You will come across the Masai giraffe at any time of day in the savannas of Tanzania and southern Kenya. Large groups live near the rivers of Tarangire and Nyerere, and in Kenya, look for it among the acacias of the Masai Mara. The best moment is when it drinks, legs splayed and neck lowered.
Where to see the Masai giraffe on safari?
KenyaNational parkAmboseli National Park
Southern KenyaPeak season all year round: acacias on the edges of the park
TanzaniaNational parkLake Manyara National Park
Northern TanzaniaPeak season all year round: lakeshore plains
KenyaNational reserveMasai Mara National Reserve
Southwestern KenyaPeak season all year round: acacias and riverbanks
TanzaniaNational parkNyerere National Park
Southern TanzaniaPeak season all year round: open woodland in the north
TanzaniaNational parkRuaha National Park
Southern TanzaniaPeak season all year round: throughout the park
TanzaniaNational parkSerengeti National Park
Northern TanzaniaPeak season all year round: acacias of the center and north
TanzaniaNational parkTarangire National Park
Northern TanzaniaPeak season all year round: throughout the park
KenyaNational parkTsavo East National Park
Southern KenyaPeak season all year round: throughout the south of the park
How do you identify a Masai giraffe?
The tallest land animal, up to 6 meters for a male and 5 to 5.5 meters for a female, can't be mistaken for anything but another giraffe. The one in Tanzania is the Masai giraffe. Its brown spots are irregular and star-shaped, with jagged edges, and lack the network of clean white lines of the reticulated giraffe of northern Kenya. Old males darken to blackish brown. Both sexes carry ossicones, the skin-covered horns, which are thicker and bald in the males that fight.
Masai giraffe in pictures
How does the Masai giraffe live?
The Masai giraffe browses acacia leaves at a height no other animal reaches, with lips that don't feel the thorns. It lives in loose groups that form and break up from one day to the next, and males compete for females in necking fights, trading blows with their heads. It sleeps little, in short spells, often standing up. Calves remain a target for lions and hyenas throughout their first year, and the mothers gather them in crèches that they take turns guarding.
Where and when can you see Masai giraffes on safari?
You see giraffes all day long and in every season, in acacia savanna. In Tanzania, you find them everywhere except in Ngorongoro Crater, whose walls are too steep for them. Tarangire and Nyerere show large groups near the rivers. In the Serengeti, look for them among the acacias of the center and north. At Lake Manyara, they browse on the shore, in front of the flamingos.
In Kenya, the Masai Mara shows them among the acacias and along the rivers. In Amboseli, they stay on the plains and in the acacias on the edge of the park. A giraffe watches you come from up high, then walks away if you push too close. When it drinks, legs splayed and neck lowered, it is vulnerable to lions, and that moment is worth the wait.
Is the Masai giraffe endangered?
The IUCN listed the Masai giraffe as Endangered in 2019. About 35,000 remain, and the population has halved in thirty years. It lives in Tanzania and southern Kenya, with a small reintroduced group in Rwanda, in Akagera National Park. Poaching for meat, skin, bones and tail hair explains the decline, along with habitat loss and fences. New markets for jewelry and objects made from giraffe make it worse.
Our tip
Watch the males' necking fights in Tarangire and Nyerere, and the giraffes drinking, legs splayed, on the shores of Lake Manyara and the Nyerere lakes. Photograph a herd head-on, with the vehicle stopped at a distance.