Safari! Day 7 - Ngorogoro Crater

We knew this was our last day on Safari <sniff> so we wanted to be up early to get down into the crater as soon as possible.  We also had to be out by 3pm when our park pass expired (it lasts for 24 hours from the time of entry).  We still hadn’t seen Rhino’s  yet which were the last of the big five we hadn’t seen (Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Buffalo and Rhinos) and this was to be our best chance.  We weren’t overly concerned about them as we will be in a Rhino sanctuary in South Africa in 6 weeks but would enjoy seeing the Black Rhino’s they have up here. 

Our lodge wasn’t too far from the drive down which was a bit of an adventure.  No guardrails and single lane (unidirectional) road – and an aspiring Mario Andretti as a driver on a vehicle with dodgy tires to boot!  Anyway, we safely make it down to the bottom and just as we are about on the floor, we spot a Cheetah on some rocks on the hillside.  Sam says this is quite unusual.  We can also see a pack of about 20 Hyena’s on the prowl.  Quite cool.

We drive across the crater floor and are paralleled by a crazy Hyena who was running along just to get to the (salt water) lake and cool off.  Lots more Zebras, Wildebeest, and Wart Hogs.  Then we come across a female Ostrich doing something really crazy with her wings… she’s got them fully extended but drooped down to the road and is hopping around a bit.  Then the male comes charging on to the scene and all is clear….  He starts this crazy dance where he’s got his wings out and is rocking crazily from side to side as he’s chasing her… after about 20 seconds of this, she decides he’s OK and plops down in a pile and he mounts her.   Well, female Ostriches aren’t that lucky cause things are over in about 10 seconds (but he was hung like a horse) and he wanders off like he’d never seen her before.  The kids jaws were on the floor.  J  Jen was trying to change batteries with the camera at the time so she missed it… Ostrich sex – blink and you miss it.  Sam had never seen it before either.

Then we came across this cheetah on the open plain… walking along.  We raced to intercept him (with about 10 other 4x4’s) and he crossed about 3 vehicles ahead of us.  We got some great shots of him.  Too bad we couldn’t see him sprint.  Some idiot honked his horn to try to spook him but he was as laid back as Elvis in his fat suit and completely ignored us.

Just out for a morning stroll.

After that, we found some lions sleeping on a hill side.  The more we watched the more lions we’d see… you could see them spread out all over.   We counted 4 females (three on one side of us and one on the other) and two big males (Musafa and Scar).  The lone female eventually got up and crossed right in front of us… giving us some great shots.  They weren’t far from us so we got some good shots of them lounging around although it was clear they were keeping one eye on the Zebra/Wildebeest herd as well.  Just as we were preparing to leave, the two males got up and decided they wanted to get the the tree on the other side of us so we raced up to put ourselves in their path.  We got some great shots of the lion as it was only inches from our rear bumper.  It paid no attention whatsoever to the crazy human hanging out over the roof taking his pictures!

We spent at least an hour with the lions. We never got tired of watching them.  They are my favorite animals by far, but Shawn’s were Zebra’s (followed by Giraffes) and Rachel’s were the Elephants.  I never did get a favorite from Jen as she insists she enjoys them all. 

We grabbed our quick lunch at the park by the (fresh water) lake.  Sam advised us to eat inside the vehicle as the eagles there would dive bomb you and steal the food right out of your hands.  A school bus came up while we were eating and we saw what he meant!  After that, it was a VERY quick race up the crazy winding road and along the crater to make it out by three pm deadline.  Poor Rachel wasn’t feeling too well, what with Mario having the vehicle on two wheels half the time.  We made it with  3 minutes to spare.  (not great planning on his part but we did appreciate maximizing the time in the crater). 

From there, it was back down past Lake Manyara to Lake Eisha for an overnight and then an early morning hunt with some local tribes.  This turned out to be another tented resort (with 3-5 tents) and we were one of two guests they had.  Jen and I aren’t sure how they pulled it off as we didn’t see a kitchen and the place only had stone age facilities but they managed to make the best meals of the entire trip!  The location left a bit to be desired – out in the middle of a dry desert scrub, but they built it when the Lake really was a lake… it dried up two years ago and they are hoping it’ll come back.   A 5:30 am start tomorrow so an early night.

Safari! Day 5 - This is the real Africa!

This was our first real day on the Serengeti.  We hadn’t gone far before we drove by a pool and discovered a group of Hippo’s (which by now were popular with the kids).  This group was only metres from the vehicle so we got a very good look at them along with a large crocodile that was sneaking around waiting for unsuspecting animals to take a drink!  We discovered just how big Hippo’s can yawn (up to 150 degrees) and how noisy they can be!  It’s hard to take them seriously, they seem to just wallow and float but once in a while, you’ll see this explosion in the water when two of them decide to go at it and you get a sense of just how dangerous they really are.

Lots more Wildebeest, we found another huge block of them… in fact one large herd was approaching our road so we stopped and they crossed about 100’ in front of us.  Without a word of a lie, the herd continued for at LEAST 15 minutes.  It didn’t occur to me to count them until the herd was nearly gone but at one point, they stretched from one horizon to the next.  At any given time, there would be three of them on the road and they were booking it so there must have been thousands, if not tens of thousands in that one herd… and we saw many that day.  You really have to see it to really get how many there are… and all without seeing a single lion or predator!

By the time I thought to get a picture, the herd was thinning out a bit... but this gives you an idea of the density of the line.  This was quite typical... now imagine this goes for 10 miles in either direction!

We drove about 100kms south of the lodge and found a cheetah not far from the road, lots of wart hogs and other animals but at nothing like the density of Lake Manyara or Tarangira.  We also found a few rock rugs (lions) hanging out on the top of some Kjobes.  When they are sleeping, they really do drape over the rocks like a rug. 

About 1000’ down the road, we pulled over to have a picnic lunch however the flies drove Shawn and me nuts and back into the 4x4 but Jen/Rachel were determined to stick it out.  The flies were sort of like our house flies but much lighter.  They didn’t bite but they liked to land around your eyes and lips which would drive you nuts.  Gladly enough though, we’d only seen about 3 mosquitos on the whole trip and about as many Tse Tse flies (in Tarangira).  After a bit, the flies seemed to lose interest in us so we hung around and just enjoyed being out on the plains in the middle of nowhere without another human within 20 miles.

Soon after that, we turned back north to head back towards the lodge and I made a comment about how good the 4 wheel drive seemed to be on the Land Cruisers.  Sam immediately said, they aren’t great and he’d much rather have a Land Rover but the problem with them is that they break down every two or three safari trips.  He said there were places he just wouldn’t go with the Land Cruiser because he didn’t trust it.  It wasn’t 1 km later that we got stuck right up to the axles in a mud hole! 

Out we jump again, out comes the jack as we tried to get some large rocks under the wheels but we couldn’t lift the thing high enough (or rather our jack would sink into the mud faster than we could lift the vehicle despite putting some large patio stone sized rocks under it).  Just how far down does this mud go? 

Anyway, after about 10 minutes of horsing around with the jack, this ranger comes along in a light Land Rover about half the size of our Land Cruiser.   Our guide brings out this tow rope that looks like one of the ones we get at Princess Auto for $5 (the jack was the exact model of Chinese jack I’d bought at Princess Auto as well) and hooks on.  Unfortunately, our vehicle is just too bogged down… and the Land Rover was just digging a hole for itself.  Just as it was apparent that wasn’t going to work, a large 4x4 dump truck rolls along, pulls up and we hook up the tow rope to it.  The driver didn’t even wait for Sam to get behind the wheel and started pulling.  The cheapo rope of course couldn’t take it so it came apart at the seams (just like the one Dad bought about 2 years ago), so they search around in their truck and come out with a cable (really just a 75’ length of solid wire bent back on itself three times).  Anyway, they hook this up to us, Sam gets in and they drag us out, no muss, no fuss.  They all high five each other and then off they go.  A day in the life in Africa!

Anyway, we head through a bunch of other likely spots and don’t see a lot of activity but a few new animals here and there and after an hour long drive back on the plains had just about given up when we came across this pride of lions lying in the short grass right at the side of the road!  We stopped and admired them, again, lazy darn lions sleeping it off… and then one in another patch we hadn’t seen sticks his head up and its Mufasa again!  This pride was 14 lions…  quite cool.

Then we headed back towards the lodge and past the hippo pool again, and this time there is a lone hippo out wandering around in the grass not 25’ from the road!  She’s HUGE.  You don’t really get a good sense of how big they are until they are right beside your vehicle!  No way are you getting outside with one of them around!  Apparently they spend all day in the pool (pooping) and then come out at night to feed on the grass.  They “only” eat 35 Kgs of grass a day – compared to over 300 Kg’s for an elephant but their digestive system is many times more efficient.  You can see it in the spoor.  Elephant poop is nearly undigested whereas the hippo is the green slop I’m used to cleaning up after pigs. 

It’s getting dark, so we have to be off the roads so race back towards the lodge and come across a strange looking antelope with orange feet – a Topi.   They are quite a bit bigger than most of the antelope but have this strange habit of coating their horns in mud to make them more impressive.  A quite cool end to a very long day.