A villager in Kenya was herding animals recently when he came upon a head-turning sight. A ghostly creature with a mighty long neck was grazing off in the distance.

Upon closer inspection, the vision was revealed to be a female reticulated giraffe - tall, majestic and preternaturally white - and she was accompanied by a smaller apparition: a pale baby giraffe.

A rare white giraffe and her calf in Kenya. Video footage of the duo is believed to be the first of its kind. Credit:NYTimes

The sightings in June, in Garissa county near the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy, sent the villager scurrying off to tell rangers, the founder of the Hirola Conservation Program said. The news has been ricocheting across continents and making headlines since.

Conservationists who hurried to the site managed to capture what is believed to be the first known video footage of white giraffes, said Abdullahi H. Ali, who founded Hirola and has been working to conserve the critically endangered hirola antelope in the eastern part of the country.