An African Safari on the Endless Savanna | Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro in Tanzania
It took us almost an entire day to get to Arusha, Tanzania from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe due to patchy airline connections in Africa. After zigzagging through airports at Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, we had to take an hour-long cab ride from Kilimanjaro airport to our overnight B&B in Arusha. But we waste no time and the next morning we are off to our second safari (our first African Safari was in December of 2021) across Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater with our old friends John and Miko who were our driver and cook on our first trip also.
Here is a map showing our African Safari route in Tanzania.
Kilimanjaro and Arusha
July 4 - 5, 2023
Contrary to its fame in popular culture, technically there is no single Mt. Kilimanjaro that is the highest peak in Africa. Mt. Kilimanjaro consists of three volcanic mountains: Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira.
Kibo's summit is the 19,341 feet Uhuru Peak which is actually the highest peak in Africa. Uhuru is also the peak often referred to as "Everyman’s Everest" because it is the easiest to climb among the "Seven Summits" (one per continent) of the world. "Climbing Kilimanjaro" usually is a reference to climbing Kibo to reach the Uhuru summit.
The summit of Mawenzi is Point Hans Meyer (16,893 feet).
Shira has a heavily eroded ridge whose highest point is the Johnsell Point at just about 13,000 feet. Interestingly, La Paz in the Andes altiplano, the administrative capital city of Bolivia in South America, is at a higher altitude than Johnsell Point.
As our airplane commences descent into Kilimanjaro International Airport, we catch a glimpse of Kibo and Mawenzi sticking their peaks up above the clouds.
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| Kibo (left) and Mawenzi, Mt. Kilimanjaro from airplane approaching Kilimanjaro Intl. Airport |
Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) is a small cosy affair. It is so close to the tiny Arusha Municipal Airport that in 2013 the pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 from Addis Ababa erroneously touched down at Arusha and ran out of runway. I don't believe anyone was seriously injured.
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| Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) |
Exiting the airport, we hire a cab to take us to our B&B in Arusha. The driver Mohammad is super friendly and we chat our way across the hour-long 35-mile drive west on the newer A23/Himo Rd Chinese highway. I take this opportunity to sign Mohammad up for our ride back to Kilimanjaro five days later after our safari.
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| Intersection of Mwembetanga Street & Mwembeladu Street, Murieth, Sokoni, Arusha |
We try to avoid big-brand hotel chains as much as we can. The B&B we booked - Home Villa - is reached by an unpaved road in the still-developing Murieth neighborhood off Mwembetanga Street & Mwembeladu Street in Sokoni suburb just 15 minutes south from downtown Arusha.
The Home Villa Arusha turns out to be a memorable place. The cheerful and super-friendly owner Hillary Ngowi is a self-made young man. His staff consists of Neema, a wonderful young woman who is learning English and promptly shares story books with us, and Michael, also a smart young man learning English. Both employees support themselves with their jobs of helping Hillary run the establishment while they develop their own life skills. The ambience of the place is of home away from home. We feel like being part of the household as soon as we walk in.
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| Hillary Ngowi, Owner, Home Villa Arusha |
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| Home Villa Arusha |
Hillary lights up a campfire as darkness falls. Guests and hosts sit around the fire sharing stories and experiences. Neema presents us with excellent Tanzania-style omelettes. Hillary gets some beer. Among numerous skills, Hillary has taught himself how to build websites from youtube videos. The website for his B&B is being developed by him and we also talk about the internet, traffic building and search engine ranking.
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| Relaxing around a campfire at Home Villa, Arusha |
Early next morning, our African Safari driver John (wearing khakis in the picture) arrives to pick us up. We bid adieu to the Home Villa team promising to return.
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| From left: Hillary, Neema, our Safari driver John, Vagabond-2, Michael, Vagabond-1 |
We get into John's Land Cruiser and head to the downtown Arusha office of Bobby Tours Tanzania. This is my third visit to Arusha but I am still surprised by how comfortable familiar the town feels.
Watch: Arusha - gateway to African Safari & Serengeti
The delightfully chaotic bustling town reminds me of towns in India that I left behind thirty years ago. Arusha is beautiful.
We meet Kassim Abdallah, the very bright young Managing Director of Bobby Tours, at their downtown office. Kassim currently manages the family business. Though his family immigrated from Gujarat, India to Tanzania generations ago, he speaks quite a bit of Hindi and is still very much in touch with extended family back in India.
Entrance to the premises of Bobby Tours
While we are chatting with Kassim, his dad stops by to say hello and shows us family pictures as well as pictures of his friend John Magufuli, the late President of Tanzania, taken during his visits to this very office. Once again, in Tanzania, bonds of meaningful friendship are form effortlessly.
I had previously been on a Safari with our son through Bobby Tours in December of 2021. We had developed a friendship over that prior tour with our driver John and cook Miko. We already had John driving us again per my request. When I mention our cook was Miko the last time, Kassim picks up the phone and makes a call and says he got Miko again too for us.
Incredibly, our second African Safari is going to be with the same team as our first. We are soon on our way!
Lake Manyara: the Loveliest Lake in Africa
July 5, 2023
Lake Manyara is about 133 miles from Arusha. We get on highway A104 heading towards Makuyuni. We are in rural Tanzania soon where we start to see Maasai herdsmen with their cattle.
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| Maasai herdsmen |
We reach Makuyuni and stop for coffee at the TotalEnergies gas station at the intersection with highway B144. There is also an Engen petrol station across the road.
It is hard to resist beautiful handmade bracelets the Maasai women are selling here!
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| Hand-made Maasai bracelets |
We finally reach the entrance to Lake Manyara National Park.
John stops at the park office to get paperwork done before we are let through into the park. There are convenient restrooms behind and to the left of the small office.
Entering the park, we soon spot some hippopotamuses and baboons.
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| Hippos |
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| Baboons |
We drive all the way to lake Manyara and stop for lunch at a picnic spot on its shore where the Msasa river drains into the lake. Lunch is served in boxes that John brought along (we have not picked Miko up yet). There is zero-littering policy in the park which means we put all trash back into the boxes and put the boxes back in the Land Cruiser to be later taken out of the park. There are well-maintained restrooms next to the picnic tables here as well.
There is a nice panoramic view of the lake from this picnic spot. Manyara is an endorheic (i.e. there is no outflow) alkaline lake fed by underground springs and small streams coming down from the Ngorongoro hills and highland around it. It is a shallow lake, generally under 4 feet deep, reaching a maximum water depth of 12 feet when full.
Ernest Hemingway famously described Lake Manyara as the "loveliest in Africa". The water near the shore is milky white due to the minerals, changing color to deep sapphire at the middle. Algae and a huge resident population of flamingos give parts of it a pink color. Lake Manyara is beautiful on its own, almost as striking as high lakes on the Andes Altiplano.
We resume our game drive around Lake Manyara national park after lunch.
The Lake Manyara area has over 400 species of birds. We spot an African Hawk-Eagle looking out from the top of a tree. It is a competent predator and likes to hunt francolins and guinea fowls across the savanna and riverine forests.
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| African Hawk-Eagle |
Another bird is sitting on a branch. This one is very pretty with a curved red beak and white tail. It is a Von der Decken's hornbill. Their diet consists of small rodents, eggs, insects and fruits.
Hornbills have a unique way of raising their chicks. The dad finds a cavity in a tree which the mom gets into and seals from inside with a solid wall of mud, straw and poop. The chicks hatch and grow for over two months inside the sealed cavity with their mother in there. The dad outside forages and feeds them through a small crack in the wall from outside.
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| Von der Decken's hornbill |
Great excitement ensues next as we spot our first giraffe sticking its long neck up in the wild. They are the National Animal of Tanzania.
Giraffes in the Serengeti are the largest of giraffes and the tallest of all land animals in the world. They are unique among giraffes and belong to their own Masai Giraffe subspecies. Some scientists think they should be put into their own species. Grown up males can be 18 feet tall and weigh 2,500 pounds or more but they still among the fastest land animals, clocking 40 MPH or more when they run.
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| Giraffe |
John then drives us close to the lake. We keep our eyes even more peeled for wildlife.
Another hawk strikes a pose on the shore of lake Manyara.
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| Hawk |
There are monkeys on a tree watching us.
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| Monkeys |
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| Impala |
A beautiful African Fish Eagle is perched on the top of a tree. This majestic raptor is National Bird of three countries: Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Sudan. They hunt a variety of fish as well as ducks and flamingos. Incidentally, Tanzania's National Bird is the red endangered Grey Crowned Crane which is very rarely seen.
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| African Fish Eagle |
Warthogs are immensely popular among tourists thanks to Pumba from Disney's Lion King. They are mostly grazing animals who also eat fruits, insects, eggs and occasionally even carrion.
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| Warthogs |
We meet a dik-dik couple grazing on the side of the road. They cross the road while we wait. Dik-diks are tiny deer named after their alarm calls.
The poor dik-diks are near the bottom of the food chain. They are hunted by everyone including monitor lizards, cheetahs, jackals, baboons, eagles, hawks, pythons leopards, caracal (wild cats), lions, hyenas, wild dogs and humans.
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| Dik-Dik |
We see Secretary Birds hunting on the ground. These large birds mostly walk around looking for insects and small rodents to eat. Unlike ostriches, secretary birds can fly.
It is not long till sunset. We catch another troop of baboons as we exit Lake Manyara National Park.
Watch: Jambo Bwana live acrobatic dance performance
Panorama Safari Camp, Mto Wa Mbu
I also like to imagine the one single woman living 2.5 million years ago out here in the rift valley who is not only the mother of all humans of today, but also the direct female ancestor of all modern women. Scientific evidence in mitochondrial DNA transferred from mothers to daughters tells us all women alive today descended in a direct unbroken female line from this one woman. They call her Mitochondrial Eve and she must have been very beautiful, though certainly not the first woman of our species.
Watch: Wild Giraffes of the Serengeti
Watch: The Leopard of the Serengeti
Watch: The Lions of Ngorongoro
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| Secretary birds |
It is not long till sunset. We catch another troop of baboons as we exit Lake Manyara National Park.
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| Baboons |
Panorama Safari Camp
We halt for the night at Panorama campsite up on the highlands of Ngorongoro. There are great views of Lake Manyara from the camp.
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| Lake Manyara from Panorama Safari Camp |
Our lodging is a cosy little concrete igloo-ish structure with just enough room for a bed. In our prior trip we were in a tent at the back of this campsite behind these things.
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| Panorama Safari Camp |
An energetic group of local young girls present an acrobatic dance performance at the dining hall at dinner time. They put up quite a show including the "Jambo Bwana" song immensely popular in Tanzania and Kenya. Here is a video of the girls singing and dancing to the guys playing the music:
Watch: Jambo Bwana live acrobatic dance performance
Panorama Safari Camp, Mto Wa Mbu
Serengeti National Park via Ngorongoro Crater Viewpoint, Olduvai Gorge Museum and Chief Nadotu's Maasai Village
July 6, 2023
Our cook Miko joined us at the Panorama Safari Camp. We get up early, pack enough supplies for the remaining days of our Safari far away from civilization, and head out to what will be an epic day for us.
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| Panorama Safari Camp |
We get back on highway B144 and enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area via Loduare Gate at its south.
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| Loduare Gate, Ngorongoro |
Ngorongoro Crater Viewpoint
Ngorongoro Crater, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a very special place in the world. It was formed around three million years ago when a colossal volcano higher than Uhuru peak ruptured and collapsed, creating what is now the world's largest intact caldera. The flat crater's floor is at an altitude of 5,900 feet. The steep rim around the floor of the crater reaches 7,900 feet. One way to think of Ngorongoro is a really big round 100 square mile flat-bottomed bowl!
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| Ngorongoro Crater and Rim is the shape of a bowl |
We drive straight to the Ngorongoro Crater Viewpoint which, at an altitude of around 7,500 feet, is on the top of the rim surrounding the crater. Unfortunately we luck out today. We are above the cloud cover of the crater floor that is 2,000 feet below us. We see nothing but a grey blanket from top. However we will come back to Ngorongoro and spend a night on our way back from the Serengeti to Arusha in a couple of days and see much more of the collapsed caldera.
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| Ngorongoro Crater Viewpoint: The crater is obscured by clouds below us |
We climb down from the highlands of Ngorongoro as we proceed northwest on highway B114 towards Olduvai Gorge Monument & Museum. As we break through the cloud cover we get glimpses of the grandeur of Ngorongoro highlands. The vast floor of the crater is far out where the high ground meets the clouds.
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| Ngorongoro Crater Highlands |
Our Village of the Maasai and Chief Nadotu
There is a Maasai village in the open savanna off westbound hwy B114 exactly 1.2 miles before Olduvai Gorge Monument & Museum. The location of this uncharted village is Lat: -3.050172, Lon: 35.370822. Here is the village on google maps and bing maps.
The ancient and noble Maasai peoples have managed to protect and preserve their traditions and way of life surprisingly well, a rarity among indigenous peoples and ancient civilizations in the modern world. Though the Maasai ("those who speak the Maa language") are nomadic, this family has been living in the village for a while now and likely will continue to do so.
In Maasai social structure, folks in a village belong to an extended family. They are led by Chief Nadotu (or Ndutu) who we have met multiple times in our two trips to Tanzania so far. He speaks excellent English and is now a friend and much more to us.
We happened to be traveling in Tanzania on the silver jubilee of our wedding. When I mentioned this to Chief Nadotu, he actually arranged an entire Maasai wedding ceremony for us to celebrate and renew our vows. There are at least three major rituals in a Maasai wedding that we went through, including a feast at the end. In addition to the wedding, the Chief's elder brother performed another ceremony to initiate us as honorary members into their family. A day later, the Chief's sisters, who are now our sisters too, summoned us to bestow wedding presents on us. I received a gift that looks like a microphone which the Chief told me is by design and whenever I hold it up in the village the entire village will listen to what I have to say.
All of this is a bit overwhelming as I describe separately in "We Marked Our Silver Anniversary with a Maasai Wedding at Our Village Close to the Great Rift Valley in Endless Plains of Serengeti Tanzania". Here are a couple of pictures from our Maasai wedding.
The Cradle of Humankind: Olduvai Gorge
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| Olduvai Gorge Monument Sculptures of skulls of Paranthropus boisei / Zinjanthropus (left) and Homo habilis |
“Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.” - Dr. Carl Sagan
Sometimes I like to close my eyes and imagine a gentleman who evolved here in the Great Rift Valley from our hominid ancestors. He looks north-east wondering if there is more abundant food and water that way. He starts walking and crosses the land-bridged Red Sea of his time, his descendents eventually crossing Arabia to reach and settle the Caucasus, fighting and mixing with Neanderthals and Denisovans already there. Later descendents then start walking east and south again crossing central Asia. Over time they reach northern South Asia where one of them becomes a recent male ancestor of mine.
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| Artist's rendition of Mitochondrial Eve, mother of all humans today. Image: Procy/Shutterstock |
It especially fascinates me that the genetic anthropological migration keys in the DNA of our children (we have 4% Neanderthal and 3% Denisovan genes in our family) as identified by the seminal Human Genographic Project leaves no question of the travel routes of Homo Sapiens from Africa to wherever humans live today. The PBS production "Mitochondrial Eve and Homo Sapiens in Africa’s Great Rift Valley" is an excellent film on the subject and one of my favorites.
Around 200,000 years ago (pretty recently by anthropological standards), we evolved from our hominid ancestors into Homo sapiens in the Great Rift Valley, a part of which is this 30-mile long steep-sided ravine called Olduvai Gorge. Remains of our hominid ancestors from 1.9 million years ago have been found here.
The name Olduvai comes from the Maasai word for "the place of the wild sisal". The sisal plant was brought to Africa from Mexico by a German botanist in the 1890s. Leaves of the cactus-like plant are harvested for producing organic plastics, paper and textiles. Tanzania, Africa is now the second largest cultivator of sisal after Brazil, South America!
In any case, visiting Olduvai Gorge is visiting home in the most profound sense. I actually walked the savanna a couple of miles towards the red sea to try to feel what our ancestors felt. It was an interesting experiment. I like to think a primordial part of my mind found it totally familiar.
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Inaugurated in 2018, the new Olduvai Gorge Monument & Museum with a restaurant and updated exhibits is located on Hwy B114. The Olduvai Monument features huge 6-foot 5000-pound concrete sculptures of two of the fossilized skulls found in the area: our ancestral hominids Paranthropus boisei (previously called Zinjanthropus), and Homo habilis who we likely directly descend from. The sculptures are by famous Tanzanian artist Festo Kijo.
The new museum is about 3 miles south of the original Olduvai Gorge Museum founded in the late 1970s by Mary Leakey. Olduvai Gorge, and therefore a part of the Great Rift Valley itself, can be seen from a covered viewing platform at the new museum.
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| View of Olduvai Gorge By Kufundisha - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link |
Serengeti National Park
It is well past midday by the time we drive into the Serengeti. Our first stop is the rest area at Naabi Hill. There are clean bathrooms and well-maintained shelters under which tables and chairs are laid out. Miko serves lunch at one of these tables, and then we go across to a little tire repair shop where John gets our leaking rear passenger-side tire taken care of.
We then start to get to know the Serengeti. The endless plains of the Serengeti are dotted by random mounds of solid granite rock called Kopjes. They are eroded vestiges of 500-million year old rocks that stick up through newer ground and serve as excellent places for lions, cheetahs, leopards and other alpha predators to survey the plains for prey. Lions are seen often standing at their tops (one of the many iconic Serengeti scenes in Disney's "The Lion King") and sleeping below their shade.
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| A safari trail going around a kopje |
A few zebras and Thomson's gazelles are grazing peacefully. They look safe for now.
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| Zebras and Thomson's gazelles |
The Thomson's gazelles are sharing space with African ostriches. Some of these ostriches grow to 9 feet tall and 330 pounds in weight but still are the fastest running birds in the world, clocking in at a sustained 43 MPH! They are omnivores eating everything from grass, shrubs and seeds to insects. Although Ostriches are not great at hunting they sometimes do hunt reptiles with a peculiar zig-zagging chase.
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| Thomson's gazelles and African ostriches |
A tawny eagle is looking for prey from a treetop.
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| Tawny eagle |
The King and his Queen snore away. They are probably full and will wake up when they get hungry again.
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| Lion and lioness |
We come across some wetlands as the sun marches on west. Acacia trees (Umbrella trees) make for an iconic landscape of the Serengeti.
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| Wetland (Riverine forest) |
Hippos in the water are busy doing nothing. They are doubtless aware of the crocodiles next to them who are also showing no signs of aggression at this time. Hippos are known to become quite aggressive and chase crocodiles away. Crocs think twice before taking on angry hippos.
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| Hippopotamus |
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| Crocodiles |
We find some giraffes happily munching away from the top of Acacia trees.
Watch: Wild Giraffes of the Serengeti
These trees attempt to protect themselves by hiding long sharp thorns in their leaves. Giraffes, however, easily outsmart the thorns and get to the juicy leaves using their perfectly adapted agile 20-inch long tongues.
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| Giraffes |
We head towards our campsite crossing another group of zebras. Who knows which alpha predator is crouching low in the grass watching them looking for the weakest one!
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| Zebras |
Our flimsy tent is pitched at the Seronera campsite.
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| Tent at Seronera Campsite |
Miko serves us dinner as darkness falls. Soon it is night. The wilderness comes alive with calls of Hyenas mixed with thousands of birds and wildlife that we suburban Americans are unable to individually identify. The milky way runs crystal clear under the Serengeti night sky. Tent camping in the Serengeti cannot be described in words. It is to be experienced.
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| Camping under the night sky of Serengeti |
Daytime Game Drives at Serengeti National Park and Night Camping at Top of Ngorongoro Crater Rim
July 7, 2023
Endless Plains
The Serengeti gets its name from the Maasai's Maa language word for "endless plains".
It got a bit chilly overnight inside the tent. Light jackets are in order early in the morning. Miko already has a flask of hot water, instant coffee, creamer and sugar out on a table. We sip on hot coffee as Miko prepares breakfast.
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| Serengeti Sunrise |
After breakfast, we jump back into John's Land Cruiser and start our morning game drive. Big African Buffalos are grazing. We have been warned to stay away from these large powerful bovines who sometimes reach 2,000 pounds in weight. They have great hook-shaped horns and generally angry temperaments, and are known to charge for no apparent reason. Perceived adversaries are hooked on those horns, flung up into the air and then trampled upon. Even lions are careful around them.
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| Buffalo |
We see some grazing Topis. Topis are members of antelope family
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| Topi |
There are four, maybe five, lion cubs huddling up in the grass. Mamma lioness must be somewhere close.
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| Lion cubs |
Mamma lioness is indeed pretty close, relaxing in the grass perfectly camouflaged. There is something grazing behind her, possibly a buffalo.
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| Lioness |
Four other young lions crouch on the grass. They are fixated at a herd of Thomson's gazelle grazing ahead of them. They are in mamma lioness' hunting school waiting for instructions. The top rule of the jungle is one kills only when necessary. There will be no hunting until there is a need to eat. Humans, of course, violate such rules and shoot animals who cannot defend against bullets for no reason.
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| Lion cubs watching Thomson's gazelles |
Looks like this mamma lioness is on the prowl with another one of her cubs. Maybe the hunt will be on soon.
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| Lioness and cub |
One of the 1,000 African leopards of the Serengeti is sitting up there on the branch of a tree, finishing up his breakfast. They are the smallest of the big cats and have rose shaped spots on them.
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| Leopard |
Leopards like to live by themselves. They are also fast, clocking in top speeds of 40 MPH. I managed to capture a video of this leopard coming down from the tree.
A solitary marabou stork (undertaker bird) stands on the grasslands. They are scavengers as well as hunters of other birds, insects and rodents.
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| Marabou stork |
Another litter of five young lions are being lazy on the grasslands. Their mamma too will be close by keeping an eye on them.
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| Lion cubs |
Sure enough, mamma lioness is keeping an eye out for them from the top of a mound.
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| Lioness |
Another herd of impala graze on the plentiful grass.
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| Impala |
Zebra and Topi share grazing space.
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| Zebra and Topi |
Herds of Wildebeest are grazing on the endless grass plains too. It is business as usual around the Serengeti.
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| Wildebeest |
We reach the Hippo Pool and get off the Land Cruiser. It is a few steps by foot to an overlook. The hippopotamus is a funny animal that spends most of its time in water but cannot swim.
Hippos yawn to show their teeth as a warning. A lot of grunting and honking in the pool goes on as hippos lay claim to their territories in the water.
Hippos get out of the water at night to munch down about 80 pounds of grass and whatever fruits and berries they can find every night. They are occasional non-vegetarians as well.
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| Hippopotamuses at Hippo Pool, Serengeti |
We get back into John's Land Cruiser for the drive back to our campsite.
We see a few more lions and baboons while returning to the campsite.
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| Lions |
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| Baboons |
We are at the end of our safari leg at the Serengeti. Breaking camp, we say adieu to our campsite and head back east.
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| Team Serengeti |
The exit gate of Serengeti National Park is pretty busy. It takes a while to complete our paperwork.
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| Serengeti National Park - Exit gate |
There are a few pretty Hildebrandt's starlings hopping around among the many Land Cruisers. These birds are special to savanna grasslands of Tanzania and Kenya.
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| Hildebrandt’s Starlings |
A group of four giraffes followed by another group of at least two are happily working on Acacia trees within a few miles of the exit control point. We have not entirely left the Serengeti National Park yet.
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| Four giraffes |
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| Two more giraffes |
We head back to Ngorongoro stopping briefly at Chief Nadotu's Maasai Village per his sisters' wish (see We Marked Our Silver Anniversary with a Maasai Wedding at Our Village Close to the Great Rift Valley in Endless Plains of Serengeti Tanzania).
On the way we stop at a new authentic Tanzanite factory and jewellery shop that opened just last month. The gemstone Tanzanite is only found in Simanjiro District of Manyara Region of Tanzania in a very small mining area. It is very important to be weary of fake Tanzanite from India flooding the tourist route and stick to well-known authentic outlets.
Our next campsite is at the top of rim of Ngorongoro Crater.
Simba Campsite, Ngorongoro
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| Simba Campsite A |
The temperature drops sharply as John navigates the Land Cruiser up the Ngorongoro highlands and then farther up a mountain track to the top of the rim. We reach the Simba campsite and step out of the vehicle into freezing cold!
The Simba Campsite is located at an altitude of over 7,611 feet on the south-east rim of Ngorongoro Crater. It is well-known for wildlife roaming in the campsite right between the tents. Zebras munch away on the grass and rangers pick their poo up all the time.
There is a little fire going. One of the cooks is making what looks like some sort of dumplings on the glowing charcoal. Tents are, of course, not heated. So I hang around the fire warming my bones as long as I can.
Later, around 1 o'clock in the night, we are trying to sleep with our light jackets on and blankets pulled on top. We hear hyenas calling. The calls get closer. Very close. Eventually, there are two hyenas sitting next to our tent. We can smell and feel them through the flimsy tent fabric right next to our camp beds inside. Hyenas are scavengers and also excellent predators. I do not have the courage to unzip the tent to take a look, let alone take a picture.
The hyenas leave after an eternity. We wait for a long time and I venture out. All clear, just some zebras dozing next to our tent at this time.
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| Zebras next to tent at Ngorongoro Simba Campsite |
On our prior visit to this campsite in December of 2021, there was an elephant stomping around among the tents. The rangers set off loud fireworks to chase it away. The elephant ran right across the front poles of our tent with deafening trumpets and earthshaking footfalls. Then just before dawn, a large troop of baboons passed through between the tents. But unlike this time we had no hyenas visit us.
Camping at the Simba Campsite is a lifetime experience.
A Safari at Ngorongoro Crater
The Big Five and Much More
July 8, 2023
Watch: The Lions of Ngorongoro
As I mentioned above, Ngorongoro Crater is a very special place.
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| Ngorongoro Crater Floor (elev. 5,900 feet) viewed from trail from the Crater Rim (elev. 7,900 feet) |
The flat and circular 100-square mile floor of the crater lies at an altitude of 5,900 feet but 2,000 feet below the crater's surrounding rim.
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| The road down from rim to floor of Ngorongoro Crater |
Having spent the night at top of the rim, we drive the 2,000 feet down in the morning to the crater floor where the "Big 5” (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and rhino) as well as wildebeests, zebras and various kinds of birds all roam freely sharing space with Maasai herdsmen with their herds. The chances of spotting a rare African rhino are the greatest here.
We see an African elephant grazing on the Ngorongoro Highlands.
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| African Elephant |
Inexperienced adolescent lion cubs eye a herd of buffalo for breakfast. This is dangerous. The bravest youngster will learn a lesson in a few minutes when she runs for her life chased by angry buffaloes.
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| Lions |
As we head towards the Mandusi Swamp area, a warthog roams the plains. We again think of Pumba!
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| Warthog |
The limits of cell phone photography become painfully evident when I try to capture an elephant out on the crater floor.
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| Elephant |
There is a whole herd of elephants out there, grazing among buffaloes.
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| Elephants and Buffaloes |
And then, at the wetlands of Mandusi Swamp, we suddenly see our last remaining animal of the Big Five: the venerable and critically endangered African Rhino. The sighting of a rhinoceros is fortuitous and especially exciting!
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| African Rhino (Rhinoceros) |
More lions, including a very handsome male straight out of Disney's "The Lion King" and a pretty couple are lounging around.
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| Lions |
We see a Kori bustard foraging on the ground. They are the largest flying birds native to Africa. They can fly but do not do so much. They are omnivores mostly walking around eating everything from grass and shrubs to rodents and insects.
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| Kori bustard |
Ostriches are around as well pecking at the ground.
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| African Ostriches |
Impalas are up and about on the grasslands on the crater floor.
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| Impalas |
Some zebras and wildebeest run across the trail to join hundreds of others at one of the numerous crowded grazing fest locations on the magnificent grasslands of the Ngorongoro crater floor.
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| Wildlife at Ngorongoro Crater floor |
Our last stop is the Ngoitokitok Picnic Area where we get down from the Land Cruiser, use restrooms, have coffee and enjoy the beautiful view across the lake.
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| Ngoitokitok Picnic Area |
We had a gala time during our game drive on the floor of Ngorongoro Crater. It is time to say goodbye and head back to Arusha.
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| Ngorongoro Exit Gate |
Back at Arusha
We have been traveling for eight days now across Zimbabwe (Zambezi River Cruise and Victoria Falls Trip) and Tanzania overnighting in backpacker's lodges and tents. Deserving of a higher degree of comfort for tonight, we check into a proper hotel in Arusha. The gated and secure hotel is well known as a venue for events and wedding banquets. There are a couple of nice-looking Toyota Hilux trucks in the parking spaces in the compound inside of the walls of the hotel. I am a big fan of the Hilux and hope to own one someday, but here is a picture of the ones at the hotel.
On to Zanzibar!
July 9, 2023
We have an early morning flight to catch from Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar. Mohammad, who drove us from Kilimanjaro to Arusha back on July 4, arrives at our Arusha hotel promptly before dawn and we are on our way to Kilimanjaro airport by road. We reach Kilimanjaro just as the sun comes up against a beautiful sight of Mt. Meru looming above the clouds. The 15,000 foot Mt. Meru is a dormant volcano and the second-highest mountain in Tanzania.
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| Mt. Meru |
We board the airplane to Zanzibar. As the pilot climbs to cruising altitude we get a final glimpse of Kibo and Mawenzi, looking every bit Africa's highest mountain that the majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro is.
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| Mt. Kilimanjaro: Kibo and Mawenzi from air |
Our story continues in Zanzibar, the "zan" part of Tanzania (see Zanzibar | The Wonderisland of Stone, Spices, Turtles, Peacocks and Clear Turquoise Blue Waters).
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