best time to see animals at AK?

[KJHawley]

I've read several posts and books that have said to see the animals at AK (and do the safari) at dawn and dusk, when the animals are most active. I've read other posts saying that the animals are active all day, so it doesn't matter. Which one is it?

 

[2angelsinheaven]

We had an amazing safari the last time we visited AK by going first thing in the morning. We had never in our 100+ trips ever seen so many animals before. It was very cool. Of course we see animals each and every time, but I'll have to say this was the best.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We have also had better luck with the animals when we go early in the morning. They seem to be up and moving around more than later in the day when all they want is the shade.

 

[d4est]

Maybe it makes a difference in the warmer months? When we were there in the beginning of Feb, we did the safari 3x in the morning. While we did see a lot of animals, the lions never moved except to roll over. They were up on that rocky top & were hard to see or get a picture of. Same way with the other cats (forget what they are, lol).

 

[binkyboots]

we rode the safari a few times, by far the best was during a rain shower! the animals were much more active, we even saw the lions up and about! lol, we'd only seen tails until then.

 

[travelin' tigger]

I've read several posts and books that have said to see the animals at AK (and do the safari) at dawn and dusk, when the animals are most active. I've read other posts saying that the animals are active all day, so it doesn't matter. Which one is it?

I've done quite a few safaris over the years, but the last 2 trips I did late afternoon ones and saw tons of animals - got some great photos!! The animals are getting ready to head into the barns for the night so they're usually milling around, waiting - although on the last safari sometimes you miss some as they've moved out of sight.

HTH!!!

 

[KJHawley]

Thanks for all the responses. So, let me get this straight. Many of the animals- especially the lions and other large cats- are active in the morning, when they're hungry. After eating, they sleep all day, unless something really disturbing (like a storm) forces them to move. Then, they wake up in the evening when they're hungry and are waiting for their people to feed them.

As the owner of three housecats, none of this should have surprised me at all...

 

[cjb71870]

The lion and large cats are normally the least active. Morning is great. We've been on it tons of times and every one is different But, in the summer it gets HOT in the afternoon, so of course they want shade then!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

If you can get an early morning when it looks like it might rain that day, that seems to be the best!

You *can* see animals all day, but there's a pretty big difference in how many you'll see up and active depending on the heat.

 

[RedRover]

The best time to see animals is when you don't bring your camera. The one day I left mine back at the hotel (because we were planning to ride "wet" rides that day), the animals were practically jumping in front of the truck and seemed to be smiling at us. "Neener neener neener, you didn't bring your camera!" We saw cheetahs running and climbing trees. But no camera.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

Different animals are more active at different times of the day.

Some of the savannah dwellers (antelope, gazelle) tend to be more active in the morning, the big cats (lions and cheetahs) and some of the forest antelopes tend to be more active towards twilight. And the absolute best time to ride Safari is right after a hard rain.

 

[fanofdisney]

I've read that you can see a lot when it is raining for whatever reason.