Zarafa

2012 · 78 min · Animation

Recommended from age 7. Orphaned enslaved boy and threats from a trafficker.

Reason translated with AI from our Spanish original.

Good to know

Death or separation
Someone loved dies or disappears, often a parent.
Difficult themes
War, bullying, illness, broken families, hard real events.

Medium confidence

Medium confidence · They broadly agree.

How do we work this out? · Made with AI · how

Where to watch

UK

Rent or buy

US

Free (with ads): Kanopy

Spain

Included with subscription: Acontra+ · Prime Video

Free (with ads): Tivify

Rent or buy

Availability as of 17 October 2026. Data from JustWatch.

TMDb user score

6.9134 votes · TMDb

What it’s about

Inspired by the true story of the first giraffe to visit France, Zarafa is a sumptuously animated and stirring adventure, and a throwback to a bygone era of hand-drawn animation and epic storytelling set among sweeping CinemaScope vistas of parched desert, wind-swept mountains and open skies. Under the cover of darkness a small boy, Maki, loosens the shackles that bind him and escapes into the desert night. Pursued by slavers across the moon-lit savannah, Maki meets Zarafa, a baby giraffe – and an orphan, just like him – as well as the nomad Hassan, Prince of the Desert. Hassan takes them to Alexandria for an audience with the Pasha of Egypt, who orders him to deliver the exotic animal as a gift to King Charles of France.

Genres: Family, Animation

If your child is sensitive

If they get scared: under 7, a cuddle or a pause helps more than explaining it isn’t real. From 8, explaining does work.

Source: Joanne Cantor’s research (summary at Kids First)

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This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Streaming data: JustWatch.