Trapped Safari

The safari in Walt Disney World.

**The trapped safari** is the name given to a group of characters in the Jungle Cruise.

## History

### 1963-2021

At some point circa in the early 20th century, this safari went out for the African veldt along the Nile River in Africa. During their safari, they were chased by a black rhino and attempted to take refuge by climbing up a tree. The five men chased up the tree would be trapped up there by the patient rhino at the base of the plant along with a cackle of hyenas showing up to await for the men's deaths to feast on their remains. The fate of the safari remains unknown.

### Current version

In 1938, the VIP tour lead by rookie skipper Felix Pechman XIII ended up losing their boat to a hippo attack. Lost in the jungle, the group, consisting of Felix, Siobhan Murphy, Rosa Soto Dominguez, Dr. Leonard Moss, and Dr. Kon Chunosuke, would make their way to the African Veldt. There, they ran afoul of a territorial black rhino that chased them up a tree, while a group of hyenas laughed at their misfortune. Felix would be left at the bottom of the stack with all but one of the expedition team members looking on in horror, with Murphy, having climbed to the top, becoming distracted by a close up view of an oxpecker nest there.

### Development history

The Trapped Safari was designed by Imagineer Marc Davis in 1963, initially for the Disneyland Railroad's largely unused Adventureland stretch before Walt Disney decided to incorporate it into the Jungle Cruise. As originally installed, the Trapped Safari consisted of a archetypical "great white hunter" at the top of the tree, with several African porters below him. Magic Kingdom would replace these porters with white explorers around 1997, with Tokyo Disneyland following in 2015.

The 2021 refurbishment of the Jungle Cruise would focus on, among other changes, reimagining the trapped safari scene. The changes to the safari intend to remove the racial stereotypes in the Disneyland version of the attraction while also tying the scene into a new narrative for the attraction pertaining to the crew of the lost *Kwango Kate/Mekong Maiden*.

## Connections

### Jungle Cruise

The trapped safari is encountered in the African veldt segment of this attraction. The five safari men are seen chased up a tree being prodded at by the rhino. A group of hyena surrounds them, "Laughing" at the trapped safari as the skipper of the ride makes jokes.

In Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, the safari is mentioned by Nigel Greenwater on the radio of the attraction's queue. Greenwater mentions how the safari is the most frequently spotted lost safari in history which has remained lost for longer than any other frequently spotted safari.

### Bengal Barbecue

A photo in this restaurant shows steamboat sailor Charlie Allnut and British colonist Rose Sayer from the 1951 film *The African Queen* searching for the safari. With them is a stuffed(?) Albert the monkey from Mystic Manor and a portrait of Jungle Navigation Company founder and S.E.A.-member Dr. Albert Falls.

### Trader Sam's Grog Grotto

A photograph of the trapped safari is mounted on the wall of Trader Sam's bar in Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.

### Tales from Adventureland

In *Tales from Adventureland: The Golden Paw*, the team of JNC skipper Jack McGraw is chased up a tree by a rhino after passing over Schweitzer Falls (here placed in the Congo rather than the Nile).

## Trivia

* A carving of the rhino and a hyena in their poses from the trapped safari scene appear in the Skipper Canteen of Walt Disney World.
* In Albert Awol's radio spiel for the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise, he mentions the survival tip of climbing the nearest tree when confronted with a charging rhino.
* The man at the bottom of Magic Kingdom's tree shared a face mould with Silas Crump, the caretaker of the estate from the Haunted Mansion. The safari explorer at the top shared his mould with the brown haired duelist from the Haunted Mansion.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUOmWfCTllo
2. ↑ http://www.dressingfordisney.com/2015/03/dressing-for-trader-sams-grog-grotto.html