What the day looks like
Started in 1980 by an Irishman as a hobby, Falconry of Kenya has grown into one of the coast’s most genuine wildlife rescue centres, not a zoo built for entertainment, but a working sanctuary that takes in injured birds and animals brought by local people. Birds with broken wings, lost sight, or injuries too severe to survive back in the forest stay here permanently, many going on to breed, with chicks raised here and returned to the wild.
You’ll walk through enclosures holding eagles, falcons, goshawks and a striking variety of owls, alongside crocodiles, monitor lizards, and a snake enclosure with green mambas, pythons and cobras. The undisputed star is an Aldabra giant tortoise, well over a century old and still going strong. For the hands-on moment most visitors remember, you can wear a thick leather glove baited with meat and have a trained eagle or falcon fly in and land directly on your arm, guided by an experienced handler throughout.
It’s a genuinely good fit for families, an easy, engaging couple of hours that doesn’t demand a long day or much walking, and it directly supports the centre’s rescue and rehabilitation work rather than a purely commercial attraction.
