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Published: October 1st 2007
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Ngorongoro
Breathtaking view from the top of the crater. Habari! I just returned from a glorious weekend safari. I have to saw that the majority of the people here elected to go on a camping safari but I chose to go on a lodge safari (for $50 more) with two other volunteers, Denise and Sharon. We did a private safari where you stay in a hotel at night and boy was it worth it. We used Powerful Kingdom Adventures - if you get the chance to go book through John (www.powerfuladventures.com). He used to work at CCS so he gave us a great deal and also ask for Victor. He was a great guide and had unbelievable eyes - he spotted a 2 in crab crossing the road in front of our car!!! I know that my words and pictures will not do justice to this trip. It was absolutely incredible! I highly recommend that everyone take the opportunity to go on a safari. So we left Friday just after lunch and drove to our lodge in Karatu which is about 3 hours from Moshi. The lodge is called the Mountain View Lodge and it was very nice. They cooked "western" food so I was thrilled (pot roast, potatoes &
Lioness
Taken with the aid of binoculars for the close up...that's why it's a little fuzzy. green beans!!!). Friday night we shopped for souvenirs and just relaxed at the outdoor bar. The safari started early Saturday morning and we drove the 1/2 hour to the gate of Ngorongoro Crater. You can read more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area. The crater was created by a volcano and it's a 2000 foot drop that you drive straight down. The roads are a little scary and it takes about 40 minutes to drive down but the views are breathtaking. Once we got into the crater we saw thousands of wildebeest and zebras crossing the road. It was funny because the wildebeest were all in a single file line that went on forever. I can't even remember all the animals that we saw. The crater has about 25,000 animals and that makes it pretty easy to see. They have what they call the "Big Five" in Tanzania - lions, leopards, elephant, rhinocerous and water buffalo. It usually takes a few days to see them all, if you ever do see them all. We say them all on the FIRST day. Our guide was in shock! We saw 3 female elephants sleeping along a ridge. We stopped to watch them wake up and
Hunting Lioness
You can see her hiding in the ditch as the zebra crosses! eye a herd of zebras crossing the road. The head lioness even got down in a ditch to hide while keeping an eye on them. We fully expected her to attack when a zebra got too close but she didn't. Our guide told us that they only have to eat every 7 days so it's rare to see a kill. We drove by a little lake and saw tens of hippos in the water. They are huge. Next we saw 2 of the extremely rare East African black rhinos. They believe there are only 13 left in the crater so it was great to see them, too. We had a nice picnic lunch at the hippo pool. It's kind of crazy because on our way to the picnic site we saw a cheetah and it was a little unnerving eating out in the open knowing that he/she was out there. :D I'm not such a fast runner.Down in ther crater there are several different ecosystems. They have a forest with elephants, lakes and wetlands for the flamingos and hippos, grasslands for the lions and zebras. There are no giraffe in the crater though, but luckily we saw them while driving
Serengeti
This is the famous Serengeti plains that you always hear about. Just gorgeous. to the crater. You can just be driving down the road and out comes monkeys and giraffes crossing the street. Awesome! I am pleased to say that I was the first to spot our first animals. By the end of the day my camera and camcorder had both run out of juice so I was disappointed, but I got some great shots. Another night at the Crater lodge where I "lala fofofo" which means I slept like a fallen banana. Day 2 of the safari was a game drive through Lake Manyara National Park. It's about an hour from our lodge on the way back to Moshi. I think I liked it better because there were fewer cars and we were able to get closer to the animals. At one point we had 5 elephants wandering around our car. It was kind of scary because you have a ? ton animal staring you down not 10 feet from you who could crush you. We were lucky enough to see 3 lionesses enjoying a wildebeest kill. It was gross, but kinda cool at the same time. So we really saw everything we could imagine wanting to see. I forgot to mention
Hippo Pool
Who knew they are plant eaters and stay in the water all day because their skin burns easily. that I also had my photo taken about 50 times. Sounds strange, I know, but there were 2 buses of school children at Ngorongoro. They were from the southern part of Tanzania and were very excited to see white people. I literally had teenage kids grabbing me in each direction to come take a photo with them. I posed for as many as they wanted. I guess it works both ways, I come to photograph them and they photograph me. They were so cute and so excited. Again, it makes you feel really good to be here and be so liked. We also stopped at a Maasai village and were able to see a welcome tribal dance and meet with a family. They make their bomas out of mud, cow dung and sticks. It was surprisingly cozy inside even though it was pitch black and smoky. 😊 It was really cold that morning though so it was good to be inside. The huts house the family and the animals at the same time, they just try to fence off parts for sleeping, animals and people. It's crazy to think but they seemed happy so who am I to say otherwise.
Elephant
I have video of them swarming our car. It was a little scary considering they are larder than a land cruiser. They are also a tribe that practices polygamy and they always want to know why I am not married. 😊 They are very friendly so I made sure to shop their goods before leaving.Well, that's it for now. Enjoy the photos and I will have many more to share when I return. Hope everyone is well at home and thanks for reading what I'm sure is a mistake filled post. I'm too tired to spell check! Kwaheri!
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