Monday, October 6, 2014 - Ngorongoro Crater - Day 12

We awoke at 6 again, dressed and had breakfast at 6:30.  We met Godson in the lobby at 7:30 to begin our drive into the crater.  We are at 7,500 feet above sea level and the air is thin.  I’m huffing and puffing and had a hard time sleeping last night.  The fog this morning was very thick and just started to lift so we could see the bottom of the caldera as we left.

Fog shrouding the Ngorongoro Crater at dawn

When we left Serena Lodge, we drove up further and back into the fog.  We finally got to the entrance to the park – a one way road – very bumpy – that led down to the bottom of the caldera.   Godson explained that the crater collapsed about 5 million years ago. 

The entry gate to the Ngorongoro Crater - the government runs all of the national parks and everyone has to have a permit and pay to visit the national parks

The trail down to the crater bottom was very bumpy.  We saw these baboons on the way

It isn’t known if it collapsed all at once in a single giant event or if it happened over time.  This is the 6^th largest caldera in the world – the others are in Japan and The Philippines.  But this caldera is the only one with an unbroken rim.  It is about 19 km across (12 miles) and about 1,800 feet deep.

The Maasai have paths where they take their animals to the caldera for water and grazing.  Godson said that they can get down in about an hour.  I can’t imagine.

We started roaming around the caldera floor and did so all day.  We started seeing wildebeest and zebra, lots of gazelles, and warthogs.  We saw 2 lionesses in the grass – one with her paws up in the air.  We saw 3 lions sleeping by the road and they posed for us from time to time.  We saw hippos in the water and sunning and later saw a group of hippo napping in a smelly pond. 

The views from the caldera floor were incredible - the rim completely circling the crater

Uganda birds (I think - I keep mixing up the birds as they aren't as easy to recognize as zebra!)

Zebra grazing on the caldera floor

A jackal - first one we've seen so far

And LOTS of wildebeests grazing all over the caldera floor

These zebra caught my eye - standing side by side!

And the evil-looking hyena - they are fierce

A dazzle of zebra each took turns rolling in a spot that had dirt and dust.  They use this to coat their skin so the sun won't burn them.

The cape buffalo grazing in Ngorongoro Crater

A male ostrich - he turns pink when he is ready to mate!

And sleeping lions in the grasses - we waited a long time for them to rouse which they finally did!

Patience was required with many of these animals

The lion finally got up and we could see the majesty of this incredible animal

This vehicle of Brits had their "Simba" and took a picture of Simba with the lions in the grass.

Funny!!!

Tim out the top of the vehicle with the sleeping lions in the grass in the distance

Mr. Lion - King of the Jungle!

Hippos at the small lake - most were in the water to get out of the hot sun

Two lions posing for us - absolutely beautiful and thrilling

For lunch we went to a “swamp” and ate our box lunches in the car so the birds wouldn’t swoop down and take our food.  We saw a kite almost get food from a guy in the vehicle next to us.  Our lunch spot was near a swamp with hippo resting out in the water.  As we left, there was another lion with what remained of its kill. 

A raft of hippos in the water soaking to stay cool

A guinea hen walking around while we ate lunch

After lunch we passed this lion with his kill (on the left) - he was taking a break from his feast!

We watched a black rhinoceros from afar and it gradually got much closer.  I counted almost 40 safari vehicles watching it with us. 

A black rhinoceros on the plains - this was the only rhino we saw - but one of the Big Five!

Then we went to a “kill” and watched at least 40 hyenas tear apart an animal in shallow water.  Godson thought it was probably a hippo.  They were very protective of their kill.  We saw jackals which the hyena kept away while they ate their kill.  We thought we were going to see a kill with a pack of hyena and wildebeests but the wildebeests ran away.  There was a huge flock of pink flamingos in the water near where we watched.

 

The hyena feasting off of a hippo in the water.  Notice the "sentry" keeping guard for the others .

The pink flamingos in the water - a huge flock

The road up from the caldera floor was actually paved with pavers and had a curb.  Godson told us it took 2 years to build it but it was nice having a somewhat smoother ride up from the caldera floor.

We started seeing trees as we left the caldera floor.

The paved road up from the caldera - Godson said it took over 2 years to build and there was a lot of corruption involved in getting the project done.  But it was nice not being jostled around for a while.

Beautiful vistas as we started up the side of the caldera

We got back to the Serena Lodge a little after 4 and did email and updated the blog.  I rested while Tim read.  The lodge was really quiet and the internet worked much faster without so many people on it.

Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

The lodge was built out of rocks - beautiful rustic construction

And back at the lodge a beautiful view of the crater

At 7 the Maasai acrobat performed.  There were 3 Maasai guys who did handstands, flips and other acrobatic exercises.  Entertaining for 30 minutes.  Then we went to dinner at 7:30.  We sat at our same table and had Irene again.  Dinner was good – both of us had the fish.  Bread pudding with vanilla sauce for dessert – yum!

These animals - that we think are eland right outside our room at Ngorongoro Lodge

 And a full moon over the crater - it was stunning

Tim and I enjoyed watching the animals just outside our room and the full moon over the crater

We caught up on email and Facebook in the lobby sitting in front of one of the big fires and then went to bed.  We have been going to be very early.  We get to sleep until 6:30 tomorrow morning. 

I burned my arms while hanging out of the top of the Land Cruiser today so had to treat those before going to bed.  The sun is very, very strong here as we are not very far south of the equator (which runs through Kenya just north of us).  What an incredible experience we are having.  Off to bed.  I’ll be glad to get back down to “good air” as I am having trouble breathing at this high altitude.