this village in Essonne welcomed Zarafa, the first giraffe to enter France

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Almost 200 years later, the legend remains very present in local memories in Maisse (Essonne). In June 1827, A jokethe giraffe offered by Mehemet Ali, then pasha and viceroy of Egypt, to Charlesking of France, would haveduring his journey from Sudan, step in the small town in Gâtinais of 2,800 inhabitants, on the way to its destination, Paris.

“Concordant evidence of his passage”

The town's elementary school and a bar-restaurant, now closed, recall by their name the passage through the town of the first giraffe to enter France.

“There are consistent indications of his passage as well asa solid oral tradition, but not an absolute certainty,” nevertheless tempers Thierry Citron, member of the Maisse History and Heritage association.

According to the association's investigation retracing the thread of this story, the story of the arrival of this first giraffe in France took place in 1825, when the governor of Sudan offered two female giraffes to Méhémet Ali.

An atypical diplomatic gift

The latter decided to offer them in turn as a diplomatic gift: one will go to the king of France, the other to the king of England. Just to get to Alexandria, the two giraffes traveled for 16 months, covering 3,000 kilometers.

The two animals having been captured unweaned, their food is then provided by camels or cows. It is in the Egyptian port city that their paths diverge. They then a little less than two years.

It was on September 30, 1826 that the giraffe intended for the King of France took to the sea aboard a boat, accompanied by three cows for food and two antelopes.

Arriving in Marseille by boat, it arouses curiosity

On October 23, 1826, Zarafa and the menagerie that accompanied him arrived in Marseille after a little more than three weeks of travel, but the long-necked animal did not disembark until 25 days later, the time of a health quarantine and prepare for the return to Paris.

It is in the Phoenician city, where she regularly leaves the prefecture gardens while waiting for sunny days, that the public becomes passionate about this unknown animalso much so that the gendarmes ended up accompanying each of his trips.

To lead the long-necked animal across France to the capital, the naturalist from the National Museum of Natural History was called upon, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, originally from Étampes.

She continued her journey to Paris on foot and under escort.

Arriving in Marseille on May 4, 1827, he decides to favor the road route, on foot, for the ascent rather than the sea route and established a route of nearly 900 kilometers which should take the convoy to Paris in 52 days, including rest.

The departure took place on May 20, 1827, on convoy is led by the gendarmes followed by the cows who are ahead of the giraffe wearing a hat and a waterproof dress in the colors of Egypt and France. Her Egyptian caretakers are never far from her. Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire brings up the rear inside a car due to his rheumatism.

Everywhere along his path and beyond, the signs of inns, post houses, shops, squares, streets, paths and bridges are renamed in his honor.

The curious gather around her throughout her journey

The “girafomania” that has gripped the country does not stop there: objects of all kinds are created in his image to then be sold by the thousands.

Until his arrival in Auxerre on June 23, Zarafa's journey to France was traced by historians thanks to the various documents preserved, notably attesting to the crowds who flocked to see this extraordinary beast hoisted on its long legs.

However, the blur surrounds the route of the convoy of the animal with its spotted coat, between its stopover in the Burgundian town and its appearance in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges six days later.

A bifurcation of the convoy via Essonne to avoid Fontainebleau

Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire had initially planned to go through Montereau and Fontainebleau, but did he stick to his plans or did he choose to change his route for more peace of mind, knowing, moreover, that he was ill.

For the local history association, this hypothesis of a change in the route of the convoy reinforces the probability that it had went up the Essonne valleythen met his family in Maisse, before returning to the banks of the Seine in Corbeil to reach Paris.

He is a native of Étampes where his wife and family are located. What could be more logical for him than to turn towards those who are dear to him and at the same time escape the crowds which risk disrupting Zarafa's final return to the road where he was expected.

The giraffe would have spent a night at the Saint-Éloi inn

The giraffe would have been like this arrested at the Saint-Éloi inn, in the Grande Ruefor a one-night stopover.

“There was in this inn a ring placed quite high to hang the giraffe's hitch. Unfortunately, it was removed by owners who were unaware of the heritage they had acquired,” relates Thierry Citron.

The Saint-Éloi Inn was renamed the La Girafe hotel-restaurant at the end of the 19th century. Since then, the legend of Zarafa's passage has been maintained from generation to generation.

A giraffe path existed in Ballancourt-sur-Essonne

« It’s far from being a forgotten memory for locals. of our city, so much so that the school was renamed the giraffe school 32 years ago,” smiles Thierry Citron.

Another clue which would indicate that the Zarafa convoy would have continued to follow the Essonne after the stop at Maisse, is located at Ballancourt-sur-Essonne where there has long been a giraffe path.

“Although it has become Rue Ampère, it is attested that this route was indeed named path of the giraffe”, underlines the volunteer from Maisse History and Heritage.

An engraving represents his visit to La Ferté-Alais

According to him, there is also a engraving representing the giraffe passing La Ferté-Alais, owned by the famous Carnot family, in the Château de Presles, in Cerny.

“One of the family members I met told me he had seen this engraving. He is unfortunately deceased and those still alive don't know where she can be in their collections,” regrets Thierry Citron.

Without formal proof, doubts remain about the passage from Zarafa to Maisse. It is told elsewhere than her would have gone through Seine-et-Marneeven stopping at Chenoise.

What is certain is the arrival of the procession of the giraffe and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, June 30, 1827, eleven days early.

Many Parisians flock to the Jardin des Plantes to see it

King Charles taken to the Château de Saint-Cloud to finally see this unusual gift from the bush, whose journey he followed to the capital.

Returning to the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes, Zarafa arouses unprecedented enthusiasm. Parisians flock there to see it. Just during the summer period, more than 600,000 tickets purchased at the ticket counters to see it.

The other giraffe offered by the pasha to the British sovereign, George IV, did not meet the same fate, dying only days after arriving in London.

The star of the Natural History Museum of La Rochelle

Zarafa, she left the world in January 1845 as a result of bovine tuberculosis, a few months after the disappearance of the other hero of this epic, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.

Naturalized, she was transferred to La Rochelle Natural History Museum in 1931 where it is still exhibited today.

Unfortunately, as the Museum explains, this species Giraffa camelopardalis “is nowadaysthreatened with extinctionwith less than 2,000 individuals present in a natural environment.

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