Ngorongoro National Park, Tanzania, Africa

Tuesday, April 14, 2015   Ngorongoro National Park, Tanzania 

Our gorgeous sun shining day started out with a scrumptious buffet breakfast.

                                                        The rocks in this lodge are so cool!

We met Nixson at 8:00 and he took us down this steep, narrow, bumpy, rocky twisting one way road into the bottom of the crater. What a thrilling way to start the day!

                                                         The valley of Ngorongoro Crater
The valley was so green and the sky was so blue with big fluffy white clouds. Tall mountains surrounded the whole area…It reminded Larry and I of Burkes Garden, Virginia on a much larger scale.

Morning glories and English Toilet Papers bloomed among the grasslands. Flowers do not last long here due to the rain.

 There were mixtures of animals all over the place…We spotted our first Eland. ..the largest antelope…it can weigh a ton. 

                                                             The Eland is fast; up to 45 mph

                                                                 We saw loads of zebras,

 

 

Wildebeests

Baboons scampering around the zebras.

 

gazelles, pumbas, ostriches, buffalos, vervet monkeys, baboons, hartebeests, hippos, and a jackal. They all ran, played, ate and stretched out snoozing amongst each other like they were all best buddies. Maybe that’s where the African’s get the phrase, “ Hakuna Matatat”…No worries!

The bottom of the crater has the greenest velvet grass land with plenty of water coming from underground springs and rivers. The lake has special minerals…so special the Massai bring their animals over the edge of the crater to the bottom to drink from the lake often. We saw many groups of herders today making the journey. This area is a paradise for the  wild animals, so they do not migrate from the crater.

                                       Happy to  have his picture taken and accepted a dollar!

                        Two more children herders ran over to have their picture taken as well!

By 11:30am we had spotted 4 of the BIG 5….elephants, lions, buffalos, rhinos and all in one day. Absolutely thrilling!

                                    The elephant herd was tremendous! Lots of big ones, little ones....

 and this old fellow who just stood right beside our car and let us take snapshot after snapshot of his many wrinkles.  I told Larry that he needed some lotion badly!

This old bull weighted between 2 and 3 tons and was around 60 years old.  The elephants moved along the wooded area eating leisurely while slowly stepping casually into a new area for another delicious bite.  We must have watched them for an hour…moving along with them.

                                                 We know who owns this road!

While watching the elephants we heard robins chat (orange breast), the yellow basket weavers, and tropical bobos….what unusual sounds. We also enjoyed hearing the sounds of the hippos, baboons, and the wildebeests.

We also spotted three black rhinos. One was close enough to capture a few photos. He stood and stood and stood and finally laid down. There are only 30 of these left in the park. Why? They have a hard time making little ones…18 month gestation every 8 years…everything must be just perfect for them to mate.  Anyway, the rangers are always counting and looking out for them. Hopefully, living in this paradise they will start to multiply.

 

We spotted four lions and a cub who had an injured leg. The cub laid in the road and kept trying to get comfortable while the other four lions rubbed and cuddled together.

 

Two teenage cubs kept trying to get the mother lions’ attention by flopping down on her. So funny to watch!

 

 

 

We had a yummy boxed picnic lunch on the lake while watching the hippos and pelicans.

 

Ngorongoro National Park is the 8^th wildlife wonder of the world. 25,000 animals are estimated to live here. Our eyes never tired of seeing the East African wildlife. We had so many magical moments that I am glad that I took the time to write down a list  of all the animals that we saw every day. 

Nixson took us back to the lodge at the end of all the animal watching. We were very surprised to find the road going back up the hill had pavers all the way to the top.

Nixson always enjoyed telling a few stories at the end of the day while the caretaker stork walked around us keeping an eye on our every move.

Tomorrow morning we will begin the journey back toward Kilamanjaro with our minds full of so many good memories of our adventures in Tanzania.

 

   The view from our room balcony of  the valley was stupendous! The reflections of the  clouds in the lake were awesome!