John Wardly is one of the greatest creative minds in theme parking this countries had in recent times, perhaps his greatest achievement is him being one of the main creators of Nemesis. This ride does remind me a bit of a quote of his. He roughly says that if Alton Towers hadn't had such tight building restrictions they could have built a coaster twice as big, but it wouldn't have necessarily have been as good. Well here we've got a coaster like Nemesis, but it's a lot bigger. This leaves the question is it as good.

The theming of this ride is great. The African Adventure style feels pretty original and fresh. It's also the sort of theming that could have clashed badly with a ride like this, but the bright colourful designs of the ride supports, and the rocks and lakes around the ride manage to make it a big landmark of the area, that feels like it belongs here. I think the choice of theme is also important, as it helps expand this rides appeal in to the family thrill seekers market. A ride like this could easily be mainly appealing to the older thrill seekers market, which I think would have been a problem, given the parks dynamics aimed at the family market, but it's done a great job of avoiding this.

My only main criticism of the theming is the queue line. It gives good views of various points of the ride, but it doesn't have much else in the way of decoration. Although this usually isn't to big a problem, some appropriately themed models, or wood carvings or masks would help improve things. It would help make the queuing less strenuous, and help in improving the overall experience and illusion.

The first part of the ride is the hill lift. I think this is one of the tallest inverted coasters I've been on to date. I think I read somewhere that Traumatizer, or Infusion as it's been renamed is taller. Oh, hang on, those where a bunch of claims Blackpool made to the people in the land of make believe. Not a statement based on facts, evidence or anything like that. This is the tallest inverted coaster I've done to date. The height is emphasised by the facts its inverted. There's no floor beneath you, giving you  an unobstructed view strait down. This does help increase the amount of anticipation created on the hill lift.

After the first drop the train flies around the track at a good rate.  It maintains a good sense of speed as it hits the various inversions and other ride elements. This is on a well designed track layout that successfully keeps the excitement levels up throughout, without any dull spots.

So does it match up to the likes of Nemesis. Well there is a problem. There are two main producers of inverted coasters. There's B+M, the Rolls Royce of coaster manufacturers, who are responsible for the likes of Nemesis and Nemesis Inferno, and another manufacturer who offer a cheaper alternative, Vekoma, makers of Infusion, Jubilee Odyssey and this one. Unfortunately this is apparent in the ride, as there's a big head banging effect, with your head being shaken within the restraints of the ride. This both makes repeat riding more unpleasant, and acts as a distraction during the ride, taking away from the edge the ride needs to offer really big thrills. We can only speculate what the result would have been if Flamingo Land had more money, and could have afforded the Rolls Royce version.

Overall it's not quite at the level of must do ride. Not quite in the upper echelon, but among the best of the rest. Not essential, but the presence of both this and Velocity are enough to make a visit to Flamingo Land a worth while effort.