DAY 6, THURSDAY FEBRUARY 16TH, PART 1
This was the day, the day I got to do Wild Africa Trek. I was scheduled for the first tour of the day, at 8am. I woke up at 6am and got ready. Since I wasn't sure if I could get a bus there in time, I called Yellow Cab at 6:50am to arrange a 7:15am pick-up. I got a few pictures of Hourglass Lake as I walked to the front circle.
The cab pulled up at exactly 7:15am and we headed on our way. Unfortunately the main gate was not open yet, and the meter kept running while we sat there waiting to be let in.
At 7:30am they let us thru and I was dropped off by the bus stops. With tip it was a $20 cab ride. It had started lightly raining as we were waiting to be let in, but stopped by the time I got out of the cab. I took a couple pictures as I walked up to the gates to check in.
I was the second person there and was given all of the paperwork to take care of. Giving my information, emergency contact, health info, signing the waiver, etc. Once I finished my paperwork I sat down to wait until everyone else arrived and finished theirs. There was a sizable line forming for breakfast reservations for Tusker House already. Once everyone finished their forms we were taken into AK and walked to Harambe. I took a couple pictures while we walked, but was trying to keep up and listen to the CM so I took two.
We made our way to the Dawa Bar and went around the back to a gate that let us behind everything. We walked over to a hut where we met our guides, Devin and Emily. We were all showed to our free lockers where everything that wasnt a camera with a wrist or neck strap, or medication, had to go. No phones, no backpacks/purses, no keys, nothing else at all. A few people grumbled but no one made a big deal about leaving everything. We were given a last opportunity to use the restroom, then taken around front of the hut to get weighed. It was very private, you couldnt even see your own weight (unless you asked, then they would show you) only the CM doing our vests could.
Once you had your weight and size appropriate vest on they hooked you up with a mic pack. The guides spoke into a headset that connected wirelessly to all of our mic packs that had a wired earpiece for us to wear. That way we could always hear everything all of the guides said. There was a pocket on the vest for the mic pack and clips to keep the earpiece wire in place too. The only other pockets/clips were for our given water bottle and for a wrist strapped camera (which I didnt need since I have a neck strap). Thats why nothing else can come with you, there is no where to put it! Next we all got weight appropriate harnesses to use for the hanging and bridge-walking parts. They were VERY snug and I had trouble walking with it at first, but we all got used to them after a few minutes.
Once everyone was vested, miced and harnessed we walked over to the practice bridge.
The practice bridge was only a few feet off the ground, but otherwise a replica of the ones over the hippos and
crocs later. I had no problem with it, nor did anyone else, including the kids.
Once everyone had walked across we got some water and Jungle Juice (yummy!).
Here are the guides, Devin on the far left and Emily next to him. Emily was also the photographer, while Devin did most of the talking and led us on the tour.
After all of that it was time to get going! We got two groups shots, one normal and one with cat claws per Emily. The next two after that were taken by Emily too, as we walked thru Harambe and got an explanation of the sausage tree.
My own shot of the sausage tree.
We then headed into the Pagani Forest to start our trek! This first picture was taken by Emily (you can see me kind of blurry above the sign), then the animal shots were taken by me.
Then we headed into the aviary. All of these shots are mine.
Emily got a picture of Devin talking to us about the various birds in the aviary.
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST