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| African Bovine (makes Longhorns jealous!) |
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| Sleepy Bengal |
Got up early in preparation for our big day on Safari. We have been wanting to do Disney’s Animal Kingdom for some time, and I recently discovered they have a special "backstage" tour that’s several hours long, where the group is limited to 12 and there are two guides who take you much more up close and personal with the animals. It’s a bit more expensive than just the entry fee, but we decided that since we only had the one day, we wanted the whole experience as much as possible. We were at the gates when it opened and managed to get on the last tour of the day, with only three other people! Fabulous! We spent the morning seeing many of the other sights, including taking a ride on the Himalayan roller coaster, during which I was reminded why I don’t like roller coasters, and after which I promised myself Never Again! I really just wanted to see the view from up top, but that was too short-lived to make it worth the queasiness afterward. Took a while for my stomach to settle down. We also took the rapids, saw the bird show, and walked most of the trails. Didn’t have time to take the train though, before we had to report in to the check in for the Africa Trek. What a blast that was! Under the supervision of two young female guides, the five of us trekkers got all outfitted with vests and zip lines hooks and even a souvenir water bottle, before heading out on the trail. After following a couple of the public trails (which Hubby and I had already toured), we finally headed into uncharted territory, heading along a narrow path that made it clear why there’s a weight limit (yes, we had to get weighed during the outfitting), as the trees were quite thick and close together. We came within yards of all the great critters; hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, wild bovines, a variety of deer, cheetah, even a lion king and his sister perched high on a rock. We saw so much more than we had when we went on the public tour, it was incredible! We even got to stop at a way station where they fed us lunch, a wide variety of a whole bunch of different kinds of foods. Hubby and I love ethnic food, and this was no exception, we thoroughly enjoyed it. There was one Englishwoman there who wasn’t at all adventurous when it came to food, wouldn’t touch a thing, and one of the tourguides eventually gave her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I can’t understand that, there was nothing at all spicy or displeasingly tasteful about any of it, but c’est la vie, to each his own. Toward the end we were parked in one spot where we could see cheetahs, lions, rhinos, and three other types of African critters. Fantastic! Well worth every penny we spent. Finished up with just enough time to pick up a tropical drink before heading out of the park and back to the hotel for a few more before getting a much needed relaxing evening.
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| Hubby in "Africa" |
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