8yo on Wild Africa Trek

[juliekzp]

Age requirement for Wild Africa Trek is 8, and my son will be just barely 8 when we are there in February. He probably has average stamina for his age, but will get whiny if tired or uncomfortable. Would love your thoughts on how younger kids do on the Wild Africa Trek!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

My DS did it when he was 8 years and 2 months old. He had pretty much had it by the time they took the snack break! I think if there had been more activities like the hanging bridge and the harness with the hippos, he would have been more interested, but there was a lot of walking and talking involved. Keep in mind, my DS has been on the safari countless times, so it was a bit been-there-done-that for him. If your son hasn't experienced the safari before, the whole experience may be of more interest to him than it was for my DS!

 

[JennyDrake]

I would wait; IMHO 12 is a MUCH better age (lower) limit.

 

[dsdeleon]

We went in August with our newly turned 8yo. He is our athlete that has actually been backpacking for days in mountains so I wasn't too worried about him but his 11 yo brother is not the outdoors type. They both loved it! The CMs are great, and the experience was really magical. There were some other guests complaining about the amount of exercise but it's really not excessive at all. They were more the type complain about everything which was kind of cracking my husband I up as it was an expensive excursion be complaining the whole time!

 

[PatMcDuck]

It may go well with an 8 year old who is very interested in the experience. And one who is somewhat patient, because some of the trek involves standing around waiting for the other tour members to complete a task. (use this time to speak to the guide who is nearby!) It is not a time for self exploration, except at the very end when you eat lunch at the hut thing, there you can walk around somewhat. So I would make sure the child understood what it is like to be on a tour.

The walking is no big deal at all, and should not be an issue, IMHO.

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

I brought my 8 year old daughter last summer. She did great. I think she was proud to be the youngest person in the group. She never complained, and she will do so if tired and not interested. I let her take her own camera and take pictures (it had to be secured with a neck strap). She is more adventurous than me, she will go on any crazy roller coaster. So the bridge was a highlight, not a scary part. All that said, it depends on the kid. My son is 6, and I will not even consider taking him on this tour at age 8.

The first half is walking, the second half is a bit more relaxing. We did do an 8am tour, which meant getting up really early, but there were only 7 people in our group, so that meant less waiting around.