Ngorongoro Crater National Conservation Area.

Ngorongoro Crater National Conservation Area

Day 2 of Safari

1/9/13

What do you call waking up at 5:00 a.m. to frigid temperatures, receiving a bill for the alcoholic beverages the group consumed the night before despite being told it was an "all-inclusive" resort stay, and a later than planned start to your day as a result of the confusion?  In most cases, one might call it frustrating, alarming, annoying, or just plain old "b.s."  In this case, however, we called it a great gift of good fortune and the best start to the morning that we could have ever imagined.

Day two of the safari began with us hitting a speed bump before we even set foot in the vehicles.  The resort manager was not willing to allow us to leave until we paid for our previous night's drinks that we had believed were included in the price we already paid for our stay.  At $2 or $3 a bottle, the price was not overwhelming.  However, the hassle of having to come up with the money was enough to get us a bit fired up on a chilly morning when we were eager to get going.  After our leader for the trip, Jake, and our drivers, Eric and Joe, met with management and resolved the issue, we were on our way.

 

Our delayed departure meant that we arrived at the park gate along the crater rim at 7:00 a.m. rather than our planned arrival time of 6:00 a.m.  Eric and Joe went to the gatehouse to pay the required fees for 9 visitors, 2 drivers, and couple of rugged off road vehicles.  The vehicles themselves exuded power and durability while also providing surprising comfort.  As our guides paid for our entry, we popped the tops on our all-terrain vehicles.  This allowed us to stand inside the truck and look out at the surrounding flora and fauna without leaving the comfort of the vehicle.  The top of the trucks remained attached and provided a shelter from the sun (which wasn't at full strength yet) and from the rain (which was pleasantly non-existent).  When our drivers returned to the vehicle, we were cleared to proceed and we began our journey down the inside of the rim wall towards the crater floor below. 

 

 

 

The scenery was fantastic from the start, and Joe and Eric quickly demonstrated their knowledge answering any questions we had about the park, its inhabitants, and its vegetation.  We became acquainted with the flat top Acacia tree early on, which we were told by one of our fellow travelers would be instantly recognizable by anyone who had been to Disney's Wild Kingdom. 

As we made our way down the rim wall, we believed ourselves to be terribly lucky as we immediately spotted some zebras and elephants off to the side of the road.  In hindsight, we can imagine our guides chuckling to themselves and perhaps each other as we asked for the vehicles to be stopped and started in order to take a multitude of photos.  Greg took photos of everything from the trees to the animals and even some our fellow travelers. In summary, our first contact with animals in the park consisted of two or three zebras and small herd of elephants hidden in the distance by grass and shrubs. We stayed in the area for a few moments and marveled in beginners' wonder at the sight before us. We had not even made our way to the crater floor and already we had seen elephants and zebras. Little did we know how much more spectacular and wondrous the day would become.

 

The time was now approximately 7:20 a.m., and after a few more winding turns we had made it to the crater floor.  We had been in the park for less than 30 minutes when, to our absolute delight, we came across a pride of lions sitting in the grassy field before us.  What a treasure!  It was hard to believe that we were there and these tremendous animals, that we would typically only see behind bars or glass from a safe distance, were just sitting in a field minding their business.  And, as if the sight alone was not cool enough, it appeared that their business at that particular moment was hunting.  

 

A host of other large animals were also present, most of which maintained a healthy distance from the lions but otherwise appeared to be going about their day-to-day activities.  One of the most prevalent was the cape buffalo, which sports a cool looking pair of  horns on the top of its head.  The horns look much like a handle-bar mustache sitting atop the buffalo's head.  The buffalo were mammoth animals that looked much more like domesticated cattle than the American buffalo.

 

As we slowly moved further into the park, it became apparent that this was the real deal.  The animals we were seeing were entirely untamed and free to roam about as they pleased.  We were under strict instructions not to get out of the vehicle for any reason or for any period of time unless our drivers told us that it was safe to do so.  It is likely that the animals are accustomed to the presence of safari vehicles amongst their lands, but by all accounts it appears as though the animals have retained nearly all of their natural instincts and behaviors.  With that in mind, it is time to return our focus to the lions and the other animals that shared space with them.

The lions were a few hundred yards away and were situated in a position that allowed them to keep track of a herd of cape buffalo, a few wildebeests and a smattering of other animals.  We snapped a few pictures from a distance that required strong zoom lenses for any degree of clarity.  Our drivers took us past the lions to an area where we parked to watch a wildebeest that appeared to be in distress.  Just beyond the wildebeest, there were two cape buffalo that were separated from their herd.  The two cape buffalo did not care at all about our presence.  The wildebeest, meanwhile, was kicking like Bruce Lee, and carrying on in such a fashion that one might have imagined his feet were on fire.  Eric and Joe stopped the vehicles so we could watch the animals.  Naturally, we begin to surmise that the wildebeest is sensing danger, and we assume that the lions are the natural threat.  To our surprise, Eric announced "the baby buffalo is in trouble."  Now mind you, the "baby" weighs somewhere around 400 lbs, and standing next to it is an adult buffalo that is likely twice the size of the baby.  Since we were novices, we questioned Eric's assessment of the situation.  However, he paid our protestations little mind and assured us that the baby buffalo was the lions' target.

 

As we sat, watching and waiting, the lions dispersed.  A couple of them disappeared over a small hill, and seemed to be walking away from the larger herd of buffalo in the distance.  Two of the lions remained focused on the wildebeest and/or the pair of buffalo.  The lions slowly crept closer to the animals and towards our vehicles.  We observed the lions making an effort to hunt one of the animals, and it seemed almost surreal to think that the lions' efforts might be successful. 

 



Then it happened!  One of the lionesses took off at a dead sprint directly towards the two buffalo who, for some unknown reason, were initially heading right towards the lions.  The buffalo quickly realized the error of their ways and attempted to change direction to flee the scene.  The lion closed within seconds and, in a move that one would only expect to see on National Geographic, the lioness jumped onto the back of the baby buffalo and pulled it to the ground.  Almost simultaneously, the other lionesses that had temporarily disappeared in the distance closed in and pounced from the other direction.  The baby buffalo never stood a chance.  Truth be told, the experience was heart wrenching and exhilarating all at the same time.  Our guides were equally in awe of the experience.  They were taking pictures of their own and communicating with one another over their radios.  We later learned that Joe had been leading trips like this for 20 years, and he had only witnessed such an event five times in his entire career.    

We sat and watched the spectacle with awe and reverence.  Eric predicated and subsequently explained that the buffalo would now herd up and run off the five lions that were feasting on the downed buffalo.  A short time later, we heard a rumbling noise and a hundred or more buffalo did just as Eric said they would.  The buffalo stampeded towards the lions and eventually flushed them away from the kill.  

 

The buffalos' efforts to flush the lions from the area were successful, but they also set the stage for two more surreal experiences related to our already unbelievable time in the park.  One of the lions, who had been flushed away from the kill, came and stood directly next to our vehicle.  By "directly," we mean less than three feet away.  It was so close that Deb could have reached out and touched the lion if she dared.  It was frightening to think that there we sat in a metal vehicle with an open top and five humans sticking out of it, clearly a potentially viable target for an animal that had just tackled a buffalo minutes earlier.  Perhaps sensing the nature of this once in a life time opportunity (either because we too were about to die or because we were likely never to experience something like this again), we did the natural thing and started taking pictures like crazed people. 

 

 

 

To our surprise, the lion paid absolutely no attention to us.  Instead, she was focused directly upon the vehicle that was carrying the other half of our crew.  What we in our vehicle could not see was that there was a true "baby" buffalo right in the front shadows of the other vehicle.  While we could not see it, the lion (and our travel companions) clearly could.  In a flash, the lion, who had only minutes earlier taken down a 400 lb buffalo, sprinted directly towards the baby buffalo and pounced on it less than ten feet in front of our companion's vehicle.  The lion picked the buffalo up in its powerful jaws and carried its 75-100 lb body into a ravine lined with some trees where the lion would not be forced to share its meal.

The remainder of our day in the Ngorongoro Crater was as fantastic as the first hour was.  We came within yards of an unbelievable number of animals.  There were zebras, gazelles, impala, hippos, ostriches, warthogs, elephants, and a wide variety of birds.  Perhaps one of the most impressive, and certainly one of the more rare, animals that we were fortunate enough to see was the black rhinoceros.  Our guide explained that there were only twelve of these beautiful creatures left, and we we had the great fortune to see three of them.  The black rhinoceros is so endangered that park rangers are responsible on a daily basis to account for each one of them.  If even one is unaccounted for by the rangers, all of the park's rangers will lose their jobs and be imprisoned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictures in this entry hardly do justice of the panoramic beauty of the experience.  The scale of the crater is spectacular, and the volume of animals that grace the crater floor was impressive.  We had a beautiful day, and we could not have asked for more knowledgeable and pleasant guides.  All told, we spent approximately seven hours in the park and toured a large percentage of its dirt roads.  Certainly, there were nooks and crannies that we likely did not have time or the ability to access, but if someone would have told us that we would see even half the number of animals we in fact saw it still would have been a great experience.  When we were exiting the park, we believed it was going to be very tough to top the experience the next day at Tarengari National Park.

  

 

 

 

 

On Safari

On Safari

 

 

 

Its a trip to get there

1/8/13

 

We had been in Tanzania for less than 48 hours when we boarded a pair of off-road vehicles that would take us on a journey that our group will not soon forget.  After breakfast, we all met in front of the hotel and prepared for our three day, two night safari to the Ngorongoro Crater National Conservation Area and Tarangire National Park.  Spacial constraints required that our group split into two for the nearly five hour journey to get to our first destination.  Though it was sad to lose more than half of our companions to another vehicle, the division allowed a great opportunity for Deb and Greg to get to know a couple of our fellow travelers a little better.  Ken and Tami were our companions for the first leg of the trip.  The promise of seeing several of the "big five" while on safari gave us plenty to talk about, and the five hour drive gave us ample opportunity to share a bit more about ourselves and our backgrounds as well. 

It was a fantastic day to travel as the sun shone down brightly, and the cool breeze through the open windows of the vehicle provided a comfortable traveling environment.  Driving through Moshi, our eyes were drawn to some of the shops and areas we had spent time at just the day before.  As we continued forward, we started to get an appreciation for the large size of the city of Moshi.  The area that covered in thirty to forty five minutes of walking on Monday, we now passed in a matter of minutes.  It quickly became apparent that while the standard of living, when measured in economic terms, might not compare equally with that of our homeland, the general structure of the city and its layout was familiar. 

 

The same could be said of Arusha.  As we drove through that city, it became apparent that in many ways, the locals and the places where they shop, eat, work, and live bore a striking resemblance to places back home.  That being said, there were also significant differences.  The infrastructure for sewer, sanitation and electricity all appeared under developed and/or in a state of disrepair.  Similar to our experiences in other impoverished areas of the world, there were several buildings that appeared halted in various stages of construction and still others that appeared fully constructed but lacking in the amenities that we come to expect back home.

One pleasant difference from the United States was the general good nature of the people we met along the way.  Despite traffic delays, poorly signed intersections and tight driving conditions, drivers often seemed at ease with the process.  Honking of the horn served the function of saying "hello" or just providing a reminder that the vehicle was present, where as in the United States it is often an invitation for others to observe a certain finger in the air or elicits an equally hostile response from the intended target.

Leaving both cities behind, we began our trek through the countryside and settled into observation and relaxation mode.  The grass and vegetation were much more lush than anticipated.  Areas that appeared to be designated for cultivation showed a red soil that seemed foreign to a Midwesterner, but no doubt would not surprise someone from the southwest.  There was livestock in abundance and often those animals were tended by children no older than eight or nine. Quite often it was likely that they were even younger than that.  We've included some photos below of the various markets and dwellings that we passed on our way.

After several hours of driving, interrupted with the occasional bathroom break and shopping opportunities, we finally arrived at the entry gate into the Ngorongoro Crater National Conservation Area.  Here, there were baboons waiting in the parking area to greet us, and we were given strict instructions to keep our distance and not to feed the animals.  The windows and doors to the vehicles also needed to be closed and latched.  This is because the baboons have been known to make themselves comfortable in vehicles, and help themselves to their contents if given the opportunity to do so.

 

 

 

From the gate entrance, we proceeded up the outer edge of the crater rim until we reached the summit.  It was there that we got our first glimpse of the spectacular crater floor that was home to so many of the beautiful and exotic animals we had come to see.  The view from the rim was impressive and simultaneously surreal.  The vast expanse below was home to thousands of animals, and we would be driving amongst them the following morning.  The viewpoint also gave Greg an opportunity to put the zoom lens on our new camera to the test.  Sure enough, a 42x zoom lens was strong enough to capture three elephants walking across the crater floor below at a distance that had to be several miles away.  This was definitely going to be a wonderful experience.

 

 

 

 

As we continued driving along the crater rim towards where we would be staying, the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, our group of four decided that we would take the opportunity to drive a bit past the lodge to visit a local Maasai village.  So....while the other vehicle turned off the main road and went to the lodge to check in and relax, Tami, Ken, Greg and Deb proceeded to the village without much knowledge of what to expect.  A friend of Deb's had done a "village visit" while in Tanzania a few years earlier.  She declared it an experience not to be missed, and so we were anxious to have the chance to see a way of life seemingly so distinct from our own.

 

 

When we arrived at the village, we were introduced to the tribal chief's son.  He explained that he was the heir apparent to lead the village and that his role as a tour guide was a function of his fluency in English.  We knew from our driver that guests were welcome at the village only on certain days of the week, and the visit had a hint of a staged experience.  In the end, however, it would have been no different from any other sort of cultural experience where attendees observe elements of another group's culture in a format that provides the opportunity for learning and explanation.  Our guide indicated that no questions were off limits, and we were encouraged to ask as many questions as we liked.

Our experience at the village began with observing singing and dancing by the village members.  The village consisted of over sixty members, all related by blood or marriage, and essentially constituted a family compound.  The men danced by jumping vertically in the air, and they reached heights that seemed to defy gravity with the ease that we might demonstrate while lifting a leg to go up a single step.  As the men jumped and sang, the women sang and shrugged there shoulders in a form of dance that caused the beaded necklaces they wore to bounce rhythmically about.

At this point, we were clearly visitors and the feeling was much like being on the outside looking in.  The chief's son asked and encouraged us to participate in the dancing, indicating that it would be a demonstration of goodwill and a chance to establish a certain connection with the experience.  With only slight hesitation, Greg accepted the invitation and the guide's stick.  Greg made his way towards the men's side of the performance with assurances from our guide that the guys would let Greg know exactly what to do.  Upon finding his rhythm, and at the suggestion of those around him, Greg took a couple opportunities to jump with the fellas. 

As you can plainly see, the heights to which Greg reached were not entirely equal to his Maasai teachers.  A host of explanations, not all of them being flattering, could be provided for this failure to launch, but in the end the effort had the very impact that our host had said it would.  The men seemed to get a chuckle out of their avocado albatross visitor, but they encouraged him nonetheless.  The women demonstrated a solid understanding of the Western "fist bump" as they sought to congratulate and welcome Greg back down to solid ground upon his completion of the dance.

The remainder of the village visit involved a tour of the bouma (village), which consisted of  a circular stick wall covered with vines and shrubs that surrounded 16 dwellings constructed from sticks and covered with dried cow manure mixed with ash to create a waterproof seal.  The roofs of the dwellings were made of sticks with thatch and again covered with the manure/ash mixture.  The result was a sturdy looking abode that had no decidedly foul scent, and it appeared to provide relative comfort and protection from the elements.  Inside the abode were two sleeping areas and a main living space that would make most toll booths look inviting by size comparison.  The lighting was dim, and the only access to natural light and fresh air took the form of small holes in the wall. Our guide explained that the small holes are covered or stuffed at night to prevent animals and snakes from coming into the home.

 

 

The reason for the 16 dwellings was that each one of the chief's 16 wives was to have her own place to live.  It was explained to us that the chief moved from dwelling to dwelling on a nightly basis.  Any children living in the dwelling that the chief was sleeping in on a given night were sent to a neighbor's house for the evening so that the chief and his wife could be alone together.  A chief is required to demonstrate his ability to provide for each wife before she is allowed to leave her own village and join the village where the male lives.

We also saw the village's school houses (old and new), and the kindergarten class from the local tribe practiced their rote recitation of the alphabet and basic addition and subtraction.  The center of the village contained a circular enclosure into which the village's livestock is herded each night by the children who tend to the cattle in the pasture during the day.  Around the outside of the livestock enclosure were examples of fantastic beadwork and other crafts made by the villagers themselves.  Before concluding our tour, we were encouraged to make our way around the craft circle to see if we might be interested in any of their wares.  It was evident that any purchase we would make would benefit the village, and the pieces were unique and appeared well crafted.  That being said, there was a certain degree of hazard in expressing interest in any one item.  Any interest would quickly prompt the creator of the item to step forward and make efforts to get the item into your hand, and it also prompted others with similar objects to suggest that their work might be of interest as well.

Once we had completed our trip around the circle, we began the process of settling on a price for the items we had selected.  In the grand scheme of things the prices, in comparison to artistry and the effort required to construct the items, were not totally out of line.  It would not be until later in the trip that we would realize we could have bought similar items at nearly half price elsewhere on Safari, but in the end we settled on items that were of interest to us at a price that would both support the village and would not break our bank.  As our visit came to a close, we circled the village one last time and snapped a few more photos to document the experience.  Our hosts wished us a fond farewell, and we made our way back towards the main road and headed towards the Sopa Lodge.

The Sopa Lodge was a lap of luxury in comparison to the village we had just visited.  Clearly it was a tourist destination.  It was also clearly designed with the creature comforts of the well-to-do in mind. The Sopa Lodge had all the amenities you would expect at a resort in the United States.  Though the rooms themselves were a bit dated, the view of the crater floor below was phenomenal and the grounds were beautifully manicured and maintained.  After getting our bags to our room, we made our way back to the main lodge and joined our fellow travelers who got us up to speed and assisted in getting beers into our hands.  There we sat as the sun began to set, and we talked about our experiences from throughout the day.  We also talked in anticipation of the adventure that awaited us the next day.

A short time later, we ate dinner as a group and said our "good nights". We all retired to our rooms with a plan for getting up before 5:00 a.m. so that we could hopefully be on the road and at the park gates when they opened in the morning at 6:00 a.m.