Zheng He, also known as Cheng Ho - a Chinese admiral led a large fleet of 200 to 300 ships in the Indian Ocean in 1418. There was a lot of trade. From one of these trips, he brought back a giraffe from Malindi, a Swahili village (now KENYA), which was considered in China as an example of the legendary animal Qilin. Africa had things the Chinese wanted: medicine ivory, spices, exotic wood, and exotic wildlife. Zheng He brought back lions, orynxes, nilganias, zebras and ostriches from Africa for gold, silver, porcelain and silk.
The Chinese did not want to create their own permanent bases in the country but instead hoped to make everyone admirers of their civilization. It is in this spirit that the Chinese navy did not plunder, (unlike the Europeans) the states which visited because Zheng He and the MING empire would not seek slaves or gold or silver or spices.