Africa: Ngorongoro Crater - Tanzania

We woke up in time to see the sun rising over the crest of the crater and packed up our bags before breakfast. We were heading down into the crater for the morning and then off to the Serengeti from there.

We ate quickly, jumped into the jeep and started our way down into the Crater. It is huge and is famous for its Rhinos, which they have over 50 in the park, so we were on the lookout for one. Once we got to the crater floor there were mountains all around us with huge rolls of mist cascading down them.

There was a small grove of trees creating some nice shade where a lioness was resting below a bush right on the outskirts of the trees. There might have been a whole pride of lions but we could only see the one and it was too far away to tell if there were more. We kept moving and kept an eye on the horizon for a horn sticking out of the tall grass. As we were driving a Caracal dashed out onto the road ahead of us. He was far enough ahead that Latow had time to stop and the Caracal started walking up the road like we weren't even there. 

We followed slowly behind him and he would turn around and look back at us to see if we were a threat or not. Soon he turned into the tall grass and continued his walk parallel with the road stopping every once and awhile to check on us. 

He looked and acted a little like a house cat but in reality they are great hunters and can leap up to ten feet to catch guinea fowl and other low flying birds. He was more curious than afraid of us and he sat down on his hind legs and stared right at us trying to figure us out.

After staring us down he got back up and walked away from the road into the tall grass plains that cover most of the crater floor. We kept on the move and ran into a big herd of Water Buffalo all grazing and swatting away flies.

Once the herd moved off of the road we were able to keep going and right up the road we ran into an even bigger herd of Zebra. There was over a hundred, maybe two hundred, making for a dizzying array of black and white stripes.

  
A few zebras were rolling around in the dirt like dogs. It was really funny to watch with their legs flailing all over the place.

And there was even a small fight breaking out between two of the larger zebra. But my favourite one was a blonde colt trying to graze despite all the chaos.

 After the zebras cleared off of the road we kept going across the yellow plains and blue mountains. It looked almost like a painting as we drove through the winding roads of the crater.

We stopped at a small lake full of hippos. They were all just lying in the water occasionally splashing themselves with their tails to keep from drying up in the sun. 

Then we came across a few small jackals like the ones we had seen in Masai Mara but these ones were Golden Jackals instead of Silver Backed Jackals.

After a while we stopped at small park rest area to stretch our legs and use the restrooms. There were a few picnic tables overlooking a lake with some hippos floating about. We made sure to keep our distance from the hippos because they can be quite unpredictable sometimes.

We got back in the jeep and started towards another corner of the crater. Suddenly Latow stopped the jeep as he had spotted something way off in the distance. There were three rhinos that were almost impossible to see so it was amazing Latow even spotted them in the first place. They kind of looked like little grey blobs even with the binoculars but there was no way to get any closer without driving off the path which we weren't allowed to do. After we waited a while to see if they might come closer we gave up and headed out of the park climbing up the side of the crater looking for them all the way. 

We had lunch up above on one of the mountains overlooking the crater which was fun as a Marabou Stork tried to share our food and we had to keep watch on the sky as kite birds wanted some too. After our picnic it was back in the jeep for our journey to the Serengeti.

Africa: Lake Manyara National Park - Tanzania

We woke up early again, had a great breakfast at the main lodge and put our bags into the jeep before starting out into Lake Manyara National Park. The Serena Lodge was way above the lake so we descended down the mountainside towards the Park Entrance with the famous Baobab trees on both sides.

Right off the bat, at the entrance to the park, there were Crowned Hornbills with bright red beaks flying from tree to tree. And once we entered the park we spotted a few Trumpeter Hornbills as well.

The main difference between the two is the crest on the Trumpeter Hornbill's beak. They are also much larger than the Crowned Hornbill which are more similar to toucans in size. And then further up the road we spotted yet another Hornbill - the Southern Ground Hornbill which is the largest of the three and looking more like a turkey than a hornbill.

There were three or four feeding on a zebra carcass that smelled absolutely horrible. We decided not to stick around for too long and let them get back to eating. After we left the carcass behind us I was able to smell again after nearly losing my breakfast.

Not far up ahead the road was blocked by a large troop of baboons with about a hundred or more members. As the baboons cleared off the road the others were grooming each other and jumping from branch to branch.

After we watched the baboons for awhile and the road was clear we were able to keep on moving. We were about to leave the jungle when we saw a troop of Vervet Monkeys up in the trees. 

Soon we left the jungle altogether and entered the marshes like the ones in Amboseli. Mom, Sage, and Zaddek got to see some of the herons and spoonbills they missed when Sage and Zaddek were sick. We also saw a huge Cape buffalo cooling off in the reeds with a small King Fisher and a Green Bee-eater perched not to far away. 

We entered the mud flats next and you could see thousands of flamingos way off in the distance creating a sea of pink. 

There was no path to get closer but there was another good spot to see the flamingos. The hard part was that it was a lot farther in the park and we still had to drive to Ngorongoro Crater before dark. Considering flamingos were Sage's first choice of the animals she had wanted to see on our trip we asked if we could make it. Latow said that we had enough time to get there as long as we didn't stop too much. On the way there we saw a really rare marsh deer right before it darted into the bushes.

We kept moving and were almost there when we spotted two male lions sleeping beneath a thorn bush. 

They were pretty far away and we didn't have a lot of time so we kept going to the mud flats to see the flamingos. There was a small spot to park and a long boardwalk winding out towards the shallow water where the flamingos were feeding. 

Sage was super excited to see the flamingos and rushed to the end of the boardwalk to see them.

There were hundreds of Lesser Flamingos feeding in the water eating the small shrimp and algae. 

It was funny watching them fly because they land like planes on a runway. They hit the water and hold out their wings to slow them down as they run through the water before coming to a complete stop. We watched the sea of pink for a long time getting used to the loud chatter and squawking before we had to go. 

As we were about to leave Latow heard on the radio that there was a small pride of lions not too far from the boardwalk. It took us awhile to find them but soon we spotted a male and female resting beneath a huge thorn bush with needlelike spikes.

 They was also another male resting on the other side of the road and a few more lionesses hidden in the brush.

We decided to start on our way out of the park and passed by a huge herd of Cape buffalo with a lone giraffe bringing up the rear walking on the edge of the lake.

Once we left the park it was a couple of hours to Ngorongoro Crater. We stopped at a small lookout and got our first view of the crater. The crater is so big that you can barely see the other side in the horizon.

The Serena Lodge at the Crater was really nice and we loved how the stone work made it camouflage in with the surroundings of the sides of the crater. We had dinner in the dining room before heading in for the night after an awesome day.