Ngorongoro & Serengeti - Awe inspiring beauty

Day 9 – Saturday, 5 February 2011

The Ngorongoro crater.

We were picked up early in Arusha and drove about 3 hours to get to the top of the crater. We then drove around the top of it and had a picnic lunch with an awesome view. After lunch we made our way down into the crater which was a hair raising decent.

Trying to describe the crater is near impossible. It is awe inspiringly beautiful. All of the animals you have heard about or seen on tv are here in one condensed area almost like a zoo. Animals such as lions, siva cats and zebras walk directly in front of the 4WD.

We saw 1000s of zebra and wilderbeast, a few hyenas, jackals, elephants, a far off hippo and a few distant rhinos and many more birds and smaller animals. We left on such a high- it is a place that we hope to be able to return to one day.

Unfortunately the only way out of the crater is up a very treacherous road and on the way home we were stopped by an accident where a landrover had lost power and brakes and went backwards until it hit the side of the mountain and tipped over. Everyone inside was shaken but fine. It was funny to watch when all of the local men and tourists tried to coordinate in three languages to tip the car back up right….. ( it doesn’t matter where they are they’re all the same!) after they move the car each of the others behind had to carefully drive around it to get past.

We got to the hotel in one piece and cleaned up in time for dinner with the group at that restaurant and then early to bed (the power goes off at 9pm)

Day 10 Sunday, 6 February 2011

Ahhh, what a perfect day. We just got back from a long safari drive. It was incredible, it almost topped yesterday. We drove about two and a half hours to get to the Serengeti national park and then bumped along for another hour before getting off the ‘main’ road (which was about on par with the roads west of Quilpie) we saw more elephants and giraffe (kind of over them by now) and found a leopard and cub snoozing in the tree.

The binoculars have really been good – we’ve even been sharing them with the rest of the group. After seeing the spots of another leopard in a far off tree we went past some hippos lounging in a pool and made our way to the lunch spot. After a quick walk around a touristy info centre we headed off again, seeing more elephants, giraffe, Giselle, hippos ummm and other birds. We eventually headed home but had a great time with a lioness and two cubs on the way back. The landscape is so vast – it is just kms and kms of grass – it is beyond belief. We’re now sitting on our little deck, watching the sun disappear over the mountains. It is picture perfect!

The only issue we have now is that we’ve seen so many giraffe, elephant and lions that we don’t even ask to stop any more (not such a bad problem to have I know)

C has taken to reading the ebook reader while driving..... how about that serenity....

Tomorrow we get to blow off some cobwebs as we’re doing a bit of a trek up a mountain called Lemegrut.