Globus Kenya & Tanzania: The Safari Experience - Driving Down to the Ngorongoro Crater
We awoke in the clouds today, here on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. We didn't expect to see much today, but as you'll see, once we descended into the crater, everything cleared up nicely. It was chilly — in the low 50s this morning and never got out of the mid-60s, but we soldiered.
Today, we explored the Ngorongoro Crater. Technically, what we call the Ngorongoro Crater is actually a caldera — the remains of a gigantic volcano that collapsed inward about 2.5 million years ago. And gigantic is the right word. The caldera is roughly 12 miles across, about 2,000 feet deep, and covers approximately 100 square miles. If it were a perfect circle, the rim would be roughly 38 miles around. Now that we have the crater/caldera information out there, since it is known as a crater, albeit incorrectly, I'll use "crater" for the sake of simplicity. Plus, crater is easier to spell than caldera.
The crater is considered the world's largest intact, unfilled volcanic caldera, and once you get down onto the floor, you can appreciate just how enormous it really is. The steep walls form a gigantic natural bowl containing grasslands, forests, swamps, streams, and a shallow soda lake — all of which help support an incredible concentration of wildlife.
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| This was a little alarming - 4-wheel drive is required, and it is an 11% grade to drive down to the floor |
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| Birds perch everywhere |
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| Arlona makes everything look better |
There are over 300 species of animals and birds that call the Crater home. From the moment we arrived, wildlife was everywhere.
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| Augur Buzzard |
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| This African golden wolf was tearing apart a carcass - likely a wildebeest |
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| Dusky Lark: Did you hear about the bird who got kicked out of the safari? He was caught winging it! |
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| Crowned Plover: Hahahahaha |
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| What? You didn't think that was funny? |
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| Rufous-naped Lark: I did not |
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| Black Kite |
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| Kori Bustard |
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| Zebras came to drink from the river |
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| Wildebeests decided to get in on it as well |
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| And by "in", they went all-in |
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| What's missing from this picture? |
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| There we go - a Greater Flamingo |
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| Hippos were in the water too |
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| The soda lake created foam, and the hippos seemed to like wearing it |
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| Greater Flamingo |
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| Lesser Flamingos |
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| Yellow-billed Stork |
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| Someone was telling a lot of jokes today |
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| Black-winger Stilt |
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| Cape Teal |
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| Gray-hooded Gull |
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| See - somebody was definitely telling jokes |
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| Not everyone was laughing |
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| There were wildebeest and zebras everywhere |
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| It was very cool to be so close to so many animals |
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| We saw a group of hyenas in the distance, doing something |
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| They were tearing apart a recent kill - again, likely a wildebeest |
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| This one scored a leg |
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| This one got another leg, hoof and all |
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| Sacred Ibis |
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| Western Cattle Egret zooming by the zebras and cape buffalo |
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| Grant's Gazelle |
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| Old Cape Buffalo - check out the size of those horns |
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| Just a couple of hyenas, making more hyenas |
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| She seemed unimpressed with his performance |
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| He didn't notice |
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| She ended that |
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| Anyone else? |
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| You can see that he's ready, on the left |
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| A nearby baby just looked away |
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| He found another lucky contestant as the judges watched |
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| You can see by her face that she was also not impressed |
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| He had even bought them dinner |
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| Everywhere we looked, we saw Crowned Cranes |
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| A huge group of Crowned Cranes |
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| A lioness, snoozing next to a recent kill - a wildebeest |
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| Eland - the largest in the antelope family |
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| A male ostrich in his mating colors |
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| Looking fancy |
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| Weaver |
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| Rufous-tailed Weaver |
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| This guy didn't laugh at any of the jokes today |
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| Pied Crow |
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| Black Kite |
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| Yellow-billed Kite |
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| The weavers perched on, and even got into some of the safari vehicles |
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| There was a group of four white rhinos, and more than 75 safari vehicles |
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| Just a stunning acacia tree |
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| More hippos |
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| Well, duh |
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| Female ostrich |
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| More Crowned Cranes |
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| This was the lunch spot - it was overrun with vehicles and tons of tourists |
Globus, however, had another plan for us. We drove past that to a private lunch.
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| An optional cash bar |
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| A tented table |
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| A chef with salad, sides, BBQ, and dessert |
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| It was a nice touch and certainly elevated our experience |
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| White-backed Vulture |
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| Warthog |
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| More white rhinos |
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| Vultures were all over the trees |
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| Bateleur eagle |
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| Even the vultures laughed at the jokes |
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| OK, not this one |
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| After ten hours in the crater, back at the lodge, looking 2,000 feet down into the crater |
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| A Serengeti Beer to round out the day |
It was a long but great day today. Tomorrow, we leave for two days in the Serengeti.
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