Thursday, September 1

Today we’re heading south, out of the park – our destination is Ngorongoro Caldera.  But first … Serengeti has a few surprises still in store – how about Cape buffalo and lions for starters!

We arrived at the caldera at mid-morning and just stared!  Ngorongoro is often called Africa's Eden and the Eighth Wonder of the World.  Rising high above the plains, it is the largest volcanic caldera in the world - 11 miles across and 2500 feet deep.  The original volcano, which was higher than Mount Kilimanjaro, collapsed in on itself over time and now forms a perfect basin. 

Inside this giant soup bowl, there’s enough water, food, prey and predators to make the caldera a self-contained ecosystem.  The caldera harbors a variety of landscapes - forest, peaks, craters, valleys, rivers, lakes and plains.  The wildlife is similar to what we’ve been seeing, except that there are no giraffes or impalas.

The ride into the crater is steep and bumpy, and it’s not long before we’re spotting wildlife.  With a short stop for lunch along the way, we drove all around the floor of the crater, seeing some old friends and finding some new ones, too.

In late afternoon, we climbed out of the crater and made our way back to Tloma Mountain Lodge, where big Willy was waiting to revive us with wet towels, cold drinks and chocolate chip cookies.  The long, hot shower wasn’t bad, either.









Animals:  Serengeti: Zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, hyena, hartebeest, Cape buffalo, impala, giraffe, banded mongoose, warthog, Grant’s gazelle, and lion.  Ngorongoro:  Grant’s gazelle, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, olive baboon, Cape buffalo, warthog, wildebeest, golden jackal, elephant, cheetah, hippopotamus, black-backed jackal, black rhinoceros, and black-faced vervet monkey.

Birds: Serengeti: Marabou stork, secretary bird, white-faced plover, and ostrich.  Ngorongoro: Gray-crowned crane, secretary bird, ostrich, great white pelican, black kite, black-shouldered kite, rufous-tailed weaver, kori bustard, white egret, and little bee-eater.

Highlights:

Cape buffalo – it looked like everybody gathered to see us off – for a while they blocked the road, but who’s going to argue with these guys?

Banded mongoose on the loose …

Lioness and cub – resting in a little spot of shade.

 Gray crowned crane – quite an elegant fellow.

Wildebeest, LOTS of wildebeest - the "dust" in the background is actually salt from around edges of the lake.

  

Zebras wandering around the crater floor. 

Golden jackal looking for some lunch – in spite of its name, it is more closely related to the coyote than to other jackals.

Warthog out for a stroll, oblivious to steam vent in the crater rim behind him – just a little reminder that this old volcano is not quite dead yet …