What is the Wild Africa Trek at Disney's Animal Kingdom?
A trip to central Florida is not complete without a visit to our favorite Walt Disney World park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This visit, we decided to splurge on one of our bucket list DAK experiences…the Wild Africa Trek! This add-on, extra magical VIP experience is a 3-hour behind-the-scenes tour that takes guests across some of the wildest areas of the Kilimanjaro Safaris attraction both on foot and by private vehicle. The tour includes a unique meal prepared by the Tiffins and Tusker House kitchen(s), an opportunity to feed select animals, an exclusive-access walk above the crocodile enclosure, a private truck for a slower, more in-depth safari ride, a complimentary water bottle, a cooling towel, professional photography from your experience and so much more!
The tour is offered several times throughout the day, but it is highly recommended you book well in advance as space is limited. We were able to book our preferred day and time 60 days out from our resort stay just like a dining reservation. We chose the earliest timeslot to avoid being out on the tour during the hottest part of the day. Our check in time started before the park officially opened, but we were able to show this reservation and were let into the park early. Check-in is located at the Safari tent near the entrance to Kilimanjaro Safaris. It was at this tent that we met our tour guides and signed any necessary waivers for the tour. We were then led to lockers that were large enough to store our park bags.
Participants are instructed to leave anything that cannot be physically tethered behind as we would be going into animal enclosures and lost objects can be potentially dangerous to the animals. All hats, glasses, cameras, and phones had to be secured with a strap (provided by the tour if needed). After a safety briefing and our first gear check, we were ready to begin our Trek! Our tour began with a walk through the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, but we weren’t there to see the gorillas - we diverted from the paved trail onto a backstage area accessible only to cast members or VIP tour guests. This is how we got to our first stop, the hippo enclosure. This is an opportunity for guests to participate in feeding or enrichment activities for DAK animal residents. While we did get the chance to see them up close from a unique vantage point, unfortunately our hippos preferred to nap and weren’t interested in snacking at the time. Though a little disappointing, it was still a great learning opportunity, and you have to admire the hippos’ dedication to beauty sleep.
The next part of the tour was something Tim and I were really looking forward to, the bridge crossing over the hippo and crocodile enclosures. I was so excited that I volunteered to go first in our group, with Tim following me. The views were stunning and getting to admire the theming of the bridge up close was a dream come true. We could stop and take our own pictures and videos as long as we didn’t hold up the line, but tour guides are also standing by snapping away and captured some great action shots. After crossing the bridge, you are rewarded with a cooling towel our first formal water refill. After everyone successfully crossed the bridge, we then entered the crocodile enclosure and got an up-close view of these huge reptiles. This concluded the walking portion of our tour, as we were then able to ditch our trekking vests and hop on a small truck for the private safari. Our tour took us to the Boma, an outpost that overlooks much of the Savanna and where we stopped briefly for our complimentary lunch. This meal is prepared in the Tiffins and Tusker house kitchens and features delicious items that can only be found on a VIP tour, and all you can drink POG juice (IYKYK). Fan favorites included the African-spiced shrimp, chicken salad wrap and the granola bar.
After our delightful lunch, we got back on the truck to finish out our private safari, which concludes the formal Wild Africa Trek tour. We were dropped up at a private stop on the safari ride and escorted back to our belongings in the lockers at base camp. We were then handed our Photopass card with all the safari photos and instructed how to access these photos. Not only did we get some great photos of our own adventures, but our guides did a tremendous job of capturing some animal action shots, too! Everything was bundled together in one album, so we all got mutual access to every shot.
So, can we recommend this tour given the $250 per person price tag? I think our vlog speaks for itself, but it was an unforgettable experience and one that I would absolutely pay to do again. If you are an adventure seeker and Animal Kingdom enthusiast like us, I can guarantee you will not regret it. After our tour officially concluded, we had the rest of DAK to explore. We spent the rest of our park time hitting up our favorite rides in Pandora: the World of Avatar, Asia, and Dinoland U.S.A. as well as a snack stop at Nomad Lounge. It was a bittersweet experience to ride DINOSAUR for likely the last time, as a re-theme of the Dinoland area has already been announced and we weren’t sure if we would be back into for another opportunity to say goodbye. In a final salute to Dinoland, we grabbed some treats at Restaurantosarous before calling it a day. If you are interested in our take on the Wild Africa Trek experience, please check out our vlog!
