Wild Africa

When my mom and I were recently at the WDW, we were able to do a behind the scenes tour of the Animal Kingdom called Wild Africa Trek.  It was an amazing experience.  First stop was a hippo feeding.  The above hippo, Hans, was hungry, hungry.  White marbles were not on the menu.

 Hans is saying "Feed me!" while smizing.  Look at those eyes.  Tyra would be proud of you Hans.

 After the hippo pool, we had to walk across two rickety bridges suspended in the air to get to the crocodile pools.  Crocodiles are weird.

 Close your mouth son, I'm not your dinner.

 After the crocs, we got in a jeep for a safari tour through the "savanna."  This little giraffe is trying his hardest to get the leaves at the top of the tree.  If you look closely, you will notice that his tongue is sticking out.  Giraffes are so much fun to watch.  Did you know they only sleep 30 minutes a day?  Crazy, right?

 Next up, elephants.  Here's the little baby elephant.  Makes your heart melt a bit, doesn't it?

 The Ankole Cattle to the left, Ace, was having a rough morning.  He kept bucking and kicking up dirt and finally charged after one of the safari cars.  That must have calmed him down.  I'm sure some of the Disneygoers in the safari car crapped their pants, though.


Now we are getting to my favorite pictures, the lions!  When we first got to the lion den, the male lion was laying down and you could barely see him.  The safari guide was telling us that male lions sleep 18 hours a day and that it was unlikely we would get a better picture of him.  He must have heard the guy and wanted to prove him wrong because all of a sudden, he was sitting up.

 How awesome is this picture?  Look at that mane of hair.  It weights 50 pounds!!  I began silently chanting in my head "Look this way, look this way, look this way" to the tune of Aerosmith's "Walk this Way".  The lion must be a psychic because look...

How regal is that face?  I wish I could have walked right up to him and snuggled him.  Lions don't think much of snuggling, though.  They are more of an eating type.  Oh well.

The Wild Africa Trek was so much fun and so incredibly interesting.  We learned tons of great information about animals in the wild and what different types of behaviors mean.  We also learned about Disney's conservation efforts and animals that are in danger of extinction.  The animals in the greatest danger of extinction are the white rhinos which have not been seen in the wild in several years.  Disney is sending their male white rhino to Uganda in the hopes that it will mate with a female white rhino there.  I'm really hoping that rhino gets laid.