I've always had a soft spot in my heart for giraffes. Ever since my husband, Doug, and I saw something on TV about Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, it's been on our bucket list of places to go and experience. We're both animal and nature lovers in general, so we've been intrigued by the notion of seeing the great animals of Africa in their natural habitat rather than in a zoo. And, although the main focus of our trip to Africa was a stay at Giraffe Manor, it turned out that the rest of our journey—the safaris, the animals, the African countryside, and seeing the villages and their people—would absolutely blow us away.

March/April 2014