Disney World

Animal Kingdom - Part Three

Tis Friday morning and our schedule was to be in Hollywood Studio this day. Judy and I decided that we needed to return to Animal Kingdom to see some missed "essentials". It was forecast to rain in the afternoon. Our plan was to spend the afternoon in Hollywood studios. We had our trusty umbrellas so we were good to go.





The young intern above was explaining about the large Mayasian insect that was framed for the benefits of the tourists. As you all know that entomology was my favorite course that I taught at Glenville State College. I found this insect to be wonderful, but the enthusiam of the intern was even more wonderful.





Our entrance into Africa was through the friendly, welcoming village of Harambe. Harambe is Swahili for “come together”.





Interestingly enough, this village is a combination of a number of some of the favorite places in Africa found by Disney Imagineers while on a scouting trip for Animal Kingdom’s Africa. Some of these snippets include a fortress found in Zanzibar and a faux water-stained, crumbling old building and private home that were originally seen in Kenya. The thatched huts found throughout this community were constructed by thirteen Zulu craftspeople from South Africa.The quaint village area was designed to resemble an East African port that caters to tourists prior to their safari excursions (i.e. Kilimanjaro Safari). This bustling port includes a “hotel”, restaurants, an outdoor bar complete with live entertainment and the marketplace. Cast Members/villagers are dressed in colorful, authentic African costumes to add to the atmosphere.

Judy and I were ready to ride the safari trucks through the Kilimanjaro savanahs.

Kilimanjaro Safaris provides the chance to see African animals including giraffes, black rhinos and lions, as they roam the 100-acre savannah in the Africa area of the park.

The Kilimanjaro Safaris tour begins in the Harambe Wildlife Reserve, across the river from Discovery Island. We climbed aboard a rugged open-sided safari vehicle for an exciting expedition through the wildlife preserve. The ride can be a bit bumpy as it crosses rickety bridges, rocky hills and rivers

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We love the ecofriendly aspects of the park. Animal Kingdom does not allow plastic straws, but supplies paper ones. Plastic is dangerous to the animals. The safari vehicles run on propane. It is ecofriendly and they run 48 hours on one filling. These vehicles never are turned off ( they run 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year! ).

Notice how merry the safari participants appear. This be true- we had a great trip!

We saw many animals during our safari trip. As you can see the animal habitats are marvelous.

Thie giraffe below was poking his head in a tree. Think the Disney folks use techiques such as a hollow tree for feeding.





Here are some ostrich eggs beside the road. Ostrich eggs are the largest of all eggs on average they are 15 centimetres (5.9 in) long, 13 centimetres (5.1 in) wide, and weigh 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb), over 20 times the weight of a chicken egg. They are glossy cream-coloured, with thick shells marked by small pits.

We returned to our "safari camp" with images of the adventure to share with you all.

Tomorrow - Last of our African Adventure.