On Safari

One of the coolest things about Disney's new Wild Animal Kingdom is the Safari ride they have in the park. They've re-created a version of the Serengheti Plains in Africa and the result is stunning. As you can see from the picture above, it's almost as if you were really in Africa and watching all the wild animals! What's even more amazing is that the preserve allows all the animals to roam freely and interact as they would in the wild--which means that lions and other carnivores hunt the other animals in the park just like normal. And, just like normal, there is little human interference in the area. There's certainly a road for the safari to go through, but that's it for man made structures. It's truly an awesome sight.

Here's an ostrich that was brave enough to come up near the bus. As there are no fences throughout the area, you can see most of the animals right up close. But be careful! Since this is the wild, many of them don't know how to act around humans. It is fun to see them this close though.

If you look in the upper right hand corner of this picture you'll see the nose and ears of a hippopotamus peeking out from under the lake. As it was June when we visited, the temperature was extremely hot and so the hippos are doing their best to keep cool. Personally, I think they have the right idea, although I'm not sure I'd want to go swimming in that lake.

Here's another animal keeping cool in the shade--an Antelope. We saw several out on the open plains, but only this one was lounging about. We took this safari in the late afternoon, when it's the hottest during the day, and of course, none of the animals were out. We did see some elephants very far away (including a cute little baby elephant!) but the pictures were so bad since all the animals were hanging out in the shade, that I can't even tell why I took some of them.

Finally, we had a female giraffe come out into the middle of the road and stop our bus as it sat there. We waited and marveled at the beast (yeah, it's huge in real life) and then saw it's baby come out and get in a good meal as you can see from the picture above. The amazing part? I could have reached out and touched them they were so close. This safari was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.