View source for Africa (Disney's Animal Kingdom)

'''Africa''' is a themed land at [[Disney's Animal Kingdom]] in the [[Walt Disney World]] Resort, Florida. Opened with the park on April 22, 1998, it is built around Harambe, a fictional East African coastal village, and contains the park's flagship animal attraction, [[Kilimanjaro Safaris]], in which open-sided trucks tour a savanna reserve of about 110 acres. Africa sits on the park's northwestern side, reached by bridge from [[Discovery Island (Disney's Animal Kingdom)|Discovery Island]].

== Setting and design ==
Harambe is Swahili for "working together," and in the land's backstory the village is a small port and administrative centre that has opened itself to visitors and to the wildlife reserve beyond its borders. Imagineers, led by Joe Rohde, travelled in Kenya and Tanzania during the design period, and the village reflects that research: whitewashed walls are weathered and patched, posters and hand-painted signs advertise local businesses, wiring sags overhead, and the fictional railway that serves the town runs through its centre. The intention was a place that appeared lived in and older than the park itself, rather than a tidy stage set.

Beyond the village, the land gives way to the Harambe Wildlife Reserve. Habitats for the safari were designed as landscapes first — savanna, forest, wetlands and rocky outcrops — with ditches, water features and plantings used to separate animals from vehicles and from each other in ways visitors are not meant to notice.

== History ==
Africa opened on April 22, 1998, with Kilimanjaro Safaris, the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and the Wildlife Express Train, which carries visitors to Rafiki's Planet Watch. The walking trail was renamed the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail within the park's first year and kept that name until 2016, when the Gorilla Falls name was restored.

The land has expanded twice. On June 1, 2014, the Harambe Theatre opened as the new home of the ''Festival of the Lion King'' stage show, which had lost its original venue when Camp Minnie-Mickey closed to make way for [[Pandora – The World of Avatar]]. On May 23, 2015, Harambe Market added a complex of food stalls arranged around a former train depot on the village's eastern side. From May 2016, Kilimanjaro Safaris began running into the evening, using concealed lighting to simulate a prolonged sunset on the savanna.

== Attractions ==
* '''[[Kilimanjaro Safaris]]''' — a guided tour of roughly twenty minutes through the Harambe Wildlife Reserve, home to elephants, giraffes, lions, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, cheetahs, zebras and other species in large open habitats. The ride originally carried a story about chasing elephant poachers; that framing, and an earlier, grimmer scene involving a poached elephant that was cut before opening day, were progressively softened and finally removed altogether in 2012.
* '''Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail''' — a self-guided walking trail presented as a research camp and sanctuary, with okapis, meerkats, hippopotamuses viewed from an underwater window, an aviary, and a large troop of western lowland gorillas, including family groups visible from glass-enclosed and open viewing areas.
* '''Festival of the Lion King''' — a large-scale stage show in the Harambe Theatre combining singers, dancers, stilt walkers, aerial performers and large puppets in a celebration built around the songs of ''The Lion King'' (1994).
* '''Wildlife Express Train''' — a narrow-gauge railway running from Harambe station to Rafiki's Planet Watch, passing backstage animal housing on the way.

== Dining and shopping ==
The land's principal restaurant is '''Tusker House''', a buffet with character appearances, set in a building presented as the village governor's residence and offices. '''Harambe Market''' offers several counter-service stalls; '''Tamu Tamu Refreshments''', '''Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery''' and the '''Dawa Bar''' serve the village streets. Shops include '''Mombasa Marketplace''' and '''Ziwani Traders'''.

== See also ==
* [[Disney's Animal Kingdom]]
* [[Kilimanjaro Safaris]]
* [[Asia (Disney's Animal Kingdom)]]

== References ==
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[[Category:Disney's Animal Kingdom]]
[[Category:Walt Disney World]]
[[Category:1998 establishments in Florida]]