Jackie Newton
Google
This is something that has been on our list to do for a while. We checked in at the animal tours desk right outside of kilamanjaro safaris. They brought us over to the harness area, and there were 12 of us guests total, with 3 guides. Our guides were Daniel, Susan, and Emily Elisabeth. Everything except your phone, hat, and sunglasses has to go in a locker. We were each fitted with a vest and harness, and given a wrist strap to attach our phone to a carabiner and put in a pocket in the vest, we were given a water bottle (free souvenir) to fill up and a carabiner to attach, we were given a name tag (free souvenir), and an earpiece radio also attached to the vest. Our pictures were also taken (all photos taken a free to download with photopass). We walked along a hiking trail to get to the back of the hippo exhibit. Evelyn, the hippo keeper met us there. We were given a safety talk and shown how to undo our safety carabiner to clip and unclip from our vest. We were clipped into the walkout platform one by one. We were standing on a ledge in the back of the hippo pond. You could see both of the hippos and the safari trucks going by. Only one hippo came over and she fed the hippo some leafy greens while she gave us a hippo talk. It was very intimate and we could ask all the questions we wanted. Afterwards we unclipped and hiked to the next location which was the suspension bridges. Then one by one we were clipped into the rope bridge. The first rope bridge, you walked over the hippo exhibit, which there were two more hippos. Then there was a second rope bridge that went over some of the hippo exhibit, and then over the crocodile exhibit which had two crocodiles in it. The planks were uneven on purpose, and it was bouncy! After completing the second bridge, there was a water refill station, as well as a complimentary cooling towel. Then we all clipped into the platform above the crocodile exhibit. We got to view the two crocodiles from above their exhibit on another platform, while the 4th guide gave us a crocodile talk. We could also ask our own questions as well. We then did some more hiking and got on a private safari truck with views on all sides. We took the main safari path as the other ride vehicles, but we were able to pull over, stop, and stand up to take pictures multiple times. Throughout the safari the guides would talk to us about the animals and the reserve, and we were also able to ask our own questions, as it was an intimate safari. We saw many animals and many up close! It ended at the Boma overlook for the included snack/lunch. The first layer of the tin had homemade hummus (the best thing), with some pita bread, some mozzarella cheese with prosciutto, some olives and pickles. The second layer had a spiced chicken wrap, fruit salad, pickled veggies, and a sweet granola bar. All was good but the crowd favorite was the hummus. It was made by the tusker house chefs daily. POG juice was also included. It started to rain a tiny bit, and the overlook is sheltered, but they have tarps to put down in case the rain starts blowing in. They also have complimentary ponchos if it heavy rains. We had plenty of time to eat and look out. Then we went back on the safari truck to finish out our safari. We were brought back to the lockers to regain our things, and then we were set free to enjoy the rest of our day. Overall we really enjoyed this experience and were happy we did it. Overall what you are paying for is the exclusive intimate experience of these things to go in a small group and ask personalized questions. Both of our favorite parts was the suspension bridge, but we enjoyed the lunch and the private safari as well. The pictures we received were great, and were of the animals we saw on our actual adventure at that time which was cool. The guides were great, well seasoned and made sure everyone was happy and safe the entire time. It is worth it to try it out and experience something new, especially if you like animals and animal kingdom and the safari.
