Ngorongoro Crater

Penuel picked us up at 5:30 for an all-day drive in the immense Crater. The dirt road up the crater wall is twisty and steep, and barely wide enough for passing the huge, slow delivery trucks headed for the Serengeti — but Penuel managed to do it many times! Then there was a long drive along the rim before descending into the crater itself. This is Maasai country, as was much of yesterday’s drive. They are herders of goats and cattle, and are the only people allowed to live here. This World Heritage Site must be the best place in the world to see so many animals so easily. If you could only go to one place in Africa with guaranteed animal viewing, this is it. My iPhone photos do not do it justice. A drone video would better capture the immensity of the herds, but thank goodness no one is doing that!

The first exciting sight of the morning was a leopard in a tree, with his meal of a baby gazelle. Our guide was especially happy as he said it’s rare to be able to observe a leopard so close. We watched him tossing his head back and forth, and didn’t notice until he finally climbed down that bees were after him. Two hyenas were waiting on the ground for a handout, but he wasn’t sharing his meal.

Penuel said he doesn’t do “ticking safaris” — find a lion, check it off, drive off to look for the next animal on your list. He likes to watch animal behavior, and we agreed. So when we found two male lions (probably brothers) near the road sleeping in the sun (on their backs, a leg or two up in the air) we decided it was a good place to eat breakfast — and we stayed for two hours! They did wake up and look around when they heard a paper-crinkling sound, but went back to seep when they saw it was no threat.

The other animals we saw: huge numbers of wildebeest and zebras; elephants, Cape buffalo, gazelles (both Grant and Thompson), lesser and greater pink flamingos in the lake, hippos, herons, grey crowned cranes, yellow-billed storks, sacred ibis, kites, pelicans, guinea chickens, golden jackel, warthogs, baboons, ostriches (mating), a dark-maned male lion, and a small serval cat. The animal we just missed seeing was the black rhino. When we got to the spot where people had been seeing them, they were so far in the distance that even thru binoculars we could not tell they were rhinos.Meer informatie