We left Gibbs Farm to go to the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest caldera (a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption). Giraffes can't get into the crater because the edges are too steep and female elephant don't go because it's too difficult for the kids, so if you see elephant in the crater, you know they are bulls. When we arrived at the overlook we stood in amazement of the magnificent view below- from above we could see herds of buffalo and zebra and were anxious to get going.
It took about 30 minutes to go around the top of the crater and get to the road leading down to the crater floor. Prior to heading down we pull off to the side and Kessy (our driver guide) takes the tops off our vehicle and the journey begins. As soon as we get to the crater floor we see herds of cape buffalo then zebra and wildebeest. Kessy soon finds us a rare site of a tree climbing lioness. We pulled up to this tree and he stopped... we looked closely and saw a lioness sleeping (eventually she stood up for a bit before sleeping again). I really wished I had a fancy camera with a great zoom - I had to buy a new camera for the trip, but decided to stick with a point and shoot because I didn't want to take a heavier camera up Kili. Oh well, something is better than nothing!
After checking out some more zebra, buffalo, wildebeest and a variety of birds and gazelles, we come up to an area where a bunch of safari vehicles are parked near a tree. As we get closer, we see there is a lion laying down next to one of the vehicles and there are 3 lions in the tree! We stayed there watching them for close to an hour. At one point, the one among the vehicles came over and laid down against our tire, taking advantage of the shade our vehicle provided. It was so close we could pet it (don't worry, I didn't try). Kessy wouldn't let me take pictures with it - I know it's a wild animal and king of the jungle and all, but he was really skinny and moved so slowly I think he was just waiting for mom to bring him some food and wouldn't have had the energy to bite my hand/head off. We didn't know how the top off part was going to work (the last safari vehicle I was in, the top just popped up, it didn't come off) so while I'd put sunscreen on my face, I hadn't put any on my arms - and after standing up and watching the lions for so long, I could start feeling my skin burning and had to put on my long sleeve jacket in hopes of covering up.
On our way to lunch, we saw a black rhino, an endangered species - Kessy said around 20 have been reported to live in the crater. It was a bit far, of course, so I was happy to have the binoculars I stole in my family's yankee swap over Christmas. Then we passed the only elephant we saw the entire trip (which I thought was odd, because when I did my Kenya and South Africa safari, elephant were a plenty). We finally get tot he lunch area and Kessy warns that there are Kite birds around that will steal your lunch if you eat outside, so you have to keep the box closed and hold your food close. They especially like chicken. I thought that was interesting, but still wanted to sit outside while looking at the hippos in the lake. As I was eating my chicken, holding it close, one of the birds flew down and tried to get it! I felt the wing go by and some other people said they got it on tape (why didn't I ask them for it?! I did find a video, it'd just not of me, but it's what happened! Video) I quickly finished my chicken and took out a banana... not too worried (I mean, it's fruit) well, I should have been.... one of the kites flew down and stole it from me! I decided at that time the only way I'd be able to eat is if I went back in the truck, so back I went. There were some guinea foul around the vehicles, but they weren't quite the "attack chickens" they seemed to be in South Africa when Brian and I were watching the sunset after climbing Table Mountain.
Most everyone stops here for lunch, and we ran into James & Rhiannon and then Dominique & Judith from our kili trip. Dominique and Judith would be staying at the same place as us that night. After lunch and some times watching the hippos in the pond, we headed out again.
In the afternoon we saw pink flamingos, more zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo a couple more rhinos, hyenas and warthogs. It was a fun-filled, awesome day. The view as we left the crater was just as amazing as we looked back to the plain below. (video leaving crater) We are now in the conservation area and the only people allowed to live within the conservation area are the Massai - we see a village as soon as we leave the crater. Kessy says, we are coming into giraffe country. No longer than 5 minutes after he says it, we come over a hill and see a bunch of giraffe grazing on the side of a hill, which meant we had to stop, of course, and take loads of pictures. When we finally got on the road again, the scenery was everything you'd think you'd see - Massai on the side of the road herding cattle, villages made out of sticks and mud huts, and zebra grazing. The road was dirt, making everything dusty - from the beginning of the crater until we got on the plane to leave, dust was a constant we could depend on.
Arriving at our "hotel" - Olduvai Tented Camp. We learn the entire camp runs on solar power and the only place we were able to charge our batteries (all of our batteries died on safari) was in the reception area - so we left them there overnight and would just pick them up in the morning. They told us dinner was from 7:30-9, so we headed to our tents to get cleaned up (the sign in the bathroom asked that we only take one shower a day to preserve water). You'll have to see a picture of the tent to understand what it looks like. It's a canvas tent (kind of MASH-ish) on a platform and covered by a thatched roof, inside there are 2 twin beds, 2 night stands, a closet like bar and shelf to hang your clothes and house extra blankets and a dressing stand. To get to the bathroom, you have to unzip the back part of the tent - the bathroom area is under the thatched part, but there are no screens - so mosquitoes are well represented. We got to dinner around 8 and realized that when they said 7:30-9, they meant it STARTS at 7:30, not that we can show up whenever we want between 7:30-9. Oh well. Walking back to the tent, the stars put on a fabulous show for us, lighting up the night sky in all their splendor... again, I didn't take a picture - ugh! It was absolutely beautiful, though, so you'll have to trust me on this.
We went to bed that night with images of animals dancing through our heads :-)
For pictures click here
It took about 30 minutes to go around the top of the crater and get to the road leading down to the crater floor. Prior to heading down we pull off to the side and Kessy (our driver guide) takes the tops off our vehicle and the journey begins. As soon as we get to the crater floor we see herds of cape buffalo then zebra and wildebeest. Kessy soon finds us a rare site of a tree climbing lioness. We pulled up to this tree and he stopped... we looked closely and saw a lioness sleeping (eventually she stood up for a bit before sleeping again). I really wished I had a fancy camera with a great zoom - I had to buy a new camera for the trip, but decided to stick with a point and shoot because I didn't want to take a heavier camera up Kili. Oh well, something is better than nothing!
After checking out some more zebra, buffalo, wildebeest and a variety of birds and gazelles, we come up to an area where a bunch of safari vehicles are parked near a tree. As we get closer, we see there is a lion laying down next to one of the vehicles and there are 3 lions in the tree! We stayed there watching them for close to an hour. At one point, the one among the vehicles came over and laid down against our tire, taking advantage of the shade our vehicle provided. It was so close we could pet it (don't worry, I didn't try). Kessy wouldn't let me take pictures with it - I know it's a wild animal and king of the jungle and all, but he was really skinny and moved so slowly I think he was just waiting for mom to bring him some food and wouldn't have had the energy to bite my hand/head off. We didn't know how the top off part was going to work (the last safari vehicle I was in, the top just popped up, it didn't come off) so while I'd put sunscreen on my face, I hadn't put any on my arms - and after standing up and watching the lions for so long, I could start feeling my skin burning and had to put on my long sleeve jacket in hopes of covering up.
On our way to lunch, we saw a black rhino, an endangered species - Kessy said around 20 have been reported to live in the crater. It was a bit far, of course, so I was happy to have the binoculars I stole in my family's yankee swap over Christmas. Then we passed the only elephant we saw the entire trip (which I thought was odd, because when I did my Kenya and South Africa safari, elephant were a plenty). We finally get tot he lunch area and Kessy warns that there are Kite birds around that will steal your lunch if you eat outside, so you have to keep the box closed and hold your food close. They especially like chicken. I thought that was interesting, but still wanted to sit outside while looking at the hippos in the lake. As I was eating my chicken, holding it close, one of the birds flew down and tried to get it! I felt the wing go by and some other people said they got it on tape (why didn't I ask them for it?! I did find a video, it'd just not of me, but it's what happened! Video) I quickly finished my chicken and took out a banana... not too worried (I mean, it's fruit) well, I should have been.... one of the kites flew down and stole it from me! I decided at that time the only way I'd be able to eat is if I went back in the truck, so back I went. There were some guinea foul around the vehicles, but they weren't quite the "attack chickens" they seemed to be in South Africa when Brian and I were watching the sunset after climbing Table Mountain.
Most everyone stops here for lunch, and we ran into James & Rhiannon and then Dominique & Judith from our kili trip. Dominique and Judith would be staying at the same place as us that night. After lunch and some times watching the hippos in the pond, we headed out again.
In the afternoon we saw pink flamingos, more zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo a couple more rhinos, hyenas and warthogs. It was a fun-filled, awesome day. The view as we left the crater was just as amazing as we looked back to the plain below. (video leaving crater) We are now in the conservation area and the only people allowed to live within the conservation area are the Massai - we see a village as soon as we leave the crater. Kessy says, we are coming into giraffe country. No longer than 5 minutes after he says it, we come over a hill and see a bunch of giraffe grazing on the side of a hill, which meant we had to stop, of course, and take loads of pictures. When we finally got on the road again, the scenery was everything you'd think you'd see - Massai on the side of the road herding cattle, villages made out of sticks and mud huts, and zebra grazing. The road was dirt, making everything dusty - from the beginning of the crater until we got on the plane to leave, dust was a constant we could depend on.
Arriving at our "hotel" - Olduvai Tented Camp. We learn the entire camp runs on solar power and the only place we were able to charge our batteries (all of our batteries died on safari) was in the reception area - so we left them there overnight and would just pick them up in the morning. They told us dinner was from 7:30-9, so we headed to our tents to get cleaned up (the sign in the bathroom asked that we only take one shower a day to preserve water). You'll have to see a picture of the tent to understand what it looks like. It's a canvas tent (kind of MASH-ish) on a platform and covered by a thatched roof, inside there are 2 twin beds, 2 night stands, a closet like bar and shelf to hang your clothes and house extra blankets and a dressing stand. To get to the bathroom, you have to unzip the back part of the tent - the bathroom area is under the thatched part, but there are no screens - so mosquitoes are well represented. We got to dinner around 8 and realized that when they said 7:30-9, they meant it STARTS at 7:30, not that we can show up whenever we want between 7:30-9. Oh well. Walking back to the tent, the stars put on a fabulous show for us, lighting up the night sky in all their splendor... again, I didn't take a picture - ugh! It was absolutely beautiful, though, so you'll have to trust me on this.
We went to bed that night with images of animals dancing through our heads :-)
For pictures click here
