We recently celebrated the birth of the 37th giraffe baby to enter the world here at Safari West. On August 30th our oldest and tallest giraffe, Jamala delivered her seventh calf. This not-so-little little one had some struggles getting here, but with the help of mother and a few dedicated keepers, we eventually welcomed her to the herd. For the last week and a half, this lovely lady has remained nameless as we’ve pondered and debated how best to honor her place in our Safari West family.

Finally, we have it. This baby girl stood six-feet tall and weighed 140-pounds at birth. That’s big even by giraffe standards! Since then she’s only gotten bigger and as her body has grown, so has her attitude. It turns out, this little lady is quite the fireball; something which wound up inspiring her name.

Please join us in welcoming Onya to our vibrant and growing herd. Onya, the Swahili word for “blaze” beautifully captures the spirit and energy of the newest arrival. Come visit Safari West today and join us as we watch Onya learn, grow, and take her place here on the Sonoma Serengeti.

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Just a few days ago Safari West said goodbye to one of our oldest residents. Suzie, a beautiful and petite giraffe passed away at the ripe age of 23. Suzie Q, as we loved to call her, was born at the Los Angeles Zoo in December of 1992. In 1994 she arrived at Safari West as a sprightly two-year-old. Suzie was a Masai giraffe, a sub-species know for their leaf-shaped spots and generally dark color. Masai giraffes are the most common kind of giraffe found in Africa but are very unusual in captivity. Guests lucky enough to meet Suzie face-to-face were always surprised by her gorgeous coloration and calm demeanor. As an animal who’d been walking the hills of Safari West almost since we opened, she was very at ease with the trucks and the excited people within. While we miss Suzie fiercely and mourn her passing, we take some measure of happiness from what she leaves behind. Suzie was a proud mother giraffe many times over and Safari West is home to several of her descendants, including two of her great-grandchildren, youngster Ringo, and one of our newest babies, Dubs. We love you, Suzie.

World Giraffe Day

The passing of Suzie happens to coincide with the annual celebration of World Giraffe Day. In her honor and to help secure the future of her species, Safari West is pleased to announce this year’s World Giraffe Day event. This year, we are celebrating it in two ways. Those of you with reservations to join us on Father’s Day (June 19th) will be able to explore the many exhibits, displays, and activities for kids taking place on our main lawn in between chowing down at our “Beers and Bratwurst” event and taking a ride on our Nairobi minibus trek. For those of you unable to come to that sold-out event, we’ll be holding an additional event on World Giraffe Day which lands only a few days later on June 21st.

World Giraffe Day is an annual event designed to bring attention to the plight of these most graceful mammals. Wild giraffe populations are plummeting and organizations like the Giraffe Conservation Foundation are working hard to help this ailing species. The theme for 2016’s World Giraffe Day event is “Putting people at the center of giraffe conservation”. The goal this year is to help wild giraffe populations at risk but also to illuminate the needs of people who live side-by-side with these magnificent animals. As the Giraffe Conservation Fund points out, we need unique approaches to conserve animals living in close proximity to humans.

While we all love seeing these amazing animals in the wild, sharing your living space with wild animals on a daily basis is not always fun – even though giraffe are some of the more pleasant co-habitants when compared to elephant and lion.

On World Giraffe Day we’ll hold a special presentation in the Elephant Room after dinner service. The presentation will focus on the majesty of giraffes and their struggles in an increasingly human dominated world.

For more information on World Giraffe Day or to donate to the work it finances, please visit www.worldgiraffeday.org. Thanks, and we’ll see you there!

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As a Masai giraffe, the most startling of the nine recognized giraffe sub-species, Tufani really stood out in the crowd. In America, we’re most accustomed to the reticulated giraffe with their blocky brown spots and light yellow lines. Masai giraffes like Tufani look somewhat different. Their spots tend to be more leaf-shaped than geometrical and they are often much darker in color. Some of our darkest Masai giraffes are so dark that they appear nearly black.

As the years went by and Tufani carried on about the business of being a large male giraffe, he courted and bred with our tallest Masai female, a long-necked beauty by the name of Jamala. As a result, back in April of 2014, we had the privilege of welcoming their firstborn, a beautiful baby boy named Phoenix. With the addition of this six-foot newborn, we suddenly found ourselves living with a nuclear family of Masai giraffe. People turned out in droves to witness the amazing sight of our sky-high Masai family. It was a beautiful time.

Then tragedy struck. In November of 2014, Tufani very suddenly passed away. We were devastated by his loss and continue to miss his enormous presence to this day. Over a year after his passing, we continue to have guests on safari asking about Tufani. It always hurts to break it to his fans that our gentle giant has passed on.

It’s been said that every cloud has a silver lining and the silver in this story showed up only recently. On January 20th, some fourteen months and nineteen days after Tufani’s passing, Jamala went into labor again. A short time later she gave birth to another Masai male! As it turns out, the average length of giraffe gestation is thirteen to fifteen months. Apparently, in the week or two before his passing, Tufani and Jamala came together one last time to produce this miraculous final scion; the last son of Tufani and Jamala and a baby brother to Phoenix!

Every baby is exciting here at Safari West, but this one is special. A bright, beautiful gift by which to remember his well-loved father. Please join us in celebrating the birth of Tufani Junior! Little TJ is just over a month old and while he has a long way to grow before he reaches the lofty heights of his famous parents, he’s off to a great start.

Come by Safari West this spring and watch TJ (alongside Nikki and Dubs, our other giraffe youngsters) as they make their start out here in the wilds of Sonoma County.

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