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12January2021

2020 AFEW Competition Essay Entry by Ms. Shirley Kemuma Magabi

in: Competition Entries3 Comments by: Giraffe Centre

Happy new year to everyone. Annually, AFEW Kenya – Giraffe Centre hosts an Environmental competition for Kenyan students. This competition runs from January 1st to March 31st. Last year, 2020, we did host as usual. Unfortunately, we had to cancel due to unavoidable conditions.

We are grateful, however, for the students who were able to submit their entries for the same. So we will be posting them on our website.

The first article we are posting is by Ms. Shirley Kemuma Magabi

Click on the 2020 Competition theme “Healthy Planet, Healthy Biodiversity, Healthy People” to read her thoughts.

03December2020

Biodiversity Inventory at Giraffe Centre

in: Activities by: Giraffe Centre

Through the concept of citizen science, The Global Southern Bio-blitz takes biodiversity inventory in green spaces within cities annually, as a way of creating biodiversity awareness.

In September 2020, Giraffe Centre Sanctuary was a candidate site sampled for inventory take among others in the Nairobi City. Here is the report as generated by the Global Southern Bio blitz team that took inventory at the Giraffe Centre Sanctuary.

Participants included university students and AFEW Kenya staff.

God willing, we hope to take inventory through this initiative and other internal programs to build the biodiversity database involving the general public.

You may also see the website to find out more about them https://scistarter.org/great-southern-bioblitz

23June2020

Happy World Giraffe Day

in: Announcements by: Giraffe Centre

The African Fund for Endangered Wildlife-Kenya was established in 1979 by Jock and Betty Leslie Melville as a breeding Centre for the endangered Rothschild Giraffes. We pride ourselves as one of the oldest giraffe conservation organization in the world. The organization’s story has been one of progressive giraffe conservation, and vibrant transformational conservation education programmes for the youth of Kenya.

Since the time the organization was established, the Rothschild’s giraffe population in Kenya has tremendously increased from 130 to slightly over 700 individuals in the wild.

Did you know giraffe populations have plummeted by 40% and that they are listed as Vulnerable to extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List? This is mainly due to habitat degradation, climate change and poaching. Well, you and I can do something to avert this looming biodiversity crisis. Join us and let us give giraffes overriding attention and rescue them from this silent extinction. We can do this by caring for our environment and creating awareness about the importance of biodiversity conservation.

On Sunday 21^st June, 2020, AFEW Kenya joins other partners in celebrating World Giraffe Day. The day is dedicated every year to celebrate and raise awareness about the world’s tallest mammal on the longest day and/or night of the year! (Depending on which hemisphere you are in).

Join us in celebrating these icons by sharing with us a one word description of a giraffe. Share this with us on our social media sites below and use the hashtag #ILOVEGIRAFFES and #WORLDGIRAFFEDAY2020.

Happy World Giraffe Day from all of us here!

Connect with us on:

Twitter: @GiraffeCenter

Instagram: @GiraffeCentre_

Facebook: African Fund For Endangered Wildlife (Kenya)-Giraffe Centre.

www.giraffecentre.org

#ILOVEGIRAFFES

#WORLDGIRAFFEDAY2020

#STANDTALLFORTHEGIRAFFES

30May2020

Birding Experience

in: Announcements by: Giraffe Centre

Hey Giraffe Community, this Saturday, 6th of June 2020, we will be hosting a birding event from 8:00am to 10:00am at our Nature Sanctuary at Karen, Hardy Area. You’ll get an exclusive guided walk in the Sanctuary, get to view, learn and exprerience Birding like never before.

For you to participate, you’ll need to make a prior booking by registering here. This is to make sure that before, during and after the event, we keep the measures put forth by the Government of Kenya in Combating the Pandemic.

For any inquiry, email us on reservations@giraffecentre.org See you then

11May2020

Everything goes

in: Activities by: Giraffe Centre

One’s poison is another’s food. That thing that seems small, useless to you means the world to another. The psalmist in one of his psalms would note this as he explains how everything means something to someone. He’d give an example with the water streams and towers, how from the rocks to the leaves need water.

I experienced this phenomenon with a cypress tree. Before you get up in arms with a claim on deforestation, it fell on its own on my neighbor’s vegetation and the tree was his. It was interesting how each person who saw the tree would envision it.

A carpenter saw frames for their creative ideas, a brick entrepreneur saw firewood for drying bricks, so on and forth.

There is a group, however, that interested me. They were keen to check for the hollow part of the stem. Why? If you ask me, it seems like they are missing a full part of the donut. Who in their right mind would go for the space between a donut. These guys would and they did.

One of the guys, just by knocking on one side of the cut trunk and knew it had honey in plenty. Apparently, in the olden days, that honey was the medicine for cold and flu. These guys didn’t just come here to look for materials for income, also for health from the cypress tree.

The only way these guys would have known this secret is if they were taught by their society members. By this simple secret, they have made a habit of growing trees with a sole purpose of honey where they’ll let them grow old, then fall on their own volition and hope for a bumper harvest of wood, sawdust, firewood and most important, honey.

14January2020

Tembea Kenya

in: Safari Experience by: Giraffe Centre

Njaanuary…, I never understood what this meant. I thought that maybe it’s one of those ‘Kang Kaka‘ wonderful spoken word performances. Creative mind he is by the way. I came to fully understand it’s meaning when I moved out. You know how back in college we’d be like”When I get a job, I’ll save lots just to recuperate like a king come December” Well, I now understand why saying”I’ll save” and doing it are two very different scenarios. The former makes me look responsible, the later is work and sacrifice.

And so, for last year’s December, I made a decision not to make the usual ‘Exodus’ to my village in the heart of Kakamega County. Only to realize that the only major difference I made is to miss out on the raw, uncut, untethered nature that is green with rains every often

as from 1500hrs to 2000hrs. So natural is my home that the monkeys are unashamed of their chauvinism. One time a lady friend was chasing them off a Maize plantation, the disrespect they displayed Still haunt me 20 years on.

All that for what? Six liters of a common soft drink and a sweet tooth. Don’t judge me, that was my dream once upon a time! January came, at least I paid my rent and essentials. All else, the only difference I had from the travelers? Other than clean air, clear roads. It’s only in the December festive season that a passenger can negotiate the fare price to a level of making the travel business feel like a charity. But who is Karma?! It’s January, the travel business owners are hiking their prices to exorbitant levels. Come on business owners! It’s not like January is happening to the unfair customers only. Exercise some humanity.

“Come all ye who are heavy laden..” But before I bust your bubble, this call is only for those who participated in the tertiary level of the 2019 AFEW Annual Environmental Competition. For they will have a trip around the

Nakuru – Naivasha circuit. Imagine the Geo-spa, a game drive, camping, among others in January. The fun part, all this is a reward for a job well done

2017 Giraffe Centre Competition trophies

05June2019

Live and Let Live

in: Announcements by: Giraffe Centre

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!

16May2019

2019 Environmental Competition Results

in: Announcements by: Giraffe Centre

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.

24April2019

Kelly’s Fifth Born

in: Animal Habitat, Announcements2 Comments by: Giraffe Centre

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.

28January2019

Tree planting

in: Activities by: Giraffe Centre

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.