Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania (Day 4)

Today was a 5:30 wakeup call followed by breakfast, and we were on the road by 6:30. The Ngorongoro Crater was supposedly created by a volcano – either erupting or sinking, the jury is still out.  Either way, it is a humongous crater that happens to be filled with an incredibly high concentration of animals.  On our way to the crater, we noticed an elephant off in the distance – it was heading toward a Maasai village.  "Oh, honey, can you shoo the elephant from our porch?  It is knocking over our trees!"  Nope.

The crater (in the right conditions) is completely visible from the top and includes one large lake and one smaller lake on the crater floor.  There are some smaller craters adjacent, but we only went into the big one.  Apparently, there are about 5,000 Maasai people who are living in the smaller craters.  We had no idea what to expect driving in, and the morning air was filled with fog, so we could not see much.  Luckily, everything cleared quickly.  

View from the top

Another view

The drive included almost an hour on some of the worst roads – they call it The African Massage – skull rattling, kidney jostling, and head banging – 4-wheel drive required.  We saw local Maasai all along the road, possibly looking for transportation up or down.  There are some 4WD “buses” that will carry them for about the equivalent of $.15, but they are completely overloaded with people and goods.  Interestingly, I noticed several Maasai with cell phones.  Amost said they can get Chinese phones for $20, but the problem is not having electricity to charge them. The Maasai who live in the crater also have very little water and regularly walk 15km per day, each way, just to get water.

After the check-in gate (more baboons – warning, no open windows) we made our way down into the crater.  

Crater entrance

One thing I was most impressed with is a several mile road that was hand laid with brick.  I spent much of the time driving trying to figure out how many people it took to build, and how long it would have taken. 

Our cruiser, Amos, and "the bricks"

As we got closer to the bottom, we had a full expansive view of the crater and could see a train of tan Land Cruisers all piled up on one area.  (Pix on my digital camera, but can't download yet :(  )

Flamingos in the big lake

The big lake with a couple cruisers

Hippo cruising by the lake - rare to see them out of water

For the experienced safari passenger, this is a sign that there is something to see.  We bee-lined our way to the pile-up (imagine a one lane dirt road with about 50 Cruisers all jockeying for position and a bunch of heads popping up through the raised sky roof).  We saw that everyone was looking at lions!  On one side of the road, we had a male and a female, being lazy.  

Our first two lion sightings!

Lions on the move

It is rare to see lions moving – mostly they are sleeping or laying down.  On the other side of the road, we could see a bunch of lions in the grass – all watching a group of other animals.  The more you looked, the more you could see their heads in the grass – we counted nine lions in total at this first sighting of the day! 

We were waiting patiently for the lions to attack, but they never did. Weirdly, a group of impala hanging near the lions had no fear.  In fact, there were times they were even moving toward the lions!  

Impala approaching lions

We learned that impala don’t fear lions because they are faster and can outrun them.  Once we had our fill of lions, looking around the immediate area was an animal bonanza.  Without moving from our spot, we could see water buffalo, flamingos, wildebeest, zebra, wart hogs, lots of impala, gazelle and at least 2-3 other kinds of antelope (they all start to blend).  The crater floor did not disappoint, and we haven’t even gone anywhere yet!

Crater floor

Cool looking crane

We completed our 47-point turn to get out of the pile-up of cruisers and headed in the opposite direction from everyone else.  Over the course of the day, we drove for about 5 hours looking at animals.  Here are the highpoints:  We saw herds of water buffalo, zebra and wildebeest everywhere.  I think zebra are cool and I loved watching herds of them!  

Loving the zebra herd!

How many zebra do you see?

We saw, in total, 20 lions.  

More lions - 2 bros being lazy

None super close to the road after our first encounter, but they were easier to spot lying in wait or wandering through the grass.  We followed a warthog trotting through the tall grass – when it popped up and spotted us it was like “nope” and turned off in the other direction to cross the road behind us.  

We saw an ostrich. And then another.  I had no idea that there would be ostrich (ostriches?) roaming around.  

Ostrich - female - I'm now an expert

We stopped at a boggy area, and it was just a mecca of animals – more types of birds and antelope, herds of zebra, wildebeest and buffalo, hyena, and hippos – lots and lots of hippos. I’m probably forgetting some animals - but it was what you imagine you might see at or near a watering hole. 

View from the watering hole

Damon had to take pictures of ducks in the boggy area

The Hippo Pond

Hyena stalking zebra

These guys are THE #1 most dangerous animal

Water buffalo.  In the water.

We stopped for lunch at a small lake and enjoyed a picnic outside.

How we spent our day popped up  in the cruiser

Lunch spot!  Hippos in the water

Lunch!

After lunch, we were en route to “the forest” to look for elephants as our elephant sightings to this point were minimal and from a distance (have I mentioned how much I love elephants?)  Rather suddenly,we turned in the opposite direction and beelined to the other side of the crater at a fast clip.  We knew something was coming up!  We saw the telltale line of cruisers and made our way there.  Off in the (very far) distance we saw a black rhino, which, according to Amos, is a very rare sighting in the crater.  We could see it through binoculars, but not close enough for good pictures.

Rare black rhino in the distance

After our rhino encounter, we drove back to the other side of the park to search for elephants; sadly, we did not see any before leaving the crater.  We drove out of the crater, and “enjoyed” a 40-minute African massage on the road back to our lodge. 

Side note:  Amos told us that people who drive (vs fly) to the Serengeti must use the bumpy road for 6+ hours.  Big nope on that one.  Back at the Farmhouse, we had a few hours to explore the grounds – including the acres of coffee bean plants and the gardens, which are beautiful.  We had a drink by the pool and eventually went in for dinner.  

Damon in the coffee garden

Vege Garden and banana trees

We enjoyed another delicious meal and I confirmed that all vegetables were from the garden – broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, red onions, green pepper, kale, spinach, swiss chard – and probably more that I’m forgetting.  They serve vegetables by letting you fill up your plate and then they stir fry it all with sauces aka Mongolian BBQ style.  Fantastic.  We retired to bed after dinner and had another early night.

Dinner on the patio

Tomorrow, we head to a tented migration came in the Serengeti.

(I'm writing this all after the fact, the next few days were the HIGHLIGHT of our trip!)