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Day 6, August 08
Welcome to Kidani -
Part 4
A few minutes later we arrived
back at the Lodge, where we climbed off our Safari vehicle
right at the front entrance and
our wildlife guide led us into the lobby. We were on our way to the
elevator, when I heard someone calling my name. I wasn’t quite sure,
so I turned around and there was a small group of people calling out
to me, asking if I was who I am. Yes, that is me. One of them then
explained that she was following my trip reports on the DISboards
and introduced her sister. Would I be willing to pose for a photo
with them? Sure!!!
(look at the people behind us
......)
So I got into the group, some
photos were taken and Jenn promised to PM me on the DIS as our
Safari group had moved on and were now looking at us while waiting
for the elevator. It was just a short meet, but it made our day
extra special.
Thank you for stopping us, Jenn.
It was awesome to meet you all
at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
And after waving goodbye we then
quickly made our way over to the elevator where we were asked if
that had been friends or relatives that had stopped us and the guide
was quite surprised when we told him that I write about our trips
and Jenn and her sister were some of our readers. Once we got off
the elevator we were led into Jiko and taken to a long marble table
in the middle of the restaurant. We found our seats and soon we were
served a drink. There were non-alcoholic ones, but we went for the
Sunriser, Parrot Bay Rum and
Banana Liqueur blended with Orange, Pineapple and Cranberry Juice.
It was nice and refreshing, even though you could definitely taste
the alcohol. And while we waited for our food we got to know each
other a bit better. There was a couple from Britain, who was
travelling with family and this was their “night off”, another
couple from the North East and a family consisting of three
generations. It was fun to hear about their vacation while enjoying
the surroundings. And soon we were served an
Amuse Bouche, a piece of white
fish served on some African spiced sauce. It was an explosion of
flavour in your mouth and we were really looking forward to the
things that were about to come. The
Taste of Africe Bread Service
was served family style, African inspired Dips and traditional
papadum, roosterkoek and house-made flax seed naan. The plates went
round the table and everyone took some samples. Next came individual
appetizer plates.
There was
Inguday Tibs in Brik,
berbere-spiced mushrooms, spinach, cheese in crispy Tunisian filo
with green apples and curry vinaigrette, the
Crispy "Bobotie" Roll, beef,
boar, buffalo, cucumber raita, green mango atjar, honey-roasted
peanuts and some
Jiko Salad, crisp green leaves
with heirloom apples, cape gooseberries, Point Reyes Bay blue,
candied walnuts, maple-cider vinaigrette. They served wine with it
for everyone who wanted to try the perfect wine pairing and since it
was white wine, we both happily tried it. Once we all had enjoyed
our starters the main course was served.
Not to get ahead of myself, but
the mains were the only let down of the Safari, not that they would
not have been tasty, but since they were served in larger bowls,
which had not been warmed beforehand and then put on the marble
table top, the food was cold when it finally landed on the plate
after being “sent” around the table. There was Botswana-Style Seswaa
Beef Short Rib, Cassava-potato puree, sambal, mushrooms and tamarind
demi-glace, Maize-crusted Halibut, vegetables of the moment and
tomato-butter sauce and Harissa Chicken, oven roasted chicken,
Cinnamon Couscous, and Saffron Broth and Jiko’s Braai Macaroni &
Cheese, Chakalaka, house-made Boerewors sausage, Provolone, Fontina,
Gruyere, Asiag . I wish they had just asked what everyone wanted or
plated it like the starter, as it lost lots of its originality by
being served family style.
Again, wine was served with the
main course. Dessert was served individually plated again.
We all got samplers, there were
Ghanaian Chocolate and Kenyan
Coffee Pot de Crème, almond creme with almond crunch and raspberries,
Granadilla Melktart, passion
fruit, orange-cardamom custard, coconut cremeux, and bubble sugar
and the
Malva Pudding, amarula creme,
wild amarena cherries and toasted meringue. They served some dessert
wine with it, but since we cannot bring ourselves to drink those
sweet wines we declined. Dessert was really yummy again, but we all
were pretty full and quite a bit of it was left over. And while we
were still working on dessert everyone was given a small giftbox.
There was some
African chocolate, which had a
lot of dried fruit and nuts mixed in and a Wanyama Safari pin in it.
As some of the safari guests had
to leave the next day, nobody stayed for much longer after dinner
was done and we said our goodbyes as well. On the way out of the
resort we stopped at the gift shop and had a look at their
merchandise, before we finally headed back to the car. In the
meantime it had gotten dark and we were tired anyway, so we drove
back the short way to the Pumba parking lot, which by now was pretty
full and we needed some time to find a spot to park our car, but
then we found ourselves in the elevator going back up to our floor
and our room. We sat out on the balcony for a while, talking about
our day, but we were tired and soon ended up on the bed, watching a
little TV before drifting off to dreamland.
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