Saturday, May 21, 2005
Honeymoon in Africa - Northern Circuit Safari, Day 2 of 8
Northern Circuit Safari, Day 2 of 8
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
21 May 2005
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
21 May 2005
This morning we woke after a night of little sleep. We grabbed our day packs and headed down to breakfast with Yohannes. After a nice breakfast and kehawa we loaded our packs into the Land Cruiser at 8:15am and started our drive down into the crater below for a full day game drive.
It took us a some time to decend into the crater. Along the way there were Masai on the road, coming out of the bush, waiting for rides, etc.. Along the way, we had many views of the crater and a small masai village. We took some pictures discreetly, since the Masai boys believe you should pay them money for photos.
The dew and mist was heavy at this time of the morning and the landscape and climate was not unlike Scotland. Our guess was that it was about 50 deg F with a slight breeze blowing.
After a steep decent down the dirt/clay road we reached the crater floor. Looking back up the crater wall we saw a line of Masai cattle, tended by Masai boys, coming down their own trail into the crater floor to drink from the spring. The Masai have a special arrangement with the Conservation Area: as indigenous people, they are allowed to bring their cattle and goats into the crater and live within the Conservation area, but that cannot live in the crater itself; only up above and beyond the crater rim. All Masai and animals must be out of the crater by nightfall, which is about 6:30pm year around.
Our driver (who went to Univ of Texas for Zoology) told us that he wished the Masai were not allowed into the crater at all with their animals. He said that there has been some problems in the past with their domestic animals tranmitting diseases to the native wildlife, such as distemer which is a problem for the big cats. The dogs that the masai keep are also not vacinnated for common canine diseases and they can easily transmit these diseases to the canine wildlife as well.
Some of the animals we saw today:
Silver backed and Golden Jackals, Thompson's gazelles, Elands (large antelopes), 5 black rhinos (2 separate groups: a pair, and another male female pair with a baby rhino), 1 lioness, then later with a small group of 4-5 females with cubs), Zebras, Cape Buffalo, Wildebeests, hundreds of flamingos (both Lesser and Greater flamingos), hyennas, warthogs (mating pair, many adults and young), Corybustard (a bird that looks like a large roadrunner and looks very "Jurassic"), crowed crane, hartebeest, rufous tailed weaver bird, Hippos, Black Kites, Vitalin Weaver (black and yellow), Ostriches (both males and females), black-faced vervet monkeys, baboons.
I (Viktoria) especial like the warthogs which are funny little creatures with lots of attitude. They march around the area with lots of confidence with their tails upright like a flag pole.
We had lunch by the "Hippo Pool" and relaxed for a bit. We had to be mindful of the Black Kites who've been well fed by tourists in the past and are no so brazen that they will swoop down without warning and steal food from your hand or even striaght from your plate.
After a full day in the crater, we made our way towards the exit road at about 5pm. On the way out, there was a single bachelor male elephant failry close to the road, near a grassy open yet forested area. He was a wonderful, huge old male, standing near some trees happily munching on lots of grass. We then moved towards a grove of trees were some toilets were built and watched a group of vervet monkeys playing loudly in the trees above. They constantly called to one another making quite a racket.
We then started up the steep exit road to leave the crater, which was cut into the rainforest clinging to the side of the crater wall. The earth was very red and the rainforest so think as to be virtually impenetrable. It must be a monkey's paradise in there. We watched the clouds roll roll over the lip of the rim and observed close up how it clings to the sides of the crater wall.
We returned to the lodge before sunset, around 5:30. The hotel had given us an upgrade to a second floor room, which turned out to be a suite. The first floor was a small living room that had a slider out to a nice porch. A narrow stairway to the second floor brought you to a loft with a nice queen bed. Overall this room was much nicer and we were pleased because we were able to sleep with the windows wide open to the crater without worry.
Tonight we watched the sunset and had dinner with Yohannes. After dinner both of us got massages (only about $45 for a full hour!). I was in bed by 10:30 and sleeping soundly after a full day. Jeff stayed up until 11:30 or so, sitting on the porch to read until about midnight.
Journal Entry by Viktoria, Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, 21 May 2005
It took us a some time to decend into the crater. Along the way there were Masai on the road, coming out of the bush, waiting for rides, etc.. Along the way, we had many views of the crater and a small masai village. We took some pictures discreetly, since the Masai boys believe you should pay them money for photos.
The dew and mist was heavy at this time of the morning and the landscape and climate was not unlike Scotland. Our guess was that it was about 50 deg F with a slight breeze blowing.
After a steep decent down the dirt/clay road we reached the crater floor. Looking back up the crater wall we saw a line of Masai cattle, tended by Masai boys, coming down their own trail into the crater floor to drink from the spring. The Masai have a special arrangement with the Conservation Area: as indigenous people, they are allowed to bring their cattle and goats into the crater and live within the Conservation area, but that cannot live in the crater itself; only up above and beyond the crater rim. All Masai and animals must be out of the crater by nightfall, which is about 6:30pm year around.
Our driver (who went to Univ of Texas for Zoology) told us that he wished the Masai were not allowed into the crater at all with their animals. He said that there has been some problems in the past with their domestic animals tranmitting diseases to the native wildlife, such as distemer which is a problem for the big cats. The dogs that the masai keep are also not vacinnated for common canine diseases and they can easily transmit these diseases to the canine wildlife as well.
Some of the animals we saw today:
Silver backed and Golden Jackals, Thompson's gazelles, Elands (large antelopes), 5 black rhinos (2 separate groups: a pair, and another male female pair with a baby rhino), 1 lioness, then later with a small group of 4-5 females with cubs), Zebras, Cape Buffalo, Wildebeests, hundreds of flamingos (both Lesser and Greater flamingos), hyennas, warthogs (mating pair, many adults and young), Corybustard (a bird that looks like a large roadrunner and looks very "Jurassic"), crowed crane, hartebeest, rufous tailed weaver bird, Hippos, Black Kites, Vitalin Weaver (black and yellow), Ostriches (both males and females), black-faced vervet monkeys, baboons.
I (Viktoria) especial like the warthogs which are funny little creatures with lots of attitude. They march around the area with lots of confidence with their tails upright like a flag pole.
We had lunch by the "Hippo Pool" and relaxed for a bit. We had to be mindful of the Black Kites who've been well fed by tourists in the past and are no so brazen that they will swoop down without warning and steal food from your hand or even striaght from your plate.After a full day in the crater, we made our way towards the exit road at about 5pm. On the way out, there was a single bachelor male elephant failry close to the road, near a grassy open yet forested area. He was a wonderful, huge old male, standing near some trees happily munching on lots of grass. We then moved towards a grove of trees were some toilets were built and watched a group of vervet monkeys playing loudly in the trees above. They constantly called to one another making quite a racket.
We then started up the steep exit road to leave the crater, which was cut into the rainforest clinging to the side of the crater wall. The earth was very red and the rainforest so think as to be virtually impenetrable. It must be a monkey's paradise in there. We watched the clouds roll roll over the lip of the rim and observed close up how it clings to the sides of the crater wall.
We returned to the lodge before sunset, around 5:30. The hotel had given us an upgrade to a second floor room, which turned out to be a suite. The first floor was a small living room that had a slider out to a nice porch. A narrow stairway to the second floor brought you to a loft with a nice queen bed. Overall this room was much nicer and we were pleased because we were able to sleep with the windows wide open to the crater without worry.
Tonight we watched the sunset and had dinner with Yohannes. After dinner both of us got massages (only about $45 for a full hour!). I was in bed by 10:30 and sleeping soundly after a full day. Jeff stayed up until 11:30 or so, sitting on the porch to read until about midnight.
Journal Entry by Viktoria, Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, 21 May 2005
