Live and Let Live

What comes to your mind when you hear that phrase?

Talk about a live band singing to the beauty of the African giraffe under a sycamore tree watching the beautiful sunset (ooh yes the sunset has to be there because without it, what Africa are you talking about?)

Maybe the concept is a bit far-stretched, but you get my point. This world would be so lackluster if man were the only species inhabiting it. The beauty of it all that makes living worthwhile is the incessant chirping of birds, the joy of clean air and the smell of the rain. So the idea of us living to uphold another life is more like the Dominos effect- which essentially means that everything we do ultimately affects our coexistence in one way or another.

Our Annual National Environmental Awareness Competition all stems from this concept. As we all know, our world is moving towards a crisis, a crisis of survival and sustainability. So what better way to create awareness on Sustainable Environmental Conservation if not the young generation?

This Friday, 7th June 2019, we see Winners of the National Environmental Awareness Competition showcase their brilliance. Ranging from artwork to excellent essays, we see the ingenuity of every individual’s approach in achieving a common goal of Environmental conservation.

In the spirit of Eid Mubarak, stay tuned as we unleash the Arts in Conservation!

2019 Environmental Competition Results

Every year, AFEW Giraffe Centre gives Kenyan students an opportunity to express their thoughts on a given topic. They do so through essays and art in a highly competitive environmental competition that runs from January to March every year.

This year we’ve seen wonderful entries from students and pupils all over the country.

To know the winners of this year’s competition, please click here.

Your Opinion


For the past six months, AFEW Giraffe Centre has made some changes in the delivery of service to you our esteem visitors.
We would like to get your views on our service delivery.
Kindly please fill the survey form . we look forward for your views, comments and reviews


Kelly’s Fifth Born

Good day today it is. It’s not normal to witness a new born Giraffe Calf.

But this is no ordinary birth. Kelly is a legend already, this is her 5th born calf. Normally, giraffe’s gestation period is 15 months, but Kelly here did 17 months. That’s two whole months extra. Giraffes do this when they feel like the environment they are in is not conducive for giving birth. In this case, this would probably be because of the delayed rainy season.

So giraffes too are thrilled for the rain. Congratulation to Kelly.

Tree planting

Somewhere in Kenya, there is a family with considerable acres of land. During the planting seasons, this family made it a habit to distribute some of their seeds to the neighbors for planting. Weird I know. When asked why, the head of that family answered that it is a strategy to make sure that his land produces quality produce during the time of harvest.

Here’s why….

Tree planting is not as easy as we tend to believe. Having a good tree nursery goes beyond just planting and watching them grow. It is a process that needs a lot of concentration and guidance from the experts of trees. Here in Kenya, the experts being KeFRI (Kenya Forest and Research Institute), are highly equipped with knowledge on how to have a healthy tree nursery and ways to make sure that the posterity of the trees are assured.

Did you know that for a tree nursery to be viewed as properly made, the owner need to have information the following:-

  • Where the seeds were found.
  • A good label of the scientific name of the tree seedlings.

Knowing where the seeds are have been found helps a lot in knowing the kind issues the batch might be having. This means, collecting seeds in the field and planting them does not qualify as a good seed bed. Why?

There are rules to be followed in the collection of the seeds to assure that:-

  • You do not get the same family of seeds as this would lead to issues with how the plants grow. Think of it like incest, for a good seedling to be productive during transplant, you need different families in the bed so that during pollination, if any of the families in the seedling would, for example, had a stunted growth, during pollination, that problem can be well neutralized.  To help solve that, when collecting seeds for yourself, have like 30 meters interval. Why 30 meters you ask? During pollination, the pollen can only travel up to 30 meters. Past that, it gets void and can not be used for pollinating another plant.

So, if we go back to our story, the family did that practice to ensure that in case there was cross pollination between their crops, they’ll still get a quality produce as they were sure of the seeds planted by their neighbors.

2019 AFEW Environmental Competition in partnership with Pritt

Happy 2019 to you all. We hope that the year started with good tidings for each and every one of us. As we all know, every year, from the 1st of January to the 31st of March we have our environmental competition.This year is no exception.

We are however so sorry for the lateness due to an unavoidable circumstance. Finally, the competition poster is ready.

to get to the poster, please click on the button below.

Good luck and happy new year full of success.

A Brand New AFEW Website

Do you notice something different around here? That’s right, we have given our website a facelift.

More than that, it’s has been completely redesigned.

We want to share the heart of our organisation with you in a new and meaningful way. It took us designing it around our key mission and around you, our visitors and supporters. Now, you have the full sensory Giraffe Centre experience.

You will be able to see, hear and engage with us as we work every day to make a lasting impact on lives’ of students, schools and communities.

Here are some additional things you’ll see:

  • It is much easier to use across desktop, mobile devices and tablets.
  • Our new design gives you clear and easy paths to what you need. Whether you want to learn about our giraffe family, plan your time at our centre or download our manuals and posters. The path is laid out for you so you can easily get the information you’re looking for.
  • We’ve dedicated a page to our Conservation Education work, bringing what we do front and centre.
  • Want to support the Giraffe Centre? Support our work with students, teachers and communities and consider how your contribution will make a difference at our Donate section. Do you have a question for us? Visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or Contact Us.
  • And finally, we have a new blog. This is where we will feature regular stories about our work and the various ways our staff and partners are working to save our beautiful planet. We continue to be inspired by the passion and dedication of the people who work with us, their stories will do the same for you. Visit often or sign up for Giraffe News, our newsletter.

We are quite proud of the journey we’ve walked with our digital strategy partner – Nendo. From audit to blueprint and now to execution and roll-out. They worked tirelessly to create this experience and help us learn to serve you better.

We trust you will enjoy the new look and feel of the Giraffe Centre website. Most of all, we hope it breathes new life into our conservation efforts. Anything we missed? Please let us know, there’s always room for improvement.

And of course, do share the news about our wonderful new site to your friends – it really is a way for you to support us.

To keep up to date with all the latest news from us, simply sign up to our newsletter.

Sincerely,
Christine Nyang’aya 
Chief Executive Officer,
Africa Fund for Endangered Wildlife, Kenya