3DS DK Jungle

DK Jungle is the first race course in the Special Cup of Mario Kart 7 and takes place on Donkey Kong Island. The course is based on Donkey Kong Country Returns. Some elements and enemies of this game make their appearance in this course, like Tiki Goons, Screaming Pillars, Frogoons, and DK's Tree House. The soundtrack is a rearrangement of "DK Island Swing" from Donkey Kong Country.

Course layout
The track passes through a thick jungle, where some DK Barrels appear. Exiting into a clearing, drivers bounce on a large, red flower from Donkey Kong Country Returns, and land in a path near waterfalls and a lake. The track then makes a left hand turn, past DK's Tree House, and some Tiki Goons that move across the track. The track reenters the canopy, passing by multiple Frogoons, before traveling across a chasm and entering the Golden Temple. After a right turn and a left-hand U-turn, racers drive past the gold banana, then glide over a lake flanked by several Screaming Pillars. These Pillars scream every once in a while, shooting out air to blow back hanggliding players. Finally they land and make a left turn back to the finish line. Also in the background of the course is Tiki Pilot's airship-like craft from Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Shortcuts

 * Right before the jumps over the chasm, there is a secret Glider ramp to the left side of the track.
 * An extremely difficult Glider shortcut can be performed after the temple section. By swooping down to gain speed, going back up, and then using a Mushroom, it is possible to skip the entire split paths section and land just before the finish line. There are variations of this shortcut which involve cutting off less and landing on the nearest split path, but these do not save much time.

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
DK Jungle returns in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the final course in the Banana Cup. The track map is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Some objects are changed and replaced; the Barrel at the right of the start is now on the left, and the mud near the beginning of the track is absent. The starting banner has also been replaced. The Screaming Pillars now exhale smoke when they are screaming, and the Tiki Goons have had their movement speed severely reduced. A number of lit torches have been added inside the Golden Temple. The only change made to the track layout is that the U-turn inside the Golden Temple is now slanted upward and acts as an anti-gravity section. Consequently, there is now a dropoff at the Golden Banana allowing drivers to do an aerial trick. The first left turn before the finish line also has a gap in it.

Unlike other retro tracks, the music remains the same as the original like Wii Grumble Volcano and 3DS Neo Bowser City, but with a slightly enhanced bit depth.

Staff ghost
The staff ghost for this track is Donkey Kong on the Varmint, with a time of 2:26.900. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 200cc, the staff ghost is Yellow Yoshi with a time of 1:46.758.

Mario Kart 8
Mario Kart Facebook page: ''Ancient temples. Troublemaking tikis. And bananas galore! Come race on the DK Jungle course in Mario Kart 8 for Wii U to take in all the exotic and high-octane sights.''

Trivia

 * The course feature in the foreground of the track's Wii U icon, differs from most of the other Wii U course icons, as it is positioned on the left (on 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and 200cc) whereas all other course feature's in the foreground of the icon, appear on the right or center. Up until the second DLC pack was released, it was the only one, but it was joined by GBA Cheese Land,  3DS Neo Bowser City, and Wild Woods.
 * Ever since Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, in addition to increasing in tempo, the final lap music on every course in the series was increased by one tone with the exception of this course, which increased by two tones.
 * This track and SNES Donut Plains 3 are the only courses to be in both the Special Cup and Banana Cup. Coincidentally, they are in the Banana Cup in the same game, and they both originally started off as the first course in the Special Cup.
 * This is the only track in the Banana Cup to have anti-gravity segments in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.