Next up on our safari was a day tour of the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Its name is from the Maasai word for the sound a cow bell makes, i.e. "ngoro ngoro" as it is fertile ground and the Maasai would graze their cattle near there. The crater is the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera. The crater which formed when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself 2 or 3 million years ago is 610 meters (2000 feet) deep and its floor covers 260 sq km (100 sq miles). The mountain would have rivaled Mount Kilimanjaro if it were still around. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area borders Serengeti National Park, so the drive there was animal filled.
There are Maasai people in Tanzania also. They are nomadic cow herders in Tanzania just like in Kenya, and they also have houses made of cow dung. In Tanzania, Maasai houses are circular in shape with domed roofs whereas in Kenya they were square/rectangular with flat roofs. Below is a Maasai village we passed. Aid groups in Tanzania have been helping the people learn to keep beehives and harvest honey as a new income source. Aid groups have also tried to introduce the growing of maize, but that has been less successful.
Most of the animals in Ngorongoro Crater are year-round residents as the land is fairly fertile. Our guide said that the animals that were there in July had chosen not to migrate, but some might choose to next year. There are no giraffes in the crater because their awkward shape makes going down hills nearly impossible for them. Their lanky frame means they cannot descend into the crater.
Cape buffalo:
There were yellow barked acacia trees all over Kenya and Tanzania.
Herds of wildebeest and zebra travel and live together. They cooperate protecting each other from predators since zebras use their excellent eyesight and wildebeest use their good sense of hearing and smell.
We had lunch by a little lake with hippos in it.
The kids (especially Lydia) were thrilled when birds started stealing their lunch. They came in through the open roof of the Land Rover and helped themselves to Lydia's spaghetti.
We loved this gigantic tree near our picnic area.
After many days on safari, we got used to the kids riding with no seat belts, and while standing, while the car drove over bumpy roads. It was strange putting on seatbelts again when we were out of Africa. Standing while the car drove was helpful for viewing and spotting animals.
Mother zebra and her calf.
Muddy warthog:
This warthog walked right next to several hyenas and they didn't seem to mind each other. The watering hole seemed to be neutral ground.
We spotted a serval cat about a foot from the road. She was studying a rock meticulously and walking around it. Soon she began pouncing and grabbing with her paw.
Mouse captured!
After her meal, she relaxed. After seeing so many large cats, it was fun to see such an adorable little cat! Serval cats weigh around 25 pounds.
Wildebeest constantly crossing the road, ignoring cars.
I love the stripes on zebras.
Baby zebra nursing:
Here were two zebra pairing up to watch for predators.
Ngorongoro Crater is also one of the best places to spot rhino. Rhinoceroses are highly endangered and therefore hard to find. They are also highly sensitive to noise, wind, humans, etc. They do not thrive in captivity, and in the wild they are hard to find because they hide if any condition is not exactly right. Our guide said that unlike other safari animals, they are never near cars because they don't like them, ever. They don't come out if it is breezy because it hurts their ears. Anyway, we had hoped to see a rhino on our safari to complete the Big Five game animals (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, rhino) and Ngorongoro was our best chance. However it was slightly breezy that day and no tourists in the crater that day saw a rhino properly. We know that because the drivers all have radio walkie-talkies in their Land Rovers and tell each other about special findings. At the end of the day, we got a report of a rhino in the distance, and went to it. Some tourists with ridiculously expensive binoculars claimed that an animal in the distance was a rhino. However, to us, it could have been a wildebeest. Anyway, that dot in the distance was a rhino, so we sort of saw a rhino, but not really. We saw at least one up-close specimen of all the other land animals on our safari, so we consider ourselves lucky.
Here we are overlooking the crater.
We got moved from the lodge we were supposed to stay at that night and ended up getting upgraded to a fancy resort place - Oldeani Mountain Lodge. We decided it was not for us and too fancy. We wished we could have gone back to our camp in the Serengeti. Dinner was served in a fancy restaurant and was not a buffet. Instead there was a fixed four-course menu and each course was brought out individually. With buffets, our kids are guaranteed to find something they like. That's not true of fixed menus that are designed to appeal to adults with expensive taste. We did get them to modify the menu for our kids. The other problem with dinner was that it took two hours because of the many courses. After sitting in a car literally all day, the kids wanted to run around, not wait patiently and quietly for the next course to come out. The bathrooms in our rooms were massive with choice of clawfoot tub, outdoor shower, or indoor shower, but the lighting wasn't good. The wrap-around patios were pretty. Derek did like his robe:
The grounds around the hotel were gorgeous and we did enjoy walking around and exploring the next morning. The kids found feathers and other treasures. There was also an infinity pool.
On the way to Arusha Airport, we stopped at a tourist trap full of pricy souvenirs. I regret not buying a painting - there were some beautiful ones I was eying!
We said good-bye to our Tanzanian driver/guide Mbaka (or Ekambe, embarrassingly we never were sure what his name was and he kept calling us Webber, so he probably gave us his last name) at the Arusha airport and were on our way to Zanzibar for a few days at the beach.
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