The day started bright and early with breakfast at 6:15. Our goal was to leave camp by 7 and drive to the crater! It took us about a half and hour to get to the gate. The day started out great with our car flooding with steam because the engine overheated and the cap flew off the radiator. We freaked out at first and evacuated the car but finally realized it was just steam. Martin and Yohanna (our driver and guide/swahili teacher) handled the whole situation calmly and simply added more water before we were on our way! We finally made it to the gate and got out to check out the gift shop, go to the bathroom and see some exhibits about the park. Before we even managed to get inside, there was a huge male baboon who came right up to our cars. A group of us were standing right outside the cars hoping he wouldn’t come too close. Then, for some reason, Josh held up an orange and the baboon charged! He came within inches of me before Josh threw away the orange and it ran away to catch and eat it. It was really funny afterwards but quite scary at the time. Baboons are pretty terrifying up close! But no one was hurt so we continued inside.
I learned a lot about the crater and the park from the exhibits inside the visitor’s center. Ngorongoro was created in the 1950’s when Maasai were pushed out of Serengeti Reserve and needed a place to relocate. The conservation was an experiment in land use where pastoralism, conservation and tourism could all exist within one area. In this way, Ngorongoro is completely unique from other conservation areas or national parks. It is the only area where people (mostly Maasai) are allowed to live and utilize resources while the wildlife are protected at the same time.
The crater is the largest in the world and was created by a volcanic eruption millions of years ago. Nine different volcanoes were formed in the area during the past four million years (one is still active). Ash and dust from these volcanoes spread over the region to form the fertile soils of the Serengeti. Since its creation, the crater has been home to several extinct species of mammal including early human ancestors. There is actually a large archaeological site within the park that has produced perfectly preserved footprints from early hominid and extinct mammals.
After buying a few things from the gift shop, we all headed up to the highlands along the rim of the crater for a guest lecture at the park headquarters. A tourism officer explained all of the above information to us and gave us an overview of the parks history and future path. It’s amazing that the experiment has worked so well and the people living within the borders of Ngorongoro have learned to live sustainably with the resources and wildlife.
We finally made our way down to the crater. The path was long and winding but completely worth the wait. The view from the top of the crater was breathtaking. Pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice.
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When we finally made it to the bottom, the temperature difference was surprising. The top of the crater had the expected morning chill but the bottom of the crater was hot and sunny. We were immediately overwhelmed by hundreds of zebra, wildabeest and water buffalo. There were also several species of bird all around us such as black kites, ibis, white stork, blacksmith plover, flamingo, ostrich, kori bustard, Egyptian goose and crowned crane (to name a few). The kori bustard is one of the largest flying birds in the world. We had the chance to see a male, female and a male all puffed up in his best display for the ladies.
For most of the day, we only saw the birds, wildabeest, zebra, a couple hippo and several gazelle species (impala, grants gazelle, thompson’s gazelle). Those were interesting though. We saw zebra mating, a lot of babies from all species and some interesting behaviors such as dusting (rolling around in the dirt to deter flys).
We met up with some other cruisers for lunch and found out that everyone else has already seen rhino, lions, and hyena! We were sorely disappointed and wanted to get going right away to try and catch them too but not before a black kite swooped in out of nowhere and stole a sandwich out of Kim’s hands! She was just fine, so it makes for a good story. With only 2 hours left in the park we finally saw two black rhino, several lions and a small group of hyena. Unfortunately, the rhino and hyena were very far away but my wonderful binoculars saved the day. The lions on the other hand were incredible. We saw them sleeping, rolling around and even saw one female scouting the herds of wildabeest and zebra, getting ready to hunt! We were so disappointed when Yohanna and Martin said we had to start heading home. She was definitely getting ready to stalk and kill.
By the time we had to head home, we were all very ready. It’s amazing how exhausting a day of sitting in a land cruiser can be! It must be all the sun and excitement. It’s now back to classes and getting ready for exams! Exams start next week and the week after that is our 5-day expedition to Serengeti National Park! We’ve been told that every night we will fall asleep to lions roaring and elephants trumpeting in the distance. I think I’ll just keep my video camera recording all night!
Well I’m sorry for the novel but there’s just so much to share! I’m also making up for the fact that I’ll barely be able to post anything once I get to Kenya. I’ve heard that the internet there is absolutely horrible and barely works. Hopefully I’ll be able to post at least once a week!
Location: Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
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I can’t believe you got to see lions! That must be so awesome! You pictures are so beautiful; they make me feel like I’m not in State College studying for a physics exam. Love you!