Savor the Savanna
We recently went on one of the many fantastic tours at Animal Kingdom, Savor the Savanna. We had done the Wild Africa Trek previously, which we loved, so we were excited to try a new tour!
The day we went they had this tour offered twice, the first at 4:30 and the second at I believe 5:30. We decided to do the early one.
We arrived at the check-in booth, which is next to the entrance to Kilimanjaro Safari, about 30 minutes early since I wanted to make sure we were in the right place. There were cast members already working there who were happy to check us in that early.
We filled out our waivers, and since there was still a good amount of time left before the tour, the cast member suggested we go explore the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail.
It was a great suggestion since it was the perfect length to pass the time until our tour started.
Once we returned to the check-in booth closer to the start time the rest of the group on the tour had arrived.
This tour is limited to 12 guests, so it is a very intimate tour.
After everyone had checked in and signed the waivers, our guide, Kayla, guided us “backstage” to the truck.
The backstage area is really just a small boardwalk through the woods and not very long, so unlike most other times you go backstage, pictures were allowed here.
The truck we were in is different than the normal safari truck. Instead of rows of seating, the seats wrap around the perimeter of the truck and it is just enough room for the 12 guests and the guide.
Our guide, Kayla, was fantastic, was very knowledgeable about the animals on the savanna, and was just great to chat with.
I will note, the experience on the tour does rely a lot on the other guests and their willingness to ask questions. Kayla did a great job pointing things out on the savanna and talking about the animals, but what really added to the tour were the guests asking questions. You could tell that Kayla really loved to talk about the animals and the safari in general since she got very excited to answer our questions.
While out on the savanna the truck does pull off to the side so we could get better pictures of the animals, and even better, one of the animal keepers came on board the truck to chat with us and answer our questions. Once again, it was helpful having a group that asked questions to really engage the animal keeper. While very nice, he wasn’t as talkative as Kayla until we started asking questions.
After the animal keeper left, we continued on our tour, and around the flamingo pool we pulled off the main safari route to get up to the boma.
When we arrived at the boma, another cast member was there waiting to help us off the truck and then guide us to the seating area. Here they had a small table set up with food, it is served family style, and to be honest we didn’t think it looked like enough food for the entire group.
The evening we went they had smalls dishes of: shrimp, curry chicken, hummus, bread, fruit, and cheeses. We all took our turns dishing out our food onto small plates. At first we took less than we had wanted since it did seem like such a small amount of food for our group, but after everyone had their chance to get food we went back up for seconds and there was plenty of food left.
They also offer a variety of alcoholic drinks at the boma with a few varieties of wine and beer.
This was a very relaxing stop, the food was fantastic, and the views from the boma were amazing. There is a back section as well that looks out over the lions. While we were there a giraffe came very close to the boma, it was amazing to be so close to it and just watch it graze.
While we were there it started to rain, and we had the bonus surprise of them pulling out complimentary ponchos for all of us!
After we finished our meal, the cast members brought out the desserts. There were four options to pick from, a s’mores pot, a chocolate cake pop, a fruity pop, and one other. We decided to grab the s’mores pot and the chocolate cake pop to split.
The s’mores pot was very sweet, which was a bit much for my taste, but the chocolate cake pop was amazing. It wasn’t super sweet, but very decadent.
After our fantastic stop at the boma, we piled back into the truck to finish the safari.
At the end just before we parted ways, Kayla handed out some wooden coasters so we could “have a drink on Disney.”
This was such a great tour, it was great to have the semi private safari, and being able to talk to an animal keeper was so cool! The stop at the boma was fantastic, the food was delicious, and the views were amazing. Even when it started raining it was still so perfect out there (although thankful it is a covered area!)
I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone who loves the safari, learning more about animals, or just wants to experience something new at Animal Kingdom!
