@littlebearfan can you give some more info on the animal interaction? I'm planning a trip and am trying to decide between two different tours. Thanks!
So sorry for taking so long, I wasn't watching this thread! You start off with Breakfast at Boma. They make some specialty items just for the tour, but you get to eat off the entire buffet too! And they gave each of us a Water Bottle with the logo of the tour on it - already filled with ice cold water.
They drive you (by Safari Truck) around to different housing for the animals. You have to get off the truck and enter each enclosure. You are given different types of food to feed the animals and they take pictures of everyone, but only with the Okapi and Giraffes. You are only allowed to take your own pictures while you are out on the savanna. Which is kind of hard to do while bouncing around. You may get a chance at some good pictures when they stop the truck.
The first one is the Okapi. We got to see 2 different ones - but only touch one of them (she was born and raised at Disney), and only around her neck as instructed. They take pictures of your interaction with her. The second one was extremely shy - so we only saw her sticking her head out of her enclosure. They use these tours to get the animals used to people dressed in different clothes, different smells, etc. This helps when the different vets come to see the animals.
Then came the Giraffes. They give you a lot of information while standing outside the barn - which was interesting, but hard to take in as we really wanted to see the Giraffes! They had a mother and daughter pair inside. You lined up and fed them through a fence at first - with leafy branches. Then they move the mother over to an area where she can reach her head over and take things like lettuce directly from your hands. They don't allow you to touch the giraffe. One by one, you offer her something and they take your picture while doing it. I asked if the tours are always the same Giraffes (I am not sure they completely heard\understood my question), and was told the Daughter wasn't tall enough yet to reach over and take from peoples hands. So I don't know if it will always be the same two giraffes.
Then we fed some Ostriches. They are a little aggressive in their eating, but still fun. They put some feed into a cup with a long handle and you walk up to the fence a couple of people at a time. They certainly know where the food is located! They go right for it.
Then we went to visit the Red River Hogs. They talk about them and show you some of the things they are training them to do - mostly to cooperate with their own vet care. They had some 'toys' that we filled with different foods, then we went out into their outside area and left the toys. We came back in, and they let the hogs outside. It was amazing how fast they found the items!
At the end, they gave each of us a Sense of Africa pin.
You also get the card with a code so you can download the pictures. You get all the pictures they took throughout the day - even the ones of the other tourists. We already had Memory Maker, but I think you can download these pictures without it. I am not really sure about that part.