If you enjoy photographing the animals in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you owe it to yourself to plan on riding Kilimanjaro Safari more than once and at different times of the day during your Walt Disney World visit. One can never predict when the perfect photo opportunity will arise.
It was late morning when I last took a ride through the Harambe Reserve. The driver/photography guide had a hard time finding good subjects for everyone’s cameras. This sometimes happens and you might only get one good opportunity. This is what happened as we approached the area where the cheetahs were. One of them was walking up to a rock cropping and into the light. Then it posed for us. The driver stopped so we could all get good photos.
Cheetah photographed on the Kilimanjaro Safari.
Nikon D7100/24-120VR, 1/500s, f/4, ISO 160, EV +0.3, 120mm (240mm DX Crop) Focal Length.
I have been on safari many times since Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in 1998. This was only the third time I have seen the cheetahs in a photograph-able location. The other two times was when I used a Super Zoom Lens and did the Wild Africa Trek. I know other photographers have had better luck than me or visit more often. Still, because of the limited times I have been able to photograph them, the cheetahs remain one of my favorites in Africa.
We went on the safari one time on a cool, rainy day a couple of years ago and were lucky enough to see a cheetah sitting on a rock at the front of the cheetah area. And even luckier to get a great photo of it sitting watching us go by!
Scott replies: Great! Reason why I keep riding and always have my camera at the ready.
Excellent photograph–I have been on the Safari countless times. The best opportunities for me have been when I leave the camera. :(.