Kilimanjaro Safari in the evening

KelleyK75

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
What’s everyone’s thoughts on the Kilimanjaro Safari later in the evening? Are more of the animals heading back inside or out of view? I will be in AK on May 19 but won’t arrive there until around 3:00pm. I did a Na’vi River Fastpass at 4:40 & a Safari one at 5:50. Wondering if I should try to do the Safari earlier than that? Thanks!!!
 
5:50 might be okay. We usually ride earlier in the morning, but once we tried the nighttime safari. That was a bust! It was hard to see and there were less animals around to view overall. If the sun is still up, you'll probably have a good experience.
 
5:50 might be okay. We usually ride earlier in the morning, but once we tried the nighttime safari. That was a bust! It was hard to see and there were less animals around to view overall. If the sun is still up, you'll probably have a good experience.
Thank you!!
 
It's completely impossible to predict what you will or won't see on a safari at any time of day, simply because you're dealing with live animals. Going in the dark you will definitely "see" less but that's because you literally can't see. Beyond that, you never know. We've had awesome tours in the morning, awesome ones at dusk and bad ones too. Dusk is visually beautiful...and the line is short.
 


We did one of the last safaris of the night in March and loved it. We saw lots of animals as the weather was cooling off some! I think, with live animals, you never know what you might be able to see.
 


Some people have reported that the lions are more likely to be active and roar at dusk. That fits an experience we had at Bush Gardens but I don't know it's that's really common or just chance.
 
I was wondering the same thing. Have never done a safari in the evening or near dusk. Sounds like something we will have to try.
 
We went when it was very dark out (I think it was the last ride of the night) and honestly it was tough to see much of anything. I wouldn't recommend it.
 
It's completely impossible to predict what you will or won't see on a safari at any time of day, simply because you're dealing with live animals. Going in the dark you will definitely "see" less but that's because you literally can't see. Beyond that, you never know. We've had awesome tours in the morning, awesome ones at dusk and bad ones too. Dusk is visually beautiful...and the line is short.

True. We try to ride it a few times every visit to AK in different hours if the day. Never had the same experience twice.
 
We went in August and it was right when it got dark and we seriously saw nothing. It was kind of spooky because i kept thinking and animal was going to be right near me. I much prefer the morning.
 
We have been on the safari tons of tmes. The best ever ride was around dusk in the summer. The lions were out and the male lion was on "pride" rock just like the lion king. If that wasn't enough he let out a roar that was just unbelievable. The entire vehicle was silent. In fact even before we got to the lions we could hear him roaring. When we pulled away the guide/driver said that we just saw a rare sight. It doesn't happen that often.

As others have said it's just in the timing and luck. We have been riding the safari since opening week and very rarely even saw the lions and had never heardtje male roar. It was quite a sight.
 
We have been on the safari tons of tmes. The best ever ride was around dusk in the summer. The lions were out and the male lion was on "pride" rock just like the lion king. If that wasn't enough he let out a roar that was just unbelievable. The entire vehicle was silent. In fact even before we got to the lions we could hear him roaring. When we pulled away the guide/driver said that we just saw a rare sight. It doesn't happen that often.

As others have said it's just in the timing and luck. We have been riding the safari since opening week and very rarely even saw the lions and had never heard the male roar. It was quite a sight.
 
What’s everyone’s thoughts on the Kilimanjaro Safari later in the evening? Are more of the animals heading back inside or out of view? I will be in AK on May 19 but won’t arrive there until around 3:00pm. I did a Na’vi River Fastpass at 4:40 & a Safari one at 5:50. Wondering if I should try to do the Safari earlier than that? Thanks!!!

We did Safari after dinner one night, didn’t have a FP. I didn’t want to, but kids did... happy we did because the lions were out and one was actually roaring!!! It was amazing!! I might still have the video somewhere, I’ll look for it. But I’d recommend it. Enjoy!
 
We did Safari after dinner one night, didn’t have a FP. I didn’t want to, but kids did... happy we did because the lions were out and one was actually roaring!!! It was amazing!! I might still have the video somewhere, I’ll look for it. But I’d recommend it. Enjoy!
That’s awesome, thank you!!
 
We rode it once after dark and we won't do that again. We saw very little. I think as long as there is some light, you should be able to see at least some things.

Have a great trip!
 

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