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.