Kilimanjaro Safari at Night - Worth it?

[hjchik]

Considering doing the Kilimanjaro Safari at night... saw that it is a new option since our last trip to AK in 2011. Has anyone gone on the night time ride, is it worth it to head over one evening and take a tour around? Thanks!

 

[FSU Girl]

No. I would go at sunset when there is still light out. I was really disappointed by the ride at night. They don't have additional lighting so the only light is coming off the truck. I barely saw anything. It got delayed a lot too because animals would just stand in the middle of the road (although I guess this could happen at anytime but happened a lot on this one ride and the line didn't move for 20 minutes because they couldn't get an animal off the road. When I went during sunset the animals were really active and I could still see everything.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Yup, I just went on the nighttime safari a few nights ago, and from my experience it wasn't worth it. It pains me to say that because I'm a HUGE KS fan. And I got the whole truck to myself with the driver, so we could interact, ask questions, etc. pretty well. That part was nice, but the whole seeing animals part really wasn't so great.

 

[hertamaniac]

I did it at sunset and the driver struggled to point out animals (because they were not visible). I do not plan to do this ride again, daytime or night.

 

[FSU Girl]

I did it at sunset and the driver struggled to point out animals (because they were not visible). I do not plan to do this ride again, daytime or night.

Have you done it during the day? It's really nice when you can see everything

 

[Flamingeaux]

Another vote for trying sunset at least once. In some ways it is worse and in some ways it is better.

 

[alliecat523]

We only did it once at night and the driver pointed out a ton of animals to us. We had a great experience but it seems like that’s the exception.

 

[HopperFan]

If you have spare time then maybe because (1) Hyenas will be out (2) Lions are often awake and active, sometimes roaring.

Otherwise you won't see much. I've done it once at dusk and once in total dark. I honestly don't see myself doing it again because of the lack of animal activity, especially once dark and I just feel like leave the poor animals alone and let them have a decent amount of quiet time. There are a variety of spot lights and lighting on them which I find invasive.

 

[yulilin3]

Another vote for sunset instead of full night (dark) time. We saw the hyenas and the lions, they were awake and moving around. Also all the other regular animals you get to see in the day time

 

[Rach73]

We did it at night Summer 2016 the lions were awake and roaring! It was a highlight of our trip. Did it again Summer 2017 and they were not so active but the hyenas were running around. Worth it to us we love KS!

 

[goofy4tink]

I did it three times on the same day...once around 3ish, then again at sunset, then about an hour later, after dark. The sunset one is still one of the best I've done. They've added some lights out there, but it's still hard to see anything once it's dark. I won't do the after dark safari's anymore.

 

[DizzyStitch]

I loved that one area that looks like it is just lit with moon light near the end. That is one part that is really cool to see after dark. And hearing the lions can be pretty neat. The first time we thought it was a recording. Found out it wasn't since it doesn't happen every time.

 

[CAS239]

No point when it's fully dark, you won't see anything

 

[DestyTiger]

I think it is just the luck of the draw on the night time safari. We did it for the first time in July when it was fully dark and absolutely loved it. Now there were some parts where you really couldn't see any of the animals, but some areas were much more active than we had ever seen. We actually saw Hippos coming in and out of the water (had never even seen them move any of the other times we had gone during the day). The lions were very active and vocal for our tour. It is harder to see, but our driver was very patient and helped us seen a ton of things. Many more animals were out on the savanah section then I had ever seen before.

Like I said, it may just be the luck of the draw. I think it is worth trying once, just for something different.

 

[DMLAINI]

We went at sunset & it was amazing. The animals were really active.

 

[RolloTomasi]

I went last year at dusk and it was the the best experience I’ve had on the safari. Easily the most active I’ve ever seen the animals and we saw so so many! I finally was able to get a shot of the cheetahs, who were always hiding whenever I rode during the day.

 

[GATORinaZ28]

I did it once just to do it. It was too dark to see much. I doubt I would do it at night again.

But you never know...lol...

 

[annemce118]

I did it this summer and was so mad that I had wasted my time. You can't see much at all.

 

[buzznina]

It use to be one our favorite rides when they were pretending to chase poachers, now it's just okay, just a truck ride looking at animals. We still like the song that plays in the background

 

[TG_WDW]

Join the initial rush at rope drop and go on first thing in the morning. Sure, a large amount of animals are nocturnal, but they are usually also camouflaged. So. There's that lol