It was an early morning breaking camp, the sun rising over the plain and the dust creating a pink sheen engulfing the surrounding landscape. Having a nice breakfast with some Tanzanian coffee, I was reluctantly ready to depart our campsite.

Not yet ready to leave the magic of the Serengeti all together, we took a last game drive enroute to leaving, stopping to see the leopard once more, this time atop a rock, and a lion who contemplated climbing a tree. We were the only safari vehicles around, and she was definitely not shy.

It was a long and dusty road out of the Serengeti. Where we had been able to see horizon to horizon on our way in, we were now limited to about ~50 meters (~150 feet) because the dust had enveloped the dry plains. the Olduvai skull monument engulfed in a fog of wafting dust, giving it a mysterious sheen. The people stopped for the monument were holding their shirts over their mouth and nose. We had been lucky stopping on our way in and how clear it was, the winds now were not cooperating today. If traveling in the dry season, its important to remember that this is nature in its rawest form. There are no guarantees. No guarantee on the weather, no guarantee on the animals. I recommend bringing additional buffs that can double as camera covers and face covers. I also had a fishing sun shirt with built in buff and hood with SPF 50. HIGHLY recommend!

Once out of the plains, we traveled up the crater rim, which was as if going to a different world. The Lush green forest that disappeared into the mists of fog, vines draping out of the white haze, occasionally wiggling with the presence of the unknown creatures in the canopy above.

As we got over the crater rim we saw the expanse of the valley below. Ngorongoro Crater is the biggest caldera, about 260 sq.km (100 sq mi), that has unbroken walls and has not filled up with water. Ngorongoro has an abundance of wildlife at its floor, hosting many of Tanzania’s species, except for Giraffe. The craters walls are too steep for them, and they are all found on the outer slopes which are not as steep.

Of the 30,000 animals inside, only 30 of them are the black rhino, one of which we were able to see from afar. Because of the concentration of animals in such a small area, this is considered the most reliable area to see most of the big 5. (Not guaranteed however, because wild animals do like to move around.)

We drove through the herds of Wildebeests and Zebra. Wildebeests, looking rather strange, was explained to us by Valance (our driver) as being a mash up of several animals. The way we see a platypus as a mix of animals, the wildebeests are a mix of grasshopper (face), Heyena (body) Zebra (stripes) and cape buffalo (legs and horns).

In the centre of Ngorongoro there is a lake, with a small lunch/break stop on its bank. A coffee cart, along with a delicious seafood lunch kept us going for the rest of the day.

While admiring the water, no one would dare approach the edge. While there are no crocodile in the crater, there were a LOT of hippos. The craters self contained weather makes it cooler year round, and calving can be at various times. This lead me to one of my 2 favorite photos of Ngorongoro… A mum and baby napping in the light chopped water, the baby dozily looking at me with a small smile.

Our pop tops had separated, taking the maze of dirt roads in search of animals. We had gotten word about our companion vehicle and went to meet it. As we approached, another pop-top (not from our group) pulled away and we saw what was happening… A flat.

The vehicle pulling away was adhering to the curtsey of not leaving our group members stranded with a flat tire. Dealing with a flat among wild animals, the second vehicle keeps watch for anything approaching while the guides get the spare tire off the back of the vehicle. Once we had pulled up, our driver assumed that responsibility and that’s when the other vehicle left.

Within about a half hour we were all back on the road, having spent our waiting time looking at a heard of cape buffalo that were grazing with birds hitching a ride.

We started back up the crater rim toward our campsite, going back into the forested area. After just a few turns into the dense trees, we came upon 5 cubs playing among some trees and felled logs. This provided my another favorite photo of the trip.

Recently when talking to Valance, he updated me on our lion cub friends. Two of them were attacked by the Leopard while they were young. Now the other three are big enough that they should be able to continue on. A good reminder of the circle of life.

We watched them for a while before continuing down the road. Among the floor of the jungle there were families of Baboons grooming, gathered in circles around the babies, hopping and playing around the adults.

Once at our campground, the chill in the air was further support that the camping on the Ngorongoro Crater was much colder than that of in the Serengeti. I had brought a puffy jacket, hat, knit gloves and with my leggings under my pajama pants as well as my sun shirt under my 1 long sleeve, I was able to stay comfortable in a store brand cool weather sleeping bag. I had also brought some large sized body warmers, which when one was placed at the foot of my sleeping bag, and another in front of my core, it was actually quite toasty. We were also warned NOT to have food in our tent, that the lions or hyenas of the Serengeti were nothing, and the pigs would destroy our tents in search of it. I made an effort to talk to all our crew, gathering what granola bars and various snacks were stashed away and bringing the accumulated contraband to the cars for safe keeping. No tents were ravaged that night, so it must have worked.

The meal that night was half celebration, half farewell. It was our last night of camping. The journal which I had kept the whole trip was passed around, the group signing the last pages yearbook style. Getting everyones emails so that at the conclusion of the trip I could start an email chain and a cloud drive to share my photos of the trip. It was only fair, my wonderful car mates were really kind to let those of us who get carsick sit towards the front of the vehicle. If you’re reading this, I cannot thank you all enough. We dined, we laughed, and I even wone a game of ‘pass the ace’. This became a nightly card game, betting macaroni brought this whole voyage for this sole purpose.

Next time: Visiting the site of the Planeterra project, and a day trip to the Arusha markets and a waterfall.