Another early morning for these gals! A 6am breakfast and we were driving by 6:30am. Ngorongoro Crater was not too far away and in the next 6 hours we'd cover most of it and see a surprising amount.
The Crater is home to a bunch of animals that remain year around as they have all they need here. No point scaling the 2000' sides.
Others still migrate in and out - wilderbeest, elephant, baboons...
And, fun fact, there are no giraffes in this crater. The steep ascent and descent not being their cup of tea but also, the tall trees they snack on are not as prevalent here.
Ok, so what did we see?
Tons of wilderbeest and zebra. Despite probably having enough zebra pics, they are a favorite and I was very happy to get more.
Cape buffalo - these guys grew on me. It might be the fact they are happy companions to bird friends - oxpeckers and cattle egrets OR that their curiosity matches mine and they stare into my lens willingly. Looking relaxed and calm, it always surprises me that they are in the top 5 killers. Apparently that calm nature is liable to turn angry and hostile in a second.
Lions in Ngorongoro were harder to find. Long golden grass hid them perfectly and moms stashed cubs in prickly bushes. Ok for spying on, but not great for pics.
Birds - Bustards, buzzards, African crowned crane (yes!) and ostriches everywhere.
My favorite little black-backed jackal made an appearance and we followed his sweet but skittish self as he sniffed out a carcass and took his fair share.
Sue's keen eyes spotted something in the grass and we had the rare pleasure of watching FOUR bat-earred foxes go a little crazy with each other. What a treat!
Ngorongoro Crater is an amazing place. While plenty of animals thwarted us (we only saw the elusive rhino from a distance) it remains one of my favorite places. Stunning geography, self contained environment with spring water, lakes and streams, marshland and stands of trees, open plains, hippo ponds and more.
In every direction the walls of the collapsed volcano rise high. The sun shines down inside and the rim hides under thick cloud. As we ascended up the paved, steep road, I felt a twang. I would need to come back here - As Hilary put it "before you get too old!"
The drive back past Tarangire, Manyara and Arusha, to our weird hotel near the Kilimanjaro Airport was 5 hours and included one of those delightful boxed lunches at a picnic area... then some final souvenir shopping. The roads were dusty, chaotic, reminiscent of India in a big way for me. Traffic has no rules here... or none they follow at least. Passing the vehicle in front means taking the right lane - whether there is oncoming traffic or not. I think it is assumed oncoming traffic is smart or motivated enough to move to the shoulder, much like the traffic being passed. It's hair raising, but not as hair raising as when Hilary had to pass a broken vehicle on the one lane ascending road from the Crater. With a steep drop off of 1000' just outside my window, he gingerly drove the 2 ride side wheels over the edge of the paved road to the point I couldn't see the ground outside my window! I might have squeaked a little and grabbed Sue's arm.
Anyway, around 6:30pm, we arrived at the shabby hotel, had a quick shower and snacked on Pringles, nuts and dried apricots before calling it a night. Five hours later, the alarm went off and we began the long journey home.
LONG. JOURNEY.
Note: As promised, my experience with the long term effects of an "African Massage": It works!!! The neck pain that I had carried from Colorado, a month old at the time of departure and nothing that two American style massages had touched, was 100% vibrated and jiggled out by the end of Day 2 on safari. Toyota Land Cruiser and dirt roads for the win! I can tell you now, a month later, the transformation was permanent too.
No comments:
Post a Comment