TANZANIA - DAY 3 - NGORONGORO CRATER

It was a cold night in the mountains on Thursday and our room was not heated so the hotel goes down one star for that.

We left the hotel shortly before 7:00 a.m.  on Friday for the twenty minute drive to the Ngorogoro Crater.  Driving on the mountain and crater roads is quite an experience.  The ‘roads’ in the Crater, (I use the term loosely) can best be described as a series of interconnected one lane roads that have two tire ruts the length of them (three when vehicles pass each other in some places) and lots of ruts (think washboard) across, then throw in lots of pot holes, stones, gravel, small rocks in some cases and dried earth spread over the top which has mostly disappeared.  When some of the literature talks about going out for a game drive, what they really mean is going out for a ‘shake, rock and roll’ in every sense of the phrase.  The mountain roads are slightly better with occasional semblances of a concrete base of some kind.

This being the dry season, the wind picks up the dust and carries it across the crater making it look like a tiny tornado.  The guides call it devil dust.  Because the top of the vehicle is up, you end up being covered in gritty dust….not pleasant. but fortunately, seeing the animals is more than worth it.

Here is a picture of one of the good crater roads.

Now on to the good stuff!  The guides are really cooperative with each other.  They operate a walkie-talkie system and when someone spots one of the large animals, e.g. elephant, he will send it out over their radio system and give them the location.  The locations in the crater have all been named by the guides so they know what the message means.  There are no location signs in the crater.

These first two pictures are of Wildebeest and Zebra grazing together.  Some of the animals such as Buffalo, Wildebeest and Zebras migrate within the crater and move when food in one area has been depleted.

It really hit home on this trip how important it is to have a camera with a telephoto lens.  This is a rhinoceros that was spooked by all the vehicles that had pulled up and it took off.  If you can zoom in on your device, you may be able to see it better.

These are three Silver Back Jackals taking it easy.  Note the dust blowing in the background.

These next two are Thompson Gazelles, named after the person who first found them.  They have a noticeable stripe along the sides.  The males are the only ones with horns and there is only one male per pack......and he's a busy boy.  Occasionally, other males try to horn in and they have to fight for that right.  If they lose, they are pushed out so you quite often see a pack of male losers. Actually, you are looking at a pack of losers.

These are Spotted Hyaenas.

This is a Buffalo who wasn't very cooperative for picture taking.

This Silver Back Jackal was posing for us.

This is a fig tree growing in the crater.

This is an Ostrich.  These guys are pretty big.

Closeup of Wildebeests.

This tree was stripped of its bark by elephants.  The bumpy growths on the trunk grew out of self-preservation.

The next two are elephants grazing/eating.

This male stared us down for a while before deciding to take his family across the road.

Here he is leading the way.

These are Water Bucks.

Hippos thinking about getting into the water.

A bunch of them in the water.

Here we are with our driver/guide.  His name is Godson and he is very knowledgeable.  The guides have to go to a special school for 6 months to 2 years depending on what they want to specialize in.  Godson went for 2 years and used to be a guide for the hunters but didn't do that for long.

Posing with the hippos.

Trying out the selfie stick.

Hippos relaxing in the water while zebras graze nearby.

The pink belly showing is one of the hippos doing a flip.

Birds doing their thing right beside the hippos.

 Group of Olive Baboons showing their behinds.

This is what they look like from the side.

So those are the pictures from Friday's visit to the Ngorongoro Crater, part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where man and animal coexist.  The Masai are the only tribe allowed to live in the  conservation area and to take their cattle into a certain part of the crater for watering.  I have more pictures but don't want to bore you too much.  I think these give you the general idea of many of the animals in the Crater.