Kilimanjaro Safari - with Wallaby!

After the previous truckload of guests unload, we are waved forward and take our place on the first regular rows of the truck. They're behind the driver’s cab, but not right next to it. Because this is a wheelchair-accessible truck, there’s a flat loading area for wheelchair-bound guests separating us from the cab.

There are others loading onto this truck, so it’s not a private tour. Not that we expected that, but it does make it a bit awkward, since Wallaby and I can’t really speak freely. We exchange a wave and a quick greeting, but he can’t break character, and I don’t fault him a bit for it.

Wallaby is a consummate professional, welcome guests as they board and talking about the upcoming “two-week” safari. We do manage a bit of public interplay on our marsupial identities. As part of the spiel, Wallaby asks the passengers if there are any particular animals they want to see on this trip. I shout “Wallabies!”

“Wallabies, huh? I don’t know if we’ll see any of those,” he replies, while at the same time holding his hand up and pointing back at himself!

Soon enough we’ve loaded and are headed away on our voyage into the outback, I mean, savannah.

With the weather being so cool, the animals are out in force. It’s amazing – they are everywhere. We even spot a hippo out of the water, which Wallaby confirms is not seen very often. Giraffes are up on a ridge, where I’d never seen them before, and we even spot a baby giraffe back through some trees. Wallaby comments, “I wonder if that’s the same one that tried to lick me last week?”

Above and beyond my knowing the guy, I am extremely impressed with Wallaby as a safari guide. He’s not only knowledgeable about the animals we are seeing (all the more impressive since I know that he hasn’t been at this attraction that long) (or maybe he’s just good at making up stuff convincingly on the fly!), but he makes the trip seem spontaneous and new. For example, when we come to intersections in the road, he often hesitates and lets us in on his thought processes as he “decides” which path to continue on. It’s woven into the story extremely well, and comes very close to making us feel like we’ve gone on an actual African safari!

One simple line he uses cracks us up. When we first break out to where we see the grasslands stretching in front of us, Wallaby sighs, “I love this view. I wish I could see it more often.” You’d think it really had been weeks since he was last here, not thirty minutes!

All in all, even though we’ve never had a bad driver on this ride, Big Wallaby is easily the very best we’ve ever had. Add to that the incredible numbers of animals we saw, and I can’t imagine the Safari ride being any better than this one. It’s perfect.

Soon enough we are through. We pass by the usual unload area – we’ll be returning to Departure 3 so that disabled guests can retrieve their chairs or scooters. Makes sense.