Kilimanjaro Safaris by Reece Smith

Favorite Attraction in Africa

By Reece Smith

Africa is a part of the Animal Kingdom park that consists of mostly animal treks, but not many attractions. However, these attractions are not ones you want to miss. You can’t miss Kilimanjaro Safaris where you get on a truck and go through a safari seeing all kinds of animals from Africa.  You have your own tour guide who tells a ‘story’ as though you are on a real safari.

 Those animals can walk up to the truck and you can get up close and personal.  Sometimes you even have to wait for them to move so you can continue the adventure.  The best thing is that there’s no height requirement so it’s an amazing journey for families with children of all ages.

 While on Kilimanjaro Safaris have a camera ready for potential encounters with any of the herbivore animals. You can almost touch the herbivores if you tried but you’re not allowed to. If you want to be able to see the animals at a more active time you should try to arrive early to Animal Kingdom and head over to Kilimanjaro Safaris for that will increase your chances. Better yet, get a fastpass if you can.

This attraction has changed over the years where it once was about stopping poachers, but then they had to remove that since they were asked to by parents who said that it was too scary for young children. So Disney trying to be family friendly added more animals and removed the whole poaching part. 

On this safari you’ll experience a ride through 110 acres of African looking landscape with all sorts of animals throughout. Also you can see up to 34 different species of animals, if you’re lucky, and see them in their natural habitat. It is different from a zoo in that different animals may be seen at the same time instead of each animal having their own space.  On this ride you’ll notice that any herbivores get to roam free in their section and the carnivores are behind mounds of dirt to be removed from free roam but they’re still all in their natural habitats. It’s incredible to see them all interact and how they live. 

To keep certain animals from fighting they have multiple sections to block them off from one another. Also so that it’s easier to maintain smaller areas instead of one large area. Not only are there animals but also some of the non moving wildlife is amazing such as Baobab which looks as if a tree was flipped and instead the roots are in the air while the canopy is in the ground. It is a common tree in Africa, but may look strange to Americans.

Throughout your journey the driver will give you all sorts of cool facts about the animals, wildlife, and the attraction and how it’s funded. After getting off the ride you can have a photo taken of you and your family to help you remember your amazing journey on Kilimanjaro Safaris.