Day 3 started, not surprisingly at the crack of dawn. The Masai guide collected us from our bungalow in the dark, armed only with a stick and torch, which was a bit scary bearing in mind the guide the day before was armed.
Giraffe attack
The first bit of excitement happened before we reached the breakfast hut, there was a rustle in the trees above, which was unnerving enough as it might have been the missing leopard. The we realised that what we thought were poles were actually legs, it was a bloody great giraffe having breakfast. Startled, it clopped away across the path 20m ahead of us into another clump of trees.
Mr Masai told us not to panic, so we walked along quietly with the torch on. Suddenly, all hell broke loose in the clump of bushes housing the giraffe, Mr Masai put his body around Wooksie to protect her as the giraffe burst out of the trees and missed them by less than 5m. It appeared that the torch light frightened the beast and it bolted straight towards us, so an interesting start to the day and you don’t really appreciate how big a giraffe is until it tries to run into you.
Wooksie wasn’t impressed generally, so We clambered into the truck and set off to tour Ngorongoro Crater reflecting on the fact we were lucky to be alive.
What is unique about Ngorongoro Crater? Other than being the biggest intact (unbroken) volcanic caldera on Earth, the Ngorongoro Crater is also a natural sanctuary for some of the densest populations of large mammals in Africa. Due to its enclosed nature, the Ngorongoro Crater has effectively formed its own ecosystem, a bit like a land locked Noahs Ark for animals.
As in the song Hotel California, the animals can check out but they can never leave as they are faced with very steep mountain slopes that surround the crater. The only big animal missing is giraffes, this is because their rather clumsy geometry means they cannot get into the crater, after our pre breakfast experience we weren’t too disappointed.
Amazing lions
Without doubt, this was the best day of the safari, the animals were everywhere, especially the lions. These lions seemed to be a bit more motivated than those on the Serengeti hence the great videos and these two beautiful young males displaying their arrogance.
The big objective for the day was to see a rhino. Spoiler alert, we might as well get this out of the way now, we didn’t see one. Apparently they are very rare, well they might have been extinct for the amount we saw.
The crater is in effective like a Shangri La for animals, it is a perfect environment. Obviously some of them get eaten by higher mammals in the food chain, mainly the lions, but other than that they all seem to live happily together.
Zebras and wilder beast everywhere
We saw huge herds of wilder beast munching away with huge herds of zebras mixed in with them, it was an incredibly tranquil sight. the lions seemed to agree and sat around licking their lips enjoying the view as well.
The wilder beast migration was limited to a little trot from one side of the crater to another, and maybe a jog back. In the crater there is no need to migrate as there is plenty of food and water for everyone, it really was animal heaven. Even the vultures seemed happy.
The high point of the trip was a close encounter with this bad boy. He truly was the king of the jungle. He stopped all the trucks and blocked the road while he waited for his girls, once they had crossed the road he went for a stroll through the trucks and I could honestly have stroked his head, I was so sorely tempted by decided my arm was quite useful and didn’t need to be risked.
This close encounter could have been a lot closer, because only about half a mile up the road we had a pee stop, which seemed to have been bought on by the consumption of Tanzanian fanta.
It was interesting, in a mixed sex vehicle, watching how the two sexes dealt with their desperate need. The boys ran off to the nearest rock, which freaked out our guide Rashid as he couldn’t see us (there is danger everywhere).
The ladies however had a committee meeting to discuss their approach, and finally took up a position behind the truck, which was in full view of any vehicles coming up the road, strange but true.
Tooth pick trees
It wasn’t just the animals, this is a weird tree that is absolutely covered in tooth picks. Nature has designed a defence mechanism that means none of the animals can eat it – what a wonderful world.
And finally, lunch on the way home after an exhausting 3 days seeing wonderful things.
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