Blogs from Ngorongoro Conservation Area, North, Tanzania, Africa - page 6

The Ngorongoro Crater National Park is a dormant volcano with 240 square km of a flat treeless bottom that is an ideal grazing ground. Because of the ready availability of water, the animals here don't migrate. The only large animal that is absent is the giraffe. Either the steep crater sides or the lack of trees at the bottom probably explains why this is the case. The area west of the crater and east of the Serengeti is now a National Conservation Area. There are large herds of gnu, zebra, Tommies mixed in with Masai cattle, goats and camels in that in-between area. This is also the location of Olduvai Gorge, where the Paleoanthropologists / Wunderkind Leakey family uncovered the Lucy skull. So, in effect, this is the birth place of homo-sapiens. Well, from here up ... read more

Last night we stayed at a beautiful place called Ngorongoro Farmhouse. There’s a large main building with the rooms in detached duplexes that were very large and modern. It certainly didn’t seem like Africa! They are surrounded by coffee and flower fields. It’s back to tents tonight, so we appreciated the luxury. Francis met us for breakfast and took us to meet an Iraqw man named Paulo. His village is spread out over many hills and valleys that we walked with him. He explained his tribe and their culture. He was educated and placed a very high priority on education for his family. Paulo took us to an area of cliffs and gorges where there are caves. His people hid in these caves during a war with Uganda in the late 1970’s. We saw many ... read more

The next morning, we left the hotel at 6:15 to descend into the crater. Kelvin asked if we had any interest in making a surprise visit to a Masai village. “Sure,” we said. That’s pretty cool, stopping in at 6:30 in the morning to see how the Masai really lived. Jonathan only showed us the abandoned village near Amboseli. We had never been in a real visit where the Masai lived and cattle, goats and sheep pooped. As we approached the village Kelvin warned us that Masai are very friendly. They like to shake hands and sometimes hug, but we should be careful and use our Purel afterward because they are not good about cleanliness. We had no Purel so I said what my friend Rick Strain always says; “hey, that’s what stomach acid is for.” ... read more

I didn't think very much about Masai when I started the journey to Ngorongoro. All I had in my mind was this extraordinary place called Ngorngoro which is a dead valcano of the ancient days. Inside that volcanic crater of about 20Km diameter - I was exited about to find these delightful collection of wild animals. True to its auro of open air zoo without walls - it turned to be just that. So many animals, you name it then you will find it in there - Zebras, Wildebeast,fox, rhinos, elephants, Zeraffes,Hienas,Hipos and not to mention the great lions of Ngrongoro. An amazing collection of beauftiful animals in such a small place - wonderful indeed. Constant and clear danger But what surprised me even more was the fearless people of the Masai tribe who live there. ... read more

During the night I was woken up by gunshots - a typical Muir holiday, I assumed they were coming from the armed guards that were patrolling the camp, just in case I got my pen knife out - Rambo style:-) I wasn't sure whether it was a dream from my time in 'Nam so I slowly unzipped the tent and peered out, 3 metres in front of me was the biggest Goddam elephant I had seen in my life and behind him were another two. They were feeding from the branches of three and the shots were meant to scare them away, but that had failed misreably. Unforutnately for me my tent was the one nearest the tree and as it was pitch black I was worried that Dumbo would accidentally tread all over me. Plus ... read more