Meeting a Giraffe has to be a 2020 highlight!

Experiences with giraffes aren’t just for luxury lodges and the great wilds of my continent. I got the opportunity to meet a giraffe for the first time recently, when I visited a wildlife education center, which facilitates interactive encounters.

It was a stripped-down version of more curated safari experiences, and even going to zoos.

This place of animal aid and education, has people diligent in providing visitors with easy access to some of this continents most wonderous wildlife and bird species – rescued and carefully nurtured back to health.

“Revenues from tourism can offset some of the costs local people pay and provide an incentive for conservation, but this fragile coexistence may not last if visitors stay away.”

Charlie Gardner, Lecturer in Conservation Science, University of Kent

The educators at this educational centre, say that one of the giraffes is so used to humans captivated by their encounters with them, that they had a negative mood shift when the pandemic kept scores of children and adults away from them.

So, maybe nature and its wildlife may be resting, but also missing us.

During this global pandemic, it is staggering to find out that even animals are so affected.