Akl

[motherhamv]

What is the best time of morning at the AKL to see the animals close up?

[Basket Mommy]

It's around 8:45 am right now and I'm sitting in a Savanna view room at Kidani. The only animals out now are two Ankole cattle and two large birds. When I woke up at 8 there were just the 2 birds.

[#1donaldfan]

For me on several visits at daybreak, I'd have coffee on the balcony while reading my bible and the animals were right there, virtually at my fingertips ....

[j2k]

When we were there around 7:30-8 we would see them. But when we returned in the afternoon around 3 they were always closer than in the morning.

[Cinderelley]

I think it depends on where you are viewing them from. Our room faced where they got fed every morning, so every animal was right outside our balcony at breakfast time. I doubt if you could see them very well from just the viewing areas. In the afternoon, they were pretty scarce near our room, but we saw quite a few of them as we would walk from the bus stop to our room.

[Simba's Mom]

Not mid-morning. All the animals at AKL are called into their barns between 8:30-11:30. Not all animals go in at the same time. The animal keepers rotate the savannah, each for about 1 1/2 hours. And since the vet checks, etc. start pretty promptly at 9:00, whoever's scheduled then gets called in starting at about 8:30-8:45. The animals mosey along towards the barn extraordinarily slowly. We were outside once when they got called in, and it was amazing how they just sort of ambled slowly in the direction they were going. I'd always thought that when the appropriate noise was played (whistle, gong, etc.), they'd lift their head and kind of take off at a trot. I learned all this at the "Lunch with an Animal Keeper" and saw it first hand the next morning. So early morning or later in the day (afternoon or evening) are better.