Congo base camp

The **Congo base camp** also known as the **Safari Camp** or more simply the **Base camp** is a location from the *Jungle Cruise*.

## Description

This base camp was used by big-game hunters and the Jungle Navigation Company in the 1930s as an outpost within the Congo basin of Africa in a region known as, "Gorilla Territory". The camp was often ransacked by a troop of gorillas resulting in Alberta Falls documenting it as a, "Horrible camping spot!".

## History

### Background

This base-camp was a camp established by colonists in the Congo by the 1930s. Skippers often used the campsite for stops while making the rounds on the Congo river. The vicinity of the camp was passed at some point following 1916 by Frank Wolff of the JNC while mapping the mystical Rivers of Adventure. The map used would show the campsite though this was observed following augmentations to the map made by the family, making it unknown if the campsite was active at the time.

In 1935 started their, "Jingle Cruise" tourism service for the Christmas season. The camp was used by the Jungle Navigation Company to store presents and baking supplies though it was raided by the gorillas. Around 1936, the camp was used by a group of big game hunters. These hunters had their camp ransacked by the nearby troop of gorillas who were later interpreted by "The Adventureland Gorilla Theatre Company" by journalist Thompson J. Gazelle of *The Daily Gnus* newspaper.

Skippers of the Jungle Navigation Company would frequent the base camp. However, company president Alberta Falls would annotate Frank Wolff's map to state the camp as being a horrible camping ground. The gorillas would ransack the camp by this time, among other things stealing a film-projector intended for the company's movie-night of watching, "*Tarzan and Me*".

By the December of 1938, the base camp was utilized by the *R.V. Laust Surveying & Cartography* service. Once again, the gorillas ransacked the camp. This business was also set up in the Congo during the time the JNC dumped Christmas ornaments on Adventureland, littering the campsite. Following a 1938 quest for the Holy Grail, archaeologist Indiana Jones visited the vicinity of the camp and accidentally left behind a Hangar 51 crate containing the Ark of the Covenant. A Jungle Cruise boat later located the crate and it was returned to Hangar 51.

### Development history

The gorilla raiders were added to the Jungle Cruise in a comedy oriented refurbishment occurring in 1977/1978. The characters were designed by animator Marc Davis, effectively replacing a family of rhinos which previously appeared in the attraction. The gorilla raider gag was copied in a 2021 refurbishment for both the chimpanzees replacing the headhunter camp and monkeys ransacking the controversial Trader Sam's Gift Shop! in place of the racist figure of Trader Sam.

## Appearances

### Jungle Cruise

The base camp is passed by in the midst of it being attacked by gorillas. One fires a gun into the water, another puts tries on a pith helmet in a mirror, a parent plays with its baby, and another gorilla examines the barrel of a rifle. Albert Awol makes several references to the camp and its gorillas in his audio-loop. At one point Awol asks "How many gorillas does it take to destroy a base-camp? An average of 8 minutes for a family of gorillas to destroy a typical base camp". Awol also tries to contact the owner of the jeep which the gorillas flipped and comments on the gorillas having stolen the skippers' film-projector, postponing movie-night.

#### Jingle Cruise

The base-camp is mentioned in the queue as being the location where the Jungle Navigation Company is storing and distributing gifts for the skippers.

## In other media

### Kinect: Disneyland Adventures

One of the levels in this game's Jungle Cruise mini game revolves around the player assisting safari team-members in getting the gorillas to leave the camp. The player plays, "Monkey-see monkey-do" with the gorillas to have them safely remove archaeological artifacts from their possession.

#### Minecraft

The Magic Kingdom DLC for *Minecraft: Bedrock Edition* had this scene, albeit with only one of the gorillas.

## Trivia

* The scene is briefly referenced in the 1999 film Tarzan where one of the gorillas shoves a rifle in their eye to inspect.
* In the Jungle River Cruise version of the attraction, the song *Trashin' the Camp* from Tarzan (1999) plays from a vintage radio as the gorillas ransack the camp.
* The camp has crates of dynamite from the *Lytum & Hyde Explosives Company*, a fictional business from *Big Thunder Mountain Railroad*.
* In Disneyland, a crate belonging to Dr. Kon Chunosuke of the lost Jungle Cruise has appeared in the camp.

## References

1. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2021/08/photos-new-trophy-wall-alberta-falls-and-map-murals-added-to-jungle-cruise-queue-at-the-magic-kingdom/
2. ↑ https://www.micechat.com/disneyland\_adventureland\_the-world-famous-jungle-cruise-1-of-1-11/
3. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2022/11/jingle-cruise-magic-kingdom-holidays-2022/