A giant Imagineered baobab tree is the starting point for this adventure into the up-country. Although re-creating an African safari in the United States may not be a new idea, this safari goes a step beyond merely allowing you to observe rhinos, hippos, antelope, wildebeests, giraffes, zebras, elephants, lions, and the like. There are illustrated game-spotting guides above the seats in the open-air safari vehicles, and as you lurch and bump over some 100 acres of savanna, forest, rivers, and rocky hills, you'll see most of these animals -- sometimes so close you feel like you could reach out and touch them. It's easy to suspend disbelief here because the landscape is so effectively modeled and replenished by Disney horticulturists. This being a theme park, dangers lurk in the form of ivory poachers, and it suddenly becomes your mission to save a group of elephants from would-be poachers. Even without the scripted peril, there's enough elephant excitement on the savanna to impress everyone. In the past several years, three baby elephants have been born -- one, named Tufani, born May 22, 2003, is the fourth surviving elephant calf in North America resulting from artificial insemination. The second, Kianga, arrived July 6, 2004, as part of the park's breeding program coordinated by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. And on December 19, 2005, the 233-pound baby Nadirah was born at the park. You'll see the growing youngsters hanging out with the rest of the herd, and the park's animal team expects to see more elephant babies in the future. The park's first baby animal of 2007 was a white rhinoceros named Tom; he's the sixth baby rhino born at Animal Kingdom; his mother, Kendi, was the first.