Ngorongoro Crater

Post Kili, Corrine and I knew we wanted to have some sort of safari experience, especially since we were as close to major wildlife sites such as the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater or Arusha national park as we would get. Unfortunately, we had limited time before getting to Uganda and once we started mapping it out and calling around it seemed like the time and amount of money required just wasn't making sense. We left it up to fate, and sure enough at our celebratory dinner out with our Aussie friends the night of finishing our Kilimanjaro trek, Perry recommended I talk to their tour guide, David, who conveniently had tagged along to pizza with us. One call by David and a short conversation with his manager and we had arranged a car to pick us up at our hotel the next day and take us from Moshi to a small town, Keratu (?) just outside of Arusha for the night and then on to the Ngorongoro Crater the following day for safari. We jumped on it. Initially a little more expensive than we wanted but we later found out park fees alone were $220 a person so we rested a little easier knowing that. Apparently we had gotten a good price...we would most likely never be back plus we were told the crater was the best place to see the most concentrated group of animals in a short period of time...And we were told right. 

Sure enough, At 11:00am a driver was at Springlands hotel ready and waiting for us. This driver took us into Moshi where we traded our Sudan for a large white 4wd safari vehicle. We met our new driver Dismus, a friendly and outgoing guy who would surely make a wonderful guide, and found we would be the only two. We had been told we would be an add on to another group so this was pretty awesome because everything I read said the fewer the better for optimal viewing and vehicle comfort on a long safari day. 

We had no idea what kind of accommodation we would be staying in that evening in Keratu. We pulled into a long dirt driveway and when we parked we were greeted by two young, nicely dressed men who took our backpacks and led us down to quite possibly the coolest glamping experience I could have imagined. Basically, underneath multiple grass type open air huts were large tents with cots, complete with a little sitting area . This wasn't even the best part;  as I took in my surroundings unnoticed birds chirping a little louder- all sorts of low and high pitched clicks and songs-, zero traffic or city noises, and just on overall sense calm and serenity...it felt like we were already out on safari. One of the young men, Israel, told me not to worry, no animals would get us here...Haha thanks Israel. Additionally there was an open air larger, wooden crafted structure where tea, coffee, fresh pineapple juice and popcorn were waiting for us. Popcorn is a thing here I guess! After snacks and a lovely dinner of broth, bread, potatoes, avocado salad, chicken, dessert of fresh watermelon and pineapple and a nice (warm!?) shower with a window open into the trees, we tucked in for the night to prepare for an early start. Wow. 

 

So. if you are ever in Tanzania... GO TO THE NGORONGORO CRATER. I feel that this part of the trip is probably better explained in pictures...(see below). Even right at the gate baboons greeted us. We took a long gravel road along the rim of the crater to a vantage point before the descent. Gah- the view resembled something straight out of discovery channel or Jurassic park, like something so beautiful I think I've only seen paintings close to it. As we looked down into the 131km width of the crater we appreciated the vast grassland with shimmering watering hole to our right, as well as clumps of denser trees and jungle. As we took the car from this point we passed Masai huts.. basically circular clay type structures with grasswork for the roof. Then sure enough we saw a Masai man dressed in the traditional red cloth from head to foot. He pointed and motioned with a stick in a direction off the road away from the caldera. Dismus stopped the car as we spotted a group of about 7 giraffes towering over the trees. Ohhhh my gosh... and it just kept getting better and better. Next were wildebeests, herds and herds of zebras, buffalo, and gazelles. Oh my! 

Black rhino from afar

Look closely, they aren't rocks!

Ngorongoro is home to 30 or so of the rare black rhino 🦏, hippos, lions, African elephants, monkeys, ostriches, flamingos, allllll different types of birds oh and of course can't forget pumbas with their antenna like tails that jut straight upward into the air (Dismus said these were his favorite). I personally love the zebra oh and giraffes, ah it's all so good. We saw so many baby zebras playing and frolicking around, probably the least scared of us of any.  Or maybe that's the monkeys... those lil devils are not afraid at all. Dismus instructed us to eat lunch in the car at the picnic site because the monkeys would steal our food... but this didn't stop them. One monkey with a little baby hanging from her chest took a dive into the car before we had a chance to think and stole a half of Corrine's sandwich. And just like that she was gone. Lesson learned.