Day 6 - Part 2 - Morning on the Savannah
After our successful morning in Pandora we had to split up. Derrick and Becky were headed to an ADR at Tusker House, and Jared and I planned to get onto the Kilimanjaro Safari first thing. We'd never done the safari so early in the morning, and I'd heard that was a better time to see more animal activity, so it was a priority this trip to try doing it early.
We escorted Derrick and Becky to Tusker House (Becky had advised she was terrible with directions so they preferred to follow us hoping we would lead them to the right place
!). We then headed to the safari. The posted wait when we arrived was 20 minutes, which wasn't bad at all though I think we ended up waiting about 30 minutes before we were on board (but we did get the front seat which was fun). I don't mind a long wait for this one, as it's such a long attraction.
We were this close to the rear-view mirror!
This was probably the best safari experience we've had at Animal Kingdom! We saw so many animals. Morning really is the best time for animal visibility. We also managed to spot a few rabbits and squirrels, which was strange as we were in Africa
.
Our driver was great too, quite hilarious and very informative. It helped that we were up the front so we could hear him well!
Anyway, let me take you our a tour of the Kilimanjaro Savannah that morning:
The first animal we saw was a strange one! It was a antelope nicknamed "ghost" because they are so rare to see in the wild. Though it looks related to a zebra, with it's weird stripped legs, though I believe our driver said this creature is more closely related to the giraffe (though don't quote me on this, my memory from a month ago is limited!)
We actually saw a number of these "illusive" antelope as we entered the safari
After encountering these ghosts (appropriate since it was Halloween) we headed on, passing some beautiful scenery as we did.
On our way to the watering hole we found some Rhino's (I'm pretty sure these were the Black Rhino's - sadly I didn't make any good notes while we were on board, so I don't remember a lot of the details). I'm pretty sure they are Black Rhino's though. My thinking is that these Rhino's look skinnier than the ones we saw later, and I know the White Rhino's were named Wijd Rhino's by the South African's because Wijd was the Dutch word for wide. The English settlers then thought the Dutch were saying "White" and so the Rhino's got their name.
Shortly after our Rhino sighting we arrived at the watering hole. Here we found some Hippo's napping! Hippo's terrify me, ever since our trip to the Night Safari in Singapore! We saw one with it's mouth open, waiting for food I think, but it's teeth were HUGE! It made me understand a little better why Hippo's are the most dangerous creature in Africa. These ones didn't look inclined to attack though, they seemed very peaceful (as Hippo's mostly do). Seeing the Hippo's this docile it's hard to imagine them charging and attacking lions or people without hesitation, but they do!
Sleeping Danger!
Awake Danger....I wonder if he was coming for us!
Leaving the watering hole we headed out onto the Savannah. There were a number of Safari trucks out, all pausing to see one of my favourite Africa animals....the noble giraffe. I love giraffes, they are such calm and unique creatures. There also seems something slightly dorky and uncoordinated about them, which makes them even cuter!
I especially love the Disney giraffes! On our last trip to Walt Disney World they were kind enough to make Jared's birthday dreams come true. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (Kidani Village side) and all Jared wanted was to see one giraffe out his bedroom window. And we saw 5, at one point all together (good giraffes).
There were some adorable baby giraffes out on the savannah too
Here they had organised themselves in height order
And we caught this guy doing a blep (if you don't have a pet you may not know this is the cutesy term used when your animal accidentally gets stuck with his/her tongue out. It more commonly happens with cats)
We also managed to spot some Hyena's
And some buffalo type things with EPIC horns
Leaving the Savannah we ran across some African Elephants
I do love elephants too, they are so gentle and apparently, so intelligent! One of Jared's really good friends works at the Perth Zoo, and is often getting to spend time with the Elephants there. She said the elephants remember her (even though she isn't a keeper or vet) and are always pleased to see her!
Ear flap!
Trumpeting!
We finished up with the Elephants and ran into some Flamingos. I suppose you native Floridian's find them boring, but I love them! Did you know they are only pink because of the diet they eat (shrimp mostly). They are born white!
And then we ran into more Rhinos. I am guessing these are the White (aka wide) Rhinos. Don't they look wider to you??
They were so close to the road, we had to drive past very carefully!
My greatest desire on this safari was that we see some big cats. I think we'd only ever seen 1 big cat on Kilimanjaro, back on our first trip to Animal Kingdom back in 2011. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to go in the morning is I thought there might be a greater chance of the cats being active or visible!
And low and behold, we had a great run of luck. It started with the Cheetah's being out of the shadowy parts of their enclosure (where you have to strain to spot them)
And then we were able to glimpse the King of the Savannah himself....Simba (well, a lion, I'm going to call him Simba).
We took a lot of picture of Simba as he dozed on his very own pride rock
We did see a Nala (aka a lioness) too but weren't in the best position to get pictures of her.
Heading past the cats we did see some other antelope and I think a few zebra, but Jared must have tired of photos, so we didn't take any more!
We headed back to base, really chuffed with our Morning Savannah Tour!
Continued in Next Post...