Eden In A Bowl...

When we awoke the next morning, the fog was incredibly dense - we were up in the clouds, really. Nevertheless, a quick meal and we were on our way. It is a good thing Julius had made this trip many times before - our world was about 100 feet in diameter, punctuated only by the occasional Maasai looming spookily into view along the side of the road.

The crater is open from 6 am to 6 pm - sunrise to sunset, roughly - and there are three roads giving access to the crater floor. The Sopa road on the east carries traffic in both directions, but the Lerai road (south) in only outbound and the Seneto road (West) is only inbound. As Mysigio camp is to the southwest of the crater, we were soon (about 45 minutes after our departure) making our way down the Seneto road. The road is rough, but not the worst we experienced in Tanzania, and it appears that at least some effort is made to maintain it. The drive down is not bad, following a ridge into the crater, descending at a moderate pace, and flattening somewhat before the bottom.

The descent road drops you onto the flat floor of the crater, in an area that is almost devoid of vegetation due to grazing and not far from Lake Magadi (most of the crater floor is healthy grassland, the overgrazed area is localized). The Lerai Forest is in the distance to the right(east) and low hills in the distance to the left (north), but at this point the crater floor is very flat and barren. David (our guide) provided us with some interesting history about the crater. Between 1885 and 1919, what is now Tanzania was part of German East Africa, a protectorate of Germany. Apparently, two German brothers, the Adolph and Friedrich Siedentopf, came to the crater and decided that it would make a great place to live and farm. They also are said to to have shot wildebeest for the tongue meat, which they canned and shipped back to Germany for gourmets. Friedrich seems to have died in a flying accident in Africa during World War Two, and Adolph lost his land claims at the end of the war due to the German defeat and ceding of German East Africa to the British. The ruins of the farms and factories can still be found in Ngorongoro.

We were on the crater floor soon after dawn, and soon spotted a black-backed jackal making his way across the pan. What he was doing out in the middle of nowhere at that hour is anyone's guess.

The first new creature we spotted, however, was a secretary bird. These long-legged avians don't fly a lot, spending their time stalking small game such as rodents, snakes, and insects.

We spotted our first hippo along the edge of Lake Magadi. Hippos are great swimmers, but look clumsy on the land. This is deceptive, however, because hippos have been observed to run 20+ mph, and will attack if they feel that they or their babies are threatened. They will also walk two or three miles from the water at night in search of fresh graze, and you do not want to be between a hippo and its water at dawn. Widely considered the most dangerous animals in Africa, hippos are believed to cause more human fatalities in Africa than any other large animal, including lions, leopards, and buffalo. It is not uncommon to hear stories of random attacks on canoes or other boats, as well.

This Thomson's gazelle was grazing placidly just a few feet from the road. The Thomson's gazelle is smaller in size than the Grant's gazelle and has a large black stripe along the side. We were lucky to get so close to this guy, who was probably a bachelor as he was grazing alone out in the middle of the pan.

While searching for the ruins of the Siedentopf factory, we came across a large troop of baboons at fairly close range. We sat for some time watching the complex interactions between these large and powerful (but highly social) animals.

Ostriches were fairly common in the crater. We saw both the black males and the brown females on this day. Note the red coloration of the neck and legs of the male. This indicates a bird that is in a state of heightened sexual interest. Or, more plainly, horny. (There is more to this story, but that is for a later post.)

Around the time the cloud cover was starting to lift (perhaps 10 am) we crested a small rise and spotted a couple of lions. We soon realized that this was an entire pride of 10 or more of the big cats patiently stalking a small herd of buffalo. The bulls were on high alert, and it was like watching a chess match as the lions tried to separate one member of the herd from the rest. Buffalo can be deadly to lions, and the hunters (both male and female) were being appropriately cautious.

There must have been some intentional misdirection in all of this activity, however, as we soon discovered a male on the other side of the herd with a calf in its mouth. As we watched, the lion dragged the calf into the bushes and out of sight to feed. The herd made a few brief forays to try and get the calf back, but the lions continued to work as a team to keep them away from the kill. Eventually, the buffalo moved off, leaving the lions with their prize.

Once the drama was over, some of the pride members came down to the water to drink, with this pair showing great affection for each other.

Just as we were about to move on, we turned around and found this handsome male headed our way from behind - apparently to join up with his pridemates.

It is a little disconcerting to have a predator of this size focus on you so intently. You feel like you are being invited to lunch. As the main course.

By this time we needed to start thinking about our crater exit strategy. The exit road is near the Lerai Forest, but a short side trip took us to a fairly large lake with a lush swamp adjacent. Here we found hippos. LOTS of them. There was still quite a bit of overcast which allowed these sensitive-skinned herbivores to come onto shore to graze, so we got a good look at hippos large and small. You can even see a few in the water.

Soon, though, it was time to go, but on our way to the Lerai road we found a green vervet monkey sitting in an Acacia bush right by the road - literally within arm's reach. How he managed to deal with those wicked two inch thorns, I can't imagine.

We made a quick in-and-out jaunt into the Lerai forest in the hope of finding a rhino, which we had not yet seen on our safari. Unfortunately none were to be found. The best part about the forest was the smell, though. The entire forest smelled faintly floral - imagine walking by a jasmine vine on a spring day. After days and days of dust, it came as a welcome, if brief, respite to the nose.

As we we starting our ascent, we found ourselves embedded in a large herd of buffalo moving across the road. There were many large, mature bulls in this group, and some of them were definitely giving us the evil eye. Eventually, they let us pass, and we headed up. The ascent road is a bit narrower and steeper than the descent road, with several switchbacks, so the trip out is a little nerve wracking. It is a good thing the road is one-way - you definitely do not want to have to pass someone on this dirt track.

Goodbye, Ngorongoro.

No vacation is complete without souvenirs, so after reaching the crater rim we made a brief stop at the Crater Lodge gift shop. These women were selling beautiful native handcrafts on the porch, while inside more conventional gift shop fare (tee shirts, knick knacks, etc.) were for sale.

This ended our amazing visit to Ngorongoro. It was about noon by this time, and we still had a long way to go on this day. Next up: Oldupai, then on to Shifting Sands, and finally our overnight accomodations at Ndutu. Crowflight distance? About 40 miles. Our route would make it more like 60 miles, though, and the roads would not be friendly.