Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park

We left Arusha at 8am in a Land Cruiser for Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.  Rodney, Andre, Chris, Phil and I shared the car.  One the way to Ngorongoro Crater, we saw a few Masai villages.  Masai is the local tribe in the area.  We passed two teenage kids, with white mask painted around their eyes.  Our driver explained that those two kids just had circumcision done and now they are ready to be warriors.


Ngorongoro Crater looked very impressive from the rim.  The word 'Ngorongoro' is a Masai word derived from the sound a cow bell makes.  It was at one point a mountain taller than Kilimanjaro.  There were so many wildlife living inside the crater.   We saw a huge herd of buffaloes near a watering hole.  We drove around the rim of the crater and descended into the Serengeti plains.


Serengeti is the Masai word for endless plain.  You could see for miles and miles.  We were very lucky to see some rear wildlife - cheetah, lions, leopards, hyenas, giraffe, zebras, hippos, elands, impalas, wildebeests, gazelles, storks, crown cranes, vultures, monkeys, ostrich, and many different varieties of birds.  The most amazing thing is the sheer number of wildlife in Serengeti.  The migration is in June, but there were countless zebras and wilder beasts.  Wildebeests generally follow zebras because zebras can sense the rain.  We were in rear luck to see a baby leopard feeding on a fresh kill.

We stayed in a beautiful lodge for the night.  I wanted to do the camping safari originally, but Rodney talked me into staying in a lodge.  It was a great decision.  The lodge was built nearly entirely of wood.  In the center of the lodge, there was a huge egg shaped rock with restaurant built around it.  In the early morning hours, we heard so many different sounds, from the howls of lions to deep grumbles of elephants, and many others that we couldn't identify.  After a day long safari in Serengeti, we went back to Ngorongoro and stayed in a lodge right on the rim of the crater.  The lodge terrace offered a panoramic view of the crater.  We saw rain storms moving through the crater.

In the early morning, we left the lodge and descended through the clouds to the inside of the crater.  The crater is 23km, or about 14 miles wide.  Can you imagine the force of the volcanic eruption that crated Ngorongoro?  Everything was lush green inside the crater.  The entire eco system contains many species of wildlife.  We were specifically looking for rhinos and elephants.  We saw elephants in Serengeti, but from far away.  Ngorongoro did not disappoint.  We saw elephants with huge tusks, rhinos, pink flamingos, and lazy lions. 

Wildebeests.

Cheetah.

Lion.

Hyena.

Baby leopard with mom near by.  At the far left branch, there was a fresh kill.

Another leopard.

Zebras in Serengeti.

Rain storm coming to Serengeti.

Zebras standing front to back to watch out for predators.

Hart-beast.

A pack of female lions.

It's mating season in the Serengeti for lions.

A male lion.

Giraffe.

Wildebeest and zebras together in the Serengeti.

Crested Crown Crane, a national symbol  of Uganda.

Hippos in the Serengeti.

Buffaloes.

Topi.

Giraffes.

Ngorongoro Crater.  About 15 miles wide.

Rain in the Ngorongoro Crater.

Early morning sunrise in Ngorongoro Crater.

Buffalo pack in Ngorongoro Crater.

An elephant in Ngorongoro Crater.

Chimps.

Zebras and Wildebeest in Ngorongoro Crater.

Two lazy male lions in Ngorongoro Crater.

Warthogs.

Entrance to Serengeti National Park.

Rodney in his Hakuna Matata shirt, it means No Worries!