FROM THE CRATER TO THE PLAINS

(NOTE:  We just checked into the Nairobi Serena hotel and the internet is very reliable.  I hope to get caught up on all my postings tonight while the signal is very good.  I don't know how Liza & Peter did this blogging for a year because it drives me crazy sometimes, especially the pictures.  But I will prevail.)

INTO THE NGORONGORO CRATER

We had another early start this morning (Tuesday Dec 20^th) as we were awaken around 6am by a fantastic sunrise over the Ngorongoro Crater.  I am reluctantly attaching a picture of it because the picture does not do it justice. 

After breakfast we headed down into the crater.  Here is your one line of school work knowledge:  The Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest non-flooded caldera measuring I believe 12 miles across by 20 miles wide.  And it is home to about 25,000 animals and over 6 million birds.  In the seven hours we were down there today I think Clara & I came damn close to taking each and every one of their pictures.

We started off with herds of zebras and wildebeest and an assortment of birds such as cranes and storks and flamingos and ostriches.  The lake at the bottom of the crater had at least 10,000-12,000 pink flamingos alone just stretched out along the one shoreline.  We saw some Thompson Gazelle and Impala and another few wart hogs and even a few jackals.

One of the first big bonuses of the day was the black rhino.  These are almost extinct so it was a treat to see them so early in the trip.  We actually saw three of them; one solitary male and then a female with her “baby” rhino.  If you magnify the picture you’ll see that I caught the big rhino relieving herself in the middle of the crater.  The guide got a big kick out of this picture. 

The next big sighting was some hyenas that were drinking out of a stream.  There were about 3 of them but they proved to be elusive buggers.  I got a few good pictures of them before they disappeared into the “bush”.  They aren’t nearly as comfortable around the vehicles as the zebra and wildebeest.  In fact there was one wildebeest that was drinking out of a puddle on the road and was in no hurry to leave even when we pulled up right behind him.

Then we hit the mother lode as we came across the LIONS.  (As an aside, we have now seen 4 of the 5 animals which make up the Big Five.  Just need to see the leopard.)  First was a solitary male just lounging in the grass.  After that we found a lone female who appeared to be looking for a snack.  Looking around we spotted about 3 or 4 cubs partially hidden in the tall grass watching mom intently.  Then another female appeared by the cubs, and we even spotted a male in the bushes nearby just sleeping.  The guides said the lone lioness was prepared to do some hunting.  Some of us were looking for the lioness to do just that while others were hoping for a Disney ending.  We hung around for about 15 minutes, but the lioness didn’t seem to be in any hurry to hunt so we headed off for more animals.  Chalk one up for the “happy” ending.

I won’t bore you with the details of our lunch (Tents pitched in the middle of the crater, cushioned chairs, full bar, salad, grilled chicken and steak, chocolates for desert all in the 70 degree weather while a light rain fell in the distance) because I don’t want to come off as a braggart or anything like that.  So we made our way back up the wall of the crater to the rim, and, ho-hum, what do we run into but an elephant hanging around the side of the road just munching on some grasses and trees.  After a few photos we headed back up the hotel where, once again, I am typing this entry to the sounds of Clara snoring!!!!!

The internet is not reliable here and that is why you are going to see back to back postings of our adventures.  Well, room service is here with my cold beer, so it is off to the patio overlooking the crater to just do a little relaxing.  Tomorrow we are off to the Serengeti Plains for more animal adventures.

Until next time.