Ngorongoro drops down in our estimations

15 years ago, Florence and I visited Ngorogoro, which is next to the Serengeti in Tanzania. It's the crater of what was Afica's biggest volcano, which erupted explosively 2.5 million years ago. What is left is a crater 650m high and 25km across. The big African animals live in the crater all year. The bottom of the crater has a salt lake (flamingo habitat) and a smaller fresh water lake and marshland. The inside and outside of the crater walls is jungle straight out of Tarzan.

Ah, I mentioned we have been here before, so let's go back to the crater floor. The area that was not covered by the two lakes was green, and in wide parts, elephant grass grew to 3 or 4 meters. Seeing elephants in that grass was wonderous. There were also plenty of lions, hippos , birds, and other animals. I found it hard to say if Masai Mara or Ngorogoro was my favourite African reserve.

As a result, Ngorogoro was high on my list of things the children should see. When I went to book a hotel and a driver, I thought the prices that were more than 80% higher than Kenya meant it was still top. Unfortunately, far from it. Large parts of the crater floor are very dry, the elephant grass covers only a small area, and that grass is shorter. We did see a male lion, lots of hippos,and some smaller cats, as well as lots of antelope, wildebeest and Buffalo, but it just wasn't the same as we experienced it previously, and without prompting the kids rated it last on their parks league table.

What happened? Undoubtedly, drought played a big part, but I suspect that poor water management is also to blame. After all, the dryness is only on the crater floor.

Sad 😔.

Recommendation is simple. If you want to see the jungle book live, then by far the best is Masai Marra. It's just as good as ever and whilst it's not cheap, you can have excellent accommodation and guides for $100 and $150 respectively. The latter includes a car all day, big enough for 6-8. It's also a good idea to visit more than one park and I was charmed by Amboseli. Let's hope that drought does not degrade it. A couple of the kids made Nakuru their second choice, and I can see why (rhinos, monkeys, birds, butterflies. ..). I hope better water management can return Nakuru to its former glory. That leaves Ngorogoro a poor 4th in my recommendations. A car costs $450 for 6 hours, and hotels are expensive. Compare that to Masai where a car and driver it cost $150 all day. Somebody in Tanzania needs to start thinking about the future!もっと詳しく