Kwango Kate

**The Kwango Kate** is a boat from the *Jungle Cruise*.

## Description

The Kwango Kate was a 1930s tramp steamer. It was wrecked in a Hippo Pool of the Nile river in 1938.

## History

### Background

#### Origins

The Kwango Kate was a boat used by skippers of the Jungle Navigation Company in the 1930s to traverse the supernatural, "Rivers of Adventure" which connected regions across the globe. In the year 1938, company president Alberta Falls arranged for a V.I.P., "Jungle Cruise" tour aboard the boat. This tour would be lead by, "New guy" skipper Felix Pechman XIII with a guest-list of Siobhan "Puffin" Murphy, Rosa Soto Dominguez, Dr. Leonard Moss and Dr. Kon Chunosuke.

#### Missing Tour

The boat seemingly embarked from the Jungle Navigation Company's base in the Amazon rainforest around December and made a stop at their boathouse in the Lost Delta of India. However, this tour was complicated due to Skipper Felix allegedly being plagued with bad luck. While passing the African veldt along the Nile river in North Africa (either Egypt or Sudan), Siobhan saw an oxpecker and distracted Pechman causing the boat to be wrecked by hippos within a pool along the veldt. The captain and passengers escaped to the African veldt where they were subsequently run up a tree by an angered rhino.

#### Wreckage & Sinking

The wrecked Kwango Kate would take on water and drift along the coast of the nearby *Primate Refuge*. Prior to the Kate's sinking, it was taken over by a group of chimpanzees from a nearby refuge who ransacked the belongings of the boat's passengers. The boat would be encountered by at-least one Jungle Cruise tour which ignored the wreck and survivors due to believing reporting it would be too much paperwork.

By the time of the Jungle Navigation Company's annual, "Jingle Cruise" Christmas celebration, the wrecked boat was given crude decorations and a burlap sign reading, "**Kwango Kringle**". These decorations were presumably put up by the chimpanzees using decor stashed on the boat. Once again, the Kate and its survivors were encountered by at-least one Jungle Navigation Company tour-group who subsequently ignored them.

The Kate later sank fully into the Hippo Pool with its cargo drifting throughout the waters.

### Development history

The Kwango Kate was an actual boat used by the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise. Like its Disneyland counterpart *Kissimmee Kate*, the boat is sometimes thought to be named for actress Katherine Hepburn who portrayed Rose Sayer in the film *The African Queen* (1954), a film which inspired imagineer Harper Goff's development of the Jungle Cruise. The Kwango Kate was decommissioned from the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise in the year 2000. In 2021, the Kwango Kate was planned to be featured in an original storyline for the attraction. The sinking of the Kwango Kate was inspired by the real-life sinking of the *Bomokandi Bertha* in the Magic Kingdom.

## Appearances

### Jungle Cruise

##### Disneyland

The wreckage of the Kate is encountered in the Hippo Pool.

##### Magic Kingdom

In this version of the ride, the Kate is encountered while still afloat and being ransacked by chimpanzees.

##### Jingle Cruise

The Kate has a burlap sign reading, "Kringle" overtop of its sign, renaming it to the **Kwango Kringle** for the holidays.

#### Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions

The Kwango Kate is still a functioning boat in this Tokyo Disneyland version of the Jungle Cruise.

### Skipper Canteen

In the library of the *Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen*, there is a book titled "Remembering Kwango Kate" by Lingley. In 2023, an illustration of the chimps on the Kate was added to the menus of the Skipper Canteen.

## Trivia

* The Kwango Kate's Disneyland counterpart is the Kissimmee Kate.

## Gallery

The Kate in DisneylandDuring the Jingle Cruise
## References

1. ↑ The Kate is not mentioned on the board of boats belonging to the Lost Delta boathouse.
2. ↑ https://jungleskipper.com/sea/attractions/skipper-canteen#&gid=1&pid=center-shelf-3rd-shelf-c15
3. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2023/10/photos-jungle-navigation-co-ltd-skipper-canteen-menu-folder-updated-to-reflect-new-ride-story/