requires a separate Nairobi National Park fee paid through the eCitizen online platform, but that's not part of this tour.