Tanzania 2001 - Ngorongoro Crater

This was our first view of the Ngorongoro crater, standing at a popular vista point before turning up the road to our lodge.

This hyena and his pals were very comfortable resting in the road a few feet from our vehicle.

Lions love to nap.

The bright red coloring of this male ostrich indicates he is ready to mate. Unfortunately, there were no females nearby.

There is not much left of this buffalo, probably killed within the last week. As time goes by the bones will be gnawed and scattered, with only the skull left to mark the spot.

The zebras like to pause for a quick drink before crossing the stream.

In the distance, three rare black rhinos graze quietly. They are about the same size as buffalo.

These two playful zebras engaged in some mock wrestling.

Flocks of flamingos enjoy the lake.

Wildebeest head for greener pastures.

A baby zebra stops to wonder what we're doing.

There are not many large trees in the Ngorongoro Crater.

Travel Diary

Sunday (June 3) - Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro

Steve: After the usual breakfast of fruit, omelettes, meats and juices, we left the lodge at 8:00 AM to go to Lake Manyara National Park, home of the famous tree-climbing lions. Upon entering the park, we immediately saw huge groups of baboons of all sizes and ages. Some were eating, some were grooming each other. Quite the little society!

We saw an elephant with a damaged tusk. He probably broke it off on a tree or scraping some rocks. More impala, giraffes and zebra, but we were really looking for leopards and lions - love them cats!

We found some warthogs, who finally didn’t turn away and run when we tried to take a picture. Only the good folks at Disney could make an animal this ugly so popular. Oh well, Hakuna Matata!

After a while, on the road near the lake, I saw a leopard run across the road. By the time I could say anything, he was gone so Rosemary never saw it. What a great looking animal.

Later, we spotted a black-backed jackal on a side road and got a good picture. At one point, we saw a dik dik, the smallest breed of antelope. He kept moving back and forth, as if he was trying to get through the brush but couldn’t. Got a couple of shots of him through the leaves.

At last, we got a good view of a leopard, lying on top of a toppled tree trunk. Snapped a couple of pictures and ran out of film. Changed rolls and got a couple more shots as he climbed down and disappeared behind the tree. This was easily the highlight of the morning.

We saw some vervet monkeys and blue monkeys, a few storks, a giraffe sitting on the ground, some miscellaneous birds, a couple of monitor lizards and a crested eagle.

Unfortunately, we never did see any lions, either on the ground or in the trees, but I’m sure we will see them later in the trip.

Back to the lodge for lunch, which was the best meal of the trip so far. After lunch, we hit the road to go to the Ngorongoro Crater (hereafter "NG2"), the crater so nice they named it twice. Drove through farmlands and a small town, where the road was blocked by a procession celebrating the local bishop’s 50th birthday. Someone told us that, as a gift, his wife was taking him on a trip to California.

Rosemary: A drive over miles of incredibly bad road to Ngorongoro. It is beautiful here. At a higher elevation, and cool, so there are no mosquitoes!

Steve: We arrived at the entrace to NG2 National Park and saw about 15 vehicles waiting to get in. We knew it would be crowded, since everyone we overheard at Lake Manyara seemed to be going there. A few miles ahead was the first place you could get the first glimpse of the crater from the edge, so everyone stopped to take pictures.

The first look at the crater is an awesome experience. It seemed to be larger than theSan Fernando Valley at about 100 square miles, and it had a large lake in the middle. The unique thing about NG2 is that most of the animals don’t leave the crater due to not liking to climb the steep walls. We are told that it is an unbelievable adventure.

Our home for the next two nights is the Sopa Lodge at NG2, the same hotel chain as we stayed in Tarangire. The lodge is perched on the edge of the crater at about 8,000 feet. The view is breathtaking and our room has a small sunroom where I can see much of the crater while writing this journal. Hopefully, the food here will be better than at Tarangire. We will leave at 8:00 AM tomorrow for a full day of viewing on the crater floor, taking a picnic lunch so that we don’t have to drive all the way back to the lodge.

We went to the bar before dinner for a drink. Because of the altitude, we actually wore our jackets for the first time. The bar was cozy, with a fireplace and snacks for "happy hour". Dinner began at 7:30 and, unlike our first two hotels, there are a lot of people staying here. This is one of the two larger lodges in the area, and NG2 is a popular spot.

Rosemary: Watching the sunset from the bar of our safari lodge on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, drinking white wine and listening to American pop music ("What if God Was One of Us"). I'm exhausted, looking forward to some sleep (luckily everyone goes to bed early here).

Steve: Dinner was very good (for a change) and as an added bonus, the staff performed some African songs in a manner similar to Ladysmith Black Mambazo. We went to bed around 9:30, hoping not to be kept awake by a group of school children who had to pass our room to get to their own.

Monday (June 4) Ngorongoro Crater

Steve: We had a good night’s sleep, partly because of exhaustion and partly because, due to the altitude and drop in temperature, there are no mosquitos.

After a good breakfast, we descended into the crater. We saw a couple of elephants in the highland jungle, then encountered the first of many wildebeest (or gnu). Over the course of the day, we must have seen at least 1,000 of them. Unlike the wildebeest on the plains, these do not migrate, but live in the crater all year round. Several other firsts today - Thompson’s gazelle, hartebeest, black rhino, a brief look at a serval cat and (drum roll please) LIONS!

Rosemary: First thing, hyenas, just snoozing in the road. We drove right up to them and took their pictures while they calmly watched us.

Steve: Surprisingly, when they are not ripping at your flesh, they are fairly attractive and somewhat dog-like in nature.

We saw our first lion fairly soon. It was a female napping in an open area. We and another jeep were no more than 10 feet from where she was sleeping. Even while asleep, you could sense the power of the beast. As more vans arrived, she awoke and walked to a nearby rise, where she promptly lay down to sleep again.

All over the crater we saw large groups of wildebeest, zebra, gazelle (both Thompson’s and Grant’s), waterbuck, buffalo, with smaller groups of warthogs and the occasional jackal.

Rosemary: So many wildebeest! Many zebras and gazelles. The flamingos eat in the saltwater lake, but go to the section where fresh water flows in to bathe.

Steve: The crater was crowded with many tours, but in some ways that was a plus. The drivers exchanged info via short-wave radio and a van that was stopped sometimes indicated some unusual game. One of these times, we saw a couple of jeeps parked in front of this little mound of brush. Only when we got right up to it did we realize that there were between six and ten lions hiding and sleeping, with young males and young females. They didn’t seem to be lying in wait for any prey, but merely resting. In fact, when we passed the same spot about four hours later, they had spread out to nap in small groups of two or three each. Later, from a distance, we saw three male lions napping in a dry creek bed.

We had a box lunch at a picnic area overlooking a lake full of hippos. All we could see (mostly) was their ears, eyes and nostrils.

After lunch, we went to look at a black rhino we had seen on the way and then saw a group of three of them a great distance from the road. Black rhino are very rare and only 25 of them live in the crater; we’ve seen four of them.

We saw a serval cat in the road ahead, but as we tried to approach, it ran faster, finally disappearing into the brush. Still, an unexpected surprise, which made us the envy of all the other tourists we told.

After a full day of driving, we went back to the lodge, tired as usual. Riding around in a Jeep doesn’t sound like it should be tiring, but the roads are very bumpy, so the ride is a constant struggle to stay in your seat, plus all the standing up and sitting down in order to take pictures.

We saw fields of pretty flowers blooming in the Ngorongoro Crater.