October 2018 D-Cot Meet 10/12-10/21/18 – Wild Africa Trek

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  • #96451

    Nascfan
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    We take a slight detour from our day by day rundown to bring you this special report on the Wild Africa Trek at Animal Kingdom. One of our daughter’s high school classmates started working at WDW in the college program. She has worked her way up from general merchandising at the Emporium through Port Orleans resorts, specifically French Quarter, and is now a tour guide on the Wild Africa Trek. When we found out about her getting this job back in April, we told her we would do our best to take the trek with her in October. This is WAY out of Kathy’s comfort zone as she really doesn’t like heights. But for Ashley, she said she’d do it. Through some conversations with Ashley we were able to line up a first in the morning trek on Wednesday of our trip. I have to say, this young lady has the best “office” in the world! And so, here we go! @julia I am tagging you since you specifically asked for a report.

    Wednesday 10/17/18

    Wild Africa Trek

    I had conversed with Ashley the evening before and she let me know that her co-guide Jess would meet us at the main entrance. We were in a good sized tour of 11 people including us. Once everybody was all there and ready we were let into the left touchpoints used by breakfast reservations. We had a nice chat with Jess on the way back to Africa about theming and the imagineers and how they pay such attention to detail. Once we got back to Safaris where the trek starts we were able to see Ashley and she helped us get suited up in the safety gear. We also got our souvenir water bottles and filled them before heading out. The trek starts with a portion of the Gorilla Falls Trail before going off exhibit. The portion on exhibit was up to the meerkat and zebra area. Kathy got some good pictures of her meerkats. We then left the public portion and went off exhibit on a very wooded single file trail to an overlook where the hippos were. The keeper tried hard to wake them up for some food but these nocturnal animals were anything but interested. So he answered any and all questions and then we worked our way along another trail to a spot where there were two long bridges of rope and planks. This was the part I was concerned about for Kathy as you are clipped in with your carabiner and safety harness and a good 30 feet above the ground. Once all the safety was explained I volunteered to go first, one so she could watch me and two so she wouldn’t have to go later with so much shaking of the bridge with more people. She actually did great over both bridges! The second was the one over the crocodiles! One of the bigger ones, right under the bridge, had his mouth open to cool off as it was another warm morning. She said she just kept her eyes on the planks and where she was stepping. Ashley was so proud of her! She was way out of her comfort zone! While I was on the crocodile bridge I was able to get some waves from a Safari truck as the park was now open to the public. From the bridges we cut the height bay about 2/3 to 10 feet above the crocodiles as we went into the crocodile area! We were well clipped in for safety thank goodness! The keeper talked about them and answered any questions. We found out they are all male to prevent breeding.

    From there we exited and walked our final trail to a waiting truck where we were able to shed the safety vests. We were all getting warm with the extra weight on! Ashley and Jess explained this was no ordinary safari truck. First of all we had cushioned benches around the sides to sit on and they said we would be able to stop where wanted and once in park could stand and move about and take pictures. The truck took us to the savannah where we got a good long look and stop with Eyela, the baby, and her family and friends. We also got some great sights of the cattle and wildebeests before moving on to the elephant area. After we got some good viewing of the elephants we moved off trail to the outpost station for lunch. To the right was pelican island with great savannah views all around. It was a gorgeous spot and I could have stayed there all day! Lunch was awesome! There was mixed fruit, yogurt parfait with granola, cheese, a flower, yes the flower was edible! It tasted like bland lettuce. I’ve never eaten a flower before! We also had pita bread, some smoked meats, a salmon roll up, cole slaw, and some very tasty date and nut bread. We also had jungle juice to drink! I was so happy for that! Jess had asked when she first met everybody if there were any food allergies or anything and Kathy just requested no seafood so they gave her a turkey roll up instead of the salmon. She said that was good. All of it was such good food! We filled our bellies nicely!

    After lunch we got pictures and enjoyed the views of the savannah and animals until it was time to leave…..far too soon. We climbed back into the truck and got to see the cheetahs and lions. We found out that the cheetahs of Animal Kingdom are known as geriatric and therefore not as fast as younger counterparts in other zoos but are brought to Disney to live out their lives in comfort. We also found out that Disney does not have the space needed to breed lions so the females are spayed as opposed to the male being neutered. When a male lion is neutered apparently he can lose his mane and the mane is looked upon as a symbol of strength and protection by the females.
    As Ashley and Jess were discussing Jess’ favorite animal of the area with us, which is the ostrich, one of the said ostriches decided he didn’t like the truck invading his space and came running at us! Ashley screamed and said they’re velociraptors with wings! LOL He caught sight of the keeper/feeder truck and decided food was more interesting than us. That whole escapade was the funniest part of the day! A little Disney trivia for you. When you are on Safari, if you see six ostrich eggs, those are “Disney eggs.” If you see more than six, then one of the ostriches has actually laid an egg! After a much too short time of over three hours it was time to head back to trek headquarters. We all unloaded and Kathy and I hung around and talked to Ashley and Jess for quite a while after everybody else left. Finally it was time to go so we gave hugs to the best tour guides and went back into the public park area. This was such a great tour and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. We did it because of Ashley as she graduated with our daughter Lauren but it was excellent no matter what! Of course we will always be biased towards Ashley as our trek guide! I highly recommend it to anyone considering it!

    #96644

    eeyorepoohfan
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    OH wow! This sounds so fun and amazing!! I love all of the little tidbits and facts you shared too! I had no clue about the lions or the cheetahs! I will now start counting ostrich eggs too! I am so proud of Kathy for braving her fears as well! Lunch sounded yummy and I’m proud of you for eating a flower! ;)

    #96656

    Nascfan
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    We did exactly that, counted the eggs, on Friday! LOL Thank you, I’m very proud of her too, and so was Ashley! She was positively beaming at Kathy when everybody was done on the bridges! Lunch was so good! Way better than I even expected!

    #96675

    Julia
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    ahhh that’s so cool!!! would love to do that one day! i’m glad you had a magical time!! i didn’t know you had to go over a bridge, but i guess thats why they call it a trek LOL

    #96676

    Nascfan
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    It was definitely a trek Julia. The trails were one person wide through wooded areas too. But oh so much fun!

    #96686

    eeyorepoohfan
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    Good job counting the eggs on Friday!! Kathy done did good!!!! And I’m glad it was a surprisingly yummy lunch!


    #96734

    warrsm
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    Oh that sounds so great!!! We have seen people out on the trek before and always wondered how ti was! I want to do the Elephant and Rhino “tours” on our next trip. wildlife just enthralls me. my sis did an actual safari in Africa a few years back, and just toured the Galapagos this past year. You would never be able to make me leave those places. so AK is the closest I will get ;) thanks again for sharing!

    #96735

    Nascfan
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    @warrsm I would love to do the Caring for Giants (elephants) tour! I like how they have some shorter, and cheaper, tours like that. It doesn’t take so much time away.
    You are most welcome! I’m happy to share and it warms my heart when folks enjoy my reports!

    #96737

    warrsm
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    Oh and totally forgot to say KUDOS to Kathy for stepping out of her bounds so many times on this trip!!! she must have been so happy with all the great experiences!!

    #96738

    Nascfan
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    She was! I was so proud of her too! Thank you!

    #97434

    SEJ101
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    This sounds so awesome! I’m so jealous! And you and Kathy looked so happy in the photos! Oh, I’m so proud of Kathy! She’s really ventured out of that comfort zone! It’s amazing!
    And those are some cool animal facts! I love learning all about animals :animal: Ostriches are totally velociraptors with wings!…I mean, I’ve never seen a full ostrich in person before, but if emus scare me, I imagine they’d scare me too LOL :surprised:

    #97488

    laprana
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    Oh man, I want to do this trek so badly!! And reading your report makes me want to do it even more!! Way to go Kathy for breaking out of her comfort zone so many times on this trip!! :heart: What a cool tip on the ostrich eggs!! I wish those darn hippos would have woken up for you :( But that just means you’ll have to do the trek again to feed them! ;) You know, I sure hope when I’m geriatric someone brings me to WDW to live out my days in comfort like the cheetahs!! LOL LOL

    #97491

    Nascfan
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    @laprana I do love the way you think! We need someone to do that for us! LOL
    I’m so proud of my wife! She did absolutely great!

    #97769

    SEJ101
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    We need someone to do that for us! LOL

    I VOLUNTEER!!!! :stitch:

    #97770

    Nascfan
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    We need someone to do that for us! LOL

    I VOLUNTEER!!!! :stitch:

    Woohoo! You’re hired!


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