Giraffes: Three Kinds of Wonderful

Of all the animals we saw in our trip, the giraffe is the only one tied with the elephant for endless magical impact. No matter how tired we were or how many we'd already seen they were always elegant and enchanting and worthy of a picture. Of the nine types in the world, Kenya is home to 3 breeds.

The most common is the Maasai giraffe (below) which was found throughout our trip. Its distinguished by its irregular blotchy pattern all over the body and down to the toes.
Second up is the Rothschild giraffe which is also one of the most endangered giraffes, in no small part to Idi Amin of Uganda telling his troops to use them for target practice during his reign. Their blotches are less jaggy than the Maasai giraffe and they have 5 horns on their head rather than 2.
The reticulated giraffe was the third kind we saw and is far easier to tell apart than the other two. Its blotches are much more regular in shape and the lines between them are a striking white. The blotches also end midway down the leg and create the look of the giraffe wearing white socks. They prefer a drier habitat than the other two and we only saw them in Samburu, in the north of Kenya.