Today was spent in the largest caldera in the world, Ngorongoro Crater! Our day started early around 5:30. It took awhile to actually get to the crater because it is surrounded by a large conservation area that you have to drive through first. Also, we were having a guest lecture at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Administration Headquarters where we learned a little about the area and the crater. It used to be part of Serengeti NP until 1959. Its different from the park because people (Maasai) are allowed to live in the conservation area and not in the NP. The crater is home to Tanzania’s remaining viable black rhino population. We spent most of the time learning about the main problems facing Ngorongoro today:

-fast human population growth (8,000 people in 1959, 70,000 today)

-spreading of livestock diseases

-tourist and vehicle congregation in the crater

-environmental pollution

-resource overutilization

-modernization of the human inhabitants’ lifestyle

-climate change

-spread of invasive species, particularly plants

Okay, enough about the lecture; more about the adventure!

So, we didn’t have any assignments for the day. Just driving around and taking in all of the awesome-ness. The crater is different from the other parks we’ve visited thus far. Its mostly flat, savannah land. There are small patches of woodland, though, and little lush green watering holes, streams, and hills spread throughout. The animals seemed to be more spread out here, harder to find. I did see three species today for the first time though–hartebeest, hyena, and lion! The lions were definitely the coolest part. And the very first one was the most exciting. Someone just caught sight of it in the corner of their eye as we were driving by. It was actually hunting and was crouched down in the grass, creeping up on a group of zebra and wildebeest. The wind was not favoring the lion though and the group caught scent of her. When she realized she was out of luck, she just stood up and walked away from the group. Which happened to be right in our direction! She crossed the road only a couple feet from our land cruiser. After that, we saw 2 females and a male laying around by a stream with 3 little cubs. As we drove away from that group of lions, we actually got a flat tire. So our driver and councilor/leader had to change the tire just meters away from them! We just watched to make sure the lions didn’t get close. 

Two days ago we had a day off of classes. We have one day off each week and we always have something fun planned to do. This day we had a goat roast. We got to watch them kill the two goats and help to skin them. Then we had a mini bio lesson with its insides. (You didn’t have to do any of this if you didn’t want to) It was a little gruesome but interesting to see. Then we cooked the meat, some on the grill and some on sticks by the fire. It was actually really good. Some of it was really tough but still tasty. It was nice to sit around the campfire with all our Tanzanian staff members and to learn how they do things.

Location: Karatu, Tanzania