Lost Safari leader

Lost Safari leader
First appearance	Jungle Cruise (attraction)
Attractions	Bengal Barbecue Jungle Cruise (removed) Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions Jungle River Cruise Skipper Canteen Trader Sam's Grog Grotto
Designer	Marc Davis
Biographical information
Aliases	Reginald (cast-member appointed nickname)
Affiliation	Lost Safari
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Man

The Lost Safari leader or Reginald refers to the leader of the original trapped safari scene of the Jungle Cruise.

History

Biography

This man was a white colonial explorer during the early 20th century. At some point, he lead a safari through the African veldt of North Africa. This expedition however went missing and by the 1930s became known as, "The Lost Safari" which some deemed to be the longest lost expedition with the highest number of sightings in human history.

The members of the safari were forced to climb up a tree when they were attacked by a rhinoceros. At some point after 1911, the lost safari was sought after by boatsman Charlie Allnut and his wife Rose Sayer aboard a Jungle Navigation Company boat, Zambezi Miss. The ultimate results of this voyage are unknown though it was seemingly unsuccessful in recovering the safari.

At some point in a December in or following 1935, the safari salvaged holiday supplies lost along the Nile by the Jungle Navigation Company to create a makeshift Christmas tree, only to get run up it by the rhinoceros. Around 1936, they were sighted on the African veldt by a skipper of the Jungle Navigation Company and reported over the Global Broadcasting Service.

Following a 1938 quest for the Holy Grail, the African Veldt was visited by famous archaeologist Indiana Jones. Jones was in the vicinity of the tree famous for the safari being run up where he accidentally left behind the umbrella of his father Henry Jones, Sr.. A Jungle Navigation Company boat would find the umbrella nearby the lost safari and presumably oversaw the recovery of the umbrella while the fate of the safari remains unknown.

Development history

The lost safari was installed for a comedy themed refurbishment of the Jungle Cruise after being designed by Marc Davis. In Disneyland, the leader appeared with several African guides with racist stereotypes depictions while in the Magic Kingdom, he appeared with other colonists. Both of these versions were changed in 2021 in a refurbishment which worked to remove overt racism from the Jungle Cruise and work in more campiness and narrative. The safari was replaced with the marooned passengers of the Kwango Kate and the leader with the character Siobhan Murphy.

Appearances

Attractions

Bengal Barbecue

A photograph of Charlie Allnut and Rose Sayer from The African Queen features the original trapped safari in the background.

Jungle Cruise

The character used to appear in this ride. The expedition is mentioned in the queue audio by Nigel Greenwater. He also appeared on a past refurbishment sign, talking with a pair of great apes in hard-hats.

Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries

In this overlay, Henry Jones, Sr.'s umbrella was left in the veldt, apparently an accident from one of Indy's adventures.

Jingle Cruise

In this overlay, the tree/watchtower of the safari was decorated like a Christmas tree. Skippers would make jokes about the safari leader placing the star atop the pole.

Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions

The leader is at the top of the pole with the Magic Kingdom's safari in this attraction.

Jungle River Cruise

Disneyland's version of the safari appears in this attraction.

Skipper Canteen

An illustration of the Magic Kingdom's original lost safari is in the menus.

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto

There is a photograph of the original lost safari in this bar.

Printed Materials

Skipper Survival Guide

This story parallels the Lost Safari leader with Professor Henry von Schlit who went on an expedition to document Adventureland's animals with a skipper named Jake and group of porters.

Other connections

The African Queen

Bengal Barbecue shows this film's protagonists Rose Sayer and Charlie Allnut looking for the safari. The film The African Queen (1951) was an inspiration for imagineer Harper Goff's development of the Jungle Cruise.

Trivia

• Cast-member dialogue for the Jingle Cruise identified the leader of the safari as, "Reginald". The canonicity of this is dubious, however.
  • Outside of the Congo boathouse in Jungle River Cruise is a crate of South American masks addressed to one, "Sir Reginald Fox".
  • The name has also referred to one Sir Reginald over a removed transmission in the queue.
• The man wore a pith helmet, iconography affiliated with European colonialism.
• An explorer resembling the safari leader appears in the video-game Epic Mickey on a stretching-portrait in Lonesome Manor depicting explorers sinking in piranha infested waters.

Gallery