On our most recent trip to Walt Disney World, we had an amazing animal adventure day which culminated in our first dinner at Jiko – The Cooking Place, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was Tuesday, July 15 and after participating in the Wildlife Discovery Safari in the morning, we spent the rest of the morning at the Animal Kingdom and then back to our resort for some R&R.

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge around 5:30pm, checked our daughter into Simba’s Cubhouse (the children’s club), and headed out to explore the resort. Simba’s is open from 4:30pm to midnight and is located across the courtyard and pool area from Jiko.

This was my husband’s first trip to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and I new he would want time to take many pictures. Our dinner reservations weren’t until 7:20 so we had plenty of time. We needed it! After wandering around the inside of the resort, we ventured out to the outside observation area and had one of the most interesting animal encounters I had ever had. We were in an area with a few giraffes and one in particular seemed as interested in the humans watching her as we were in watching her. I climbed up on some low rocks by the fence to get a better look. Well, Ms. Giraffe and I spent the next 10 minutes just watching each other. Other guests were even commenting on how interactive this giraffe was. I had on a black and white dress and comically though maybe I looked like a funny animal on the savannah. Who knows? But it was time to head in so I bid good bye to my new friend.

The original plan was to have a cocktail at the Victoria Falls bar but when we arrived it was busy and we wanted a little quiet time so we headed to Jiko as the restaurant also has a small bar area. We arrived at Jiko around 7:00pm and checked in. The hostess told us our table was ready now if we wanted to be seated right away. We declined and asked if it would be ok if we went to the bar first for a cocktail. Of course the answer was yes. We also asked if it would be possible if we could have a window table. Later, this would prove to be one of the smartest things we did all week! The hostess assured us she would do her best. So, off to the bar we went.

Two very pleasant bartenders were serving that night. They handed us the very large wine list and their special cocktail list. We came to learn that Jiko offers the largest selection of South African wines anywhere outside of South Africa. My only regret was not having done research on which wines to try! We actually settled on a specialty cocktail deciding to ask our server for help in pairing our wine to dinner.

After our cocktails, we let the hostess know we were ready and were immediately seated at a very nice window table towards the back of the restaurant. We took the first few minutes to admire the beautiful décor of the restaurant. The lights are amazing.

Our server appeared right away and inquired about drinks. We asked for Pelegrino stating that we would like her help in wine pairing. She seemed pleased. At this point, we started to notice the table to the left of us. Four men were enjoying dinner and talking food. We noticed our server going out of her way to be sure they were happy and enjoying their wine and food. Not that she wasn’t doing that for all of her table but for some reason, this table was special. Well it was! We found out after the gentleman had left “for sushi at Cali” that they were the Executive Chefs from the Flying Fish Cafe! From the beginning, we new something was up so I kept an ear open to hear about what they were eating and drinking. We asked our server for her recommendations and low and behold, they pretty much matched what the chefs were eating! She even brought us glasses of wine from bottles not ordinarily offered by the glass.

For our first starter we ordered the Barbecue Chicken Flatbread. The flatbreads are all backed in the kitchens open clay oven. Our first bite let us know we were in for an interesting meal. The spices used at Jiko are authentic African spices and range all over the spice board. Each dish we had was perfectly balanced. The food reminded us a restaurant here in the DC area called Farrah Olivia where Chef Monroe uses African and other exotic spices in his dishes. The flatbread was delicious but we decided to pace ourselves.

For our second appetizer, we ordered the Lamp “Patis” which were recommended by both bartenders as well as our servers. Always trust the restaurant staff. Well the Patis did not disappoint. They reminded us a little of the bastilla at Marrakesh in Epcot but were even better. The accompanying mint-cilantro chutney paired very well.

Our third and final appetizer, yes we had three, was the Duck and Stonefruit Salad. Duck Confit served with grilled peaches and cherries. Need I say more…ok…Yum! The grilled peaches and cherries were perfect with duck. I could have just had the grilled peaches and cherries by themselves and been happy.

We decided that after three appetizers, it would be best to share an entrée. After much deliberation, we settled on the Kenyan Coffee Barbecue Beef Short Ribs. I almost suggested the filet only because I wanted to try Jiko’s version of mac n’ cheese but the short ribs won out and were a great choice. The meat fell right off the bone and was tender, sweet, and delicious.

After four courses and several glasses of wine, we had no room for desert. Plus it was time to pick our daughter up from the kids club, which she thoroughly enjoyed by the way.

We truly enjoyed our first dinner at Jiko. From the food and wine, to the décor and service, everything was top notch. Sitting next to the chefs was fun too! Would I recommend Jiko to everyone? I think almost everyone unless your palette prefers simpler food. Jiko is a signature dining location and the night we were there we saw mostly adults dining without children.

Cuisine: African

Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

This is the second article in my Extraordinary Disney series.

This time I take my family on an the Wildlife Discovery Excursion at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, also known as the Concierge Safari, which is an incredible private Safari adventure at Animal Kingdom where we ride in a special air conditioned vehicle that is partially open, an animal specialist as our guide, and an expert driver who will take us to areas off of the regular safari where most guests never get to see.

The safari lasts about an hour. The special animal handler on board answered all of our questions and told us about little-known secrets and factoids about the animals and their environment. In order to participate in this private safari we needed to go back stage and were told not to take any pictures until we were out on the safari, so you will only see the pictures of areas where we were allowed to take photos. But when you go on this private safari yourself, you too will get to go back stage and see what goes into the creation and daily upkeep of all of the Animal Kingdom animals.

At the end of this article I will explain how to position yourself for this opportunity because it’s one that you can’t just call up and reserve like the Breathless II Illuminations Cruise. I also have another a tip at the bottom of this article about how to get even more up close and personal with even more animals and it’s free!

Our adventure starts at a secret meeting place in Animal Kingdom on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 9:30am.

We meet our driver and animal care expert who will be our guides, we wait a short while for the other two families to arrive and then head off back stage to board the vehicle which looks sort of like a rugged mini-bus that has seating for 14 people. The mini-bus is handicap accessible with a wheelchair lift. The windows are half-open but large enough to allow unobstructed views and picture taking. When you board the bus; if you have more than two people in your party, have some sit on one side of the bus and some on the other vs. all sitting on the same side. This way when there is an animal on the left side of the bus, they can crowd into your area and vice versa. We all sat on the right side of the bus and it was a little awkward squeezing into the other folks windows.

My husband and photographer said:

I think the left side of the bus had better activity that day and I really didn’t get all of the photos I had wanted and some that I did get were not up to par due to not having flexibility to get the right angle or having to shoot around other people at the window. It seemed that the middle area on the bus (front to rear) was best for having a good forward and rear angle on the wildlife.

After going through several security barriers, we pulled out right behind one of the Kilimanjaro Safari vehicles full of riders. We followed it for a while and then turned off. When we first got on our safari our guide told us that we will basically be following the same path that the normal Kilimanjaro Safari follows with the main difference being that throughout the ride there are several cross roads and pull offs that we will be using to pull over and explore various aspects of the safari more in depth. The regular safari vehicles must stay on the primary road and cannot stop for more than a couple of seconds due to ride flow constraints.

Our first sighting was some giant pelicans staying cool in one of the water features.

Almost immediately after that we came up on a good sized giraffe out for a morning walk right next to our vehicle.

We watched the giraffe for quite a while and even as we were driving around he still managed to stay within sight for a good part of the safari. As we looked over into one of the grassy fields we spotted two Tomson’s Gazelle or “Tommies” just laying out and keeping an eye on things around them.

At our next stop, we wondered back up a trail off of the main road and stopped for a while to look at some termite mounds. As we were sitting there one of the folks noticed that a tree near us was covered with a metallic mesh and our guide told us how they have to protect the trees as the animals use them to sharpen their antlers which can cause significant damage to the trees if left unprotected.

Also, if you look closely at the tree to the right about 5 feet up you will see what looks like a can attached to the tree. This is actually a special device made with brown PVC that is used to rig tree branches for feeding the giraffes. We saw several feeding stations like this one, all located just a short distance away from the main road.

We continued on for a ways and came up on some gazelles fighting. We passed some wildebeests, and more termite mounds. We passed a pair of Baboons that appeared to be either taking a break or about to resume a mating ritual according to our guide. Below is the male Baboon as the female had moved around into a cave or behind their ledge.

Then we came around a corner and saw these cow-like creatures that had huge horns, like Texas Longhorn cattle, I suppose. We learned from our guide that they are called Ankole Cattle and are a status of wealth in some African tribes. These cattle are often used as part of a bride’s dowry.

Next was the coolest part so far, we rolled down the main road a bit further and pulled off near some elephants. At first it just looked like two adult elephants but then a baby elephant stepped out beside its mother.

Some more information and photo advice from my husband and photographer:

We have been out on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride many times but because of the almost-constant motion and bouncing of the vehicle throughout the ride, high-quality photography is nearly impossible except for those brief moments that the vehicle slows or stops, but even then you are stuck in your seat without the option of moving over to the left or right side of the vehicle to get that perfect shot. Basically after about a half-dozen times through the ride, I have built up about 5 or 6 decent photos over the years that were just shear luck, being at the right place at the right time under the right conditions or by handing the camera off to someone with a better angle and hoping they know what they are doing. Taking the private safari allows you reasonable mobility around the vehicle from side to side as well as many more frequent stops so you have a good solid base from which to take your photos.

On this day for our safari it was extremely overcast and with a 200 ISO, the still vehicle made all the difference between great pictures and blurs. For the record, I had done a quick lens switch from my wide angle I had been using to capture some scenery shots prior to boarding, to my telephoto lens, I must have accidentally disabled my VR so due to the light conditions, most of my shots taken while the vehicle was moving ended up slightly blurred but all was not lost as my shots taken when the vehicle was stationary turned out pretty decent. I made it a rule after that to always triple check my AF and VR settings after doing a switch.

If I hadn’t of screwed up that setting, if the light had been a bit brighter that morning, if I had upped my ISO a bit, and if we had sat in seats directly across the aisle for better cross-vehicle access, you would be looking at about double the number of awesome photos vs. what you are seeing here. I have only had my Nikon D40 for about 8 months now having recently converted over from my compact digital Casio Exilm line of cameras, so I’m still learning the ropes of the SLR. Next time I will be better prepared and might even consider bumping my ISO to 400 if there is overcast or indirect sunlight.

Photo equipment used: Nikon D40, Nikon DX 18-200mm with HOYA Pro1 Digital UV101 Filter. Auto-focus: ON, VR: OFF & Inactive, ISO: 200, Flash: Nikon Speedlight SB-400. For my camera programming mode, I followed the advice of Ken Rockwell, who’s website led to the equipment I choose and some of the techniques I am using. It was tough choosing between Nikon and Canon but the Nikon D40 was the perfect camera for what I needed and being the cheapest made it an easy choice. It’s a great beginner camera and paired with the upgraded lenses can take some incredible pictures! Without finding Ken’s website when I was ready to purchase a camera for our business, I know I would have made the wrong choice. In hind sight, if there was one thing I could change it would be to have upgraded to the SB-800 flash instead of the SB-400 as it would give me better clearance over my wide angle 77mm lens.

My husband/photographer brings up a good point that the private safari will provide an excellent opportunity for both amateur and professional photographers to get some incredible shots throughout the safari that you just can’t get on the tourist version of this ride. Be sure and bring a camera that has some zoom capability as some of the shots may be a good distance away.

Here is a picture of another baby elephant that was also hanging out with what looked like it’s mother right next to the other pair. This one looked a bit younger then the first baby.

Further down the road we came up on some pink Flamingos that were bathing around a little island in the middle of a small pond. There were some baby Flamingos that looked very cute but appeared to be sleeping or very shy. It’s hard to believe but the baby Flamingos are the little fuzzy brown birds kneeling on the beach.

What came next was an extreme up-close moment with a huge Rhino that appeared to as curious about us as we were about her. She came up and checked us out and then went back about her business.

One point to mention (no pun intended) was that the guide knew all the Rhinos by name and even with limited visibility could tell which one was which. He went on to describe how on some “more aggressive” Rhinos horn modification is sometimes prescribed. He also pointed out that each Rhino had very unique characteristics that might look all the same to most people but if you looked closely enough you could tell them apart with some being more obvious then others.

We saw lots of great animals that day and I have several more pictures that came out great and I will be posting them on the Vacation Dreams Travel website shortly. After our excursion, we got a picture with our tour guide and driver who had driven back into the main park to drop us off.

We highly recommend this event and now I will tell you how you can book this for yourself. The first thing you have to do in order to book this event is to make sure that you plan your vacation out far in advance. Then you will need to book at least one night at a Concierge level room at one of the Deluxe resorts. This private safari is only offered to Disney resort concierge level guests and must be booked in advance through the concierge or resort itinerary planner. The cost is $45 per person with a portion of the fee going towards the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. The safari is offered twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

For the free way to get just as up close and personnel with the animals as the private safari, either get in your car and drive to Animal Kingdom Lodge, or from any park, hop on the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus. Once at the Lodge, go through the main entrance all the way to the opposite side and out the back door. You will notice an outcropping of rocks surrounded by a fence where you can observe the animals as the people are doing in the photo below.

When we were there, we had some very up close and personnel encounters with a Giraffe and some other animals that was totally unexpected as we had just stopped in for dinner at Jiko.

If you haven’t visited the Animal Kingdom Lodge, it is absolutely beautiful and has many authentic artifacts you can browse. While we were outside at the observation area we met up with one of the cast members who was a wealth of knowledge about the animals and the lodge as well. Having a cast member there and available is very helpful as they can tell you the names of the various types of animals as well.

Overall, it was an amazing day of close-up animal encounters starting out with a private safari at Animal Kingdom at 10am and ending up over at Animal Kingdom Lodge for another series of close-up animal encounters with a curious giraffe and many other beautiful creatures.