February 9, Thursday

February 9, Thursday

Deo saw me walking to the toilets with my port-a-potties early this morning and had another good laugh !   He’s going to be talking about the Canadian Lady for a long time. 

had breakfast, packed up and were off before the sun rose.   It would take about an hour to drive down into Ngorongoro Crater.   The deeper down the gorge we went, the worse the smell.   The sulphur smell from the salt water flats was horrible.  Shades of Smooth Rock Falls on a really bad day !

  First animal we saw was a jackal !    We had seen one the night of the amazing Serengetti sunset, but I had not managed to get a picture.  Looks a lot like a fox.

   Wildebeest with flamingos in the lake behind them
   Wildebeest
    Then we started seeing hyenas on the prowl. We would see many before we left the crater again later that morning.   It's face and neck are covered in blood.
   And he was kind enough to stop and stare at us so we would have nice photos of him.   Look at his big round full belly !
   And of course we saw some warthogs, but not as many as I'd seen in Kruger and Chobe.
  Lloyd spotted this big guy (and it is a guy) from really far away with his binoculars, and Elias was able to drive us over to get a closer look.  Check out the tusks !  Almost hanging down to the ground.
   This looks like a tiny, tiny photo and it's because I used the zoom then cropped it several times so you could get a good look at.......  a  Rhino !   We have now seen five of the big five !
  This young hyena was feasting on a bone, with its parents nearby.   He was gnawing away and we were about to drive away when he finally took a look behind him.   Gotcha !
  We spotted this lioness in a depression near the rim of the crater.   She ambled along beside all the vehicles that were watching her, without a care in the world.   I noticed that she had strange markings on her stomach and upper legs;  almost like leapord spots.  
   Marshall Eagle on a branch just above where the lioness was walking.
  Another lioness
   Rest area in Ngorongoro.   Everybody out to use the bathroom because the next one won't be for a while.
  Nice spot for a group photo.  Our group: Lloyd, Peter and Frank at the back, Bobby, Birgitte, Stine and me at the front.   Must admit that it could not have been better;  everyone was so nice.
   Great photo of the watering hole.

  Hippos        

   Elands,  the biggest of the African Antelopes   
   Ostriches among the zebras
    Another jackal !   In full stride
    Grant or Thompson Gazelle
     Very pregnant lioness 

  She plopped herself down just behind our vehicle to take a rest on the road.   Peter got this shot for me with my camera, from the roof of our vehicle.

   She finally decides there are too many vehicles watching and calmly ambles away
   and goes to hide in nearby reeds. Would have been so easy to drive by and not see her !    Can you see her head ?  
   Dancing male crane wooing a female
  Here they are together

  Cape buffalo with huge horns

  Driving back out of the crater.  Thick forest surrounding the edges of the crater
   As we rise out of the crater, we get our last look around
  

  Good look at one of the watering holes

  Getting up higher
   and higher
   Lush rich forest on the rim of the crater
   Last look back at Ngorongoro crater.
The south and eastern borders of the crater are on the rim of the Great Rift Valley.   They estimate that there are about 25,000 animals in the Crater.   There is a special program to increase the number of rhinos here and we were told that there are cameras all around the rim, constantly tracking them to ensure that they don't get out.   If one of them tries to make it up the high mountains surrounding the crater, someone goes out and "herds" it back down.   Don't know how you actually "herd" a rhino !   If it doesn't want to go, you can't really force it to move.   Something to ponder.
Around the rim of the crater there are many elephants, leapords, cheetahs, hyenas and jackals.
We never did see any cheetahs in the Serengetti or here in the crater, although Deo and Elias were trying to find one for us.  
At the gates to the park we stopped for a short break, and as I was coming out of the washroom, I met Betty (from Arusha Crown Hotel). Her husband Terry was nearby and we had a happy little reunion. How is that for strange coincidences. Unfortunately she had fallen while getting out of the vehicle at some point and had badly hurt her hand. It was almost black and some of her fingers looked broken, though a doctor had checked it out and said it was just very badly bruised. They would be camping out one more night and would be back in Arusha at the same time I would be there, so we would see each other again.

From here we were driving back towards Arusha, covering the same road we had taken to come out. Lots of agricultural areas in the region close to the crater, with rich red earth. We found out that all the land is owned by the Government of Tanzania. No one can actually OWN land, they must lease it from the government. If the government decides they want it back, “too bad so sad”, they may be offered some type of compensation, but not necessarily for all the years and work invested in the property.

 
 
 
 
   
There were a variety of houses along the way.  This one is very typical of a "nice" house.
   Some are only made of sticks and whatever they can find to build a shelter.
  This one's a triplex !
   Many are very colourful

We stopped once again in the Mto wa Mbu Village to visit an orphanage.  We had brought a variety of items for them (I brought writing scribblers, pencils with erasers, and pencil sharpeners.  Others brought tennis balls, frisbees, etc)    As you can see the kids were adorable.  Only the little ones were there since the older children were attending the local school.   A great time was had by all.

  This orphanage is sponsored by a Canadian !

  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.
   Pete taking pictures
   And being photographed with them
     Birgitte taking photos.  She actually leant them her camera so they could take pictures themselves and see what they looked like.  She ended up with photos of a lot of bodies... but no heads in the photos.   They are very tiny, and they don't really know how cameras work.
   Little girls having fun with Stina's blond hair
   I look like hell in this picture, but I'm posting it anyway, because this little girl stole my heart.   I ended up singing her French lullabies while I held her in my arms.
     Feel free to check out their web-site if you want to help out.
   Local transportation
   Traffic jam on the road
    Masi houses
    Finally got a passing shot at a group of young Masi men, all dressed in black, with white painted faces.    Masi circum-season !  
                       
We made it back to the Out Post Lodge in Arusha, after dropping Peter off at his new digs for his Kilimanjaro expedition departure the next day.    Had time to unpack, bring all my clothes to be washed, and showered before dinner.   This was our “good bye” party, minus Peter.   We thought that Deo would join us, but he only came to see us near the end of the meal to check on all our departure times for the next day.

 Outpost lodge.  One of the buildings housing the rooms

  My room at the Oupost Lodge
  The pool area at Outpost Lodge....  too bad I didn't get a chance to relax around it.
   The dining area at the Outpost Lodge

And so my camping safari has come to an end.   What an unforgettable experience !   Every single day, almost every hour of the trip was filled with something happening:  cultural, historical, geographical, wild life.

LOVE LIFE !     LIVE YOUR DREAMS !