Off to the crater! The drive from the hotel to the gate literally took only a few minutes. This area is one of Tanzania’s most visited destinations and one of Africa’s best-known wildlife viewing areas. Case in point, there was a hyena in the road right after we passed through the gate! The caldera is 12-miles wide (the cone collapsed over 2 million years ago) and has a very dense concentration of wildlife. The rim is approximately 8,000 feet above sea level and has gorgeous green-blue vistas. There is currently only one road down to the floor and it winded through amazing flat-topped acacia trees shrouded in mist. It was very lush and dense on the rim. The crater floor, on the other hand, is primarily grassland.
We saw some
more zebras and our first African cape buffalos. None of us realized how many birds (big and
small / colorful and ugly) we’d see on this trip – buzzards, vultures, storks,
kori bastards, heron, eagles, hawks, love birds, crown cranes, bateleur,
ostriches, lilac breasted roller, pelicans, flamingos….and our guide knew them
all!
There was a group of lions napping on a hill -- the coloring of the lions here is darker than in other areas, due to the high altitude and colder weather of Ngorongoro. Then there was a lone Grant gazelle (apparently she wasn’t fussed by the lions because she can outrun them). Bummer, the boys want to see stuff getting chased and eaten!
The short grassland and flat terrain makes it much easier to spot animals. We could literally see little dots of animals in the distance, in every direction.
There was a hyena eating grass right next to the car (either upset stomach or perhaps there were some tasty ants down there), black-backed jackals, family of wart hogs, antelopes, flamingos, hartebeest, hippos, small Thomson gazelles and a huge male lion lazily lounging on a mound right next to the road (with a group a school children on a field trip taking photos).
Here we saw loads of wildebeest too, some with babies (it was calving season), and then we saw 2 hyenas chasing one! Unfortunately, it was pretty far in the distance but the hyenas got it. Circle of life. Great effort has gone into saving the black rhino here and we were able to catch a glimpse of one, but he was really far away.
We had a picnic lunch in our car at a hippo pool, along with all the other safari vehicles – it was a crowded spot! The key was to eat in the car so the birds wouldn’t steal our food.
On our way out of the crater to the Conservation Area/Ndutu we passed through several Masai villages and saw dozens of giraffes right by the road. We weren’t expecting to see so many giraffes and we saw loads – they were everywhere! What pretty eyelashes and long necks you have, Mr. Giraffe!
This road was unpaved and very bumpy. There were thousands of wildebeests and zebras all around, some darting right in front of the car. They make funny noises, nothing like the “nay-ing” sound of a horse! The zebra likes to make its decision at the last minute and for whatever reason, feels it has to go in *front* of the car. No, they don’t seem to be the brightest of the bunch. However they do maintain organization and move in groups in a straight line. I’m surprised they don’t get hit more often, but our driver/guide was very good.
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