The itinerary for today was to visit the Ngorongoro Crater. I don’t understand the geology of it but it is a collapsed volcano that has left a massive plain surrounded by hills. It is now a wild animal preserve and a national park. There are a lot of wild species that inhabit the area and a lot of animals migrate through it. It is a popular destination for wildlife safaris.
The day started off rather ominously. The group left the hotel in three vehicles. The day was overcast and we had to drive up the mountain on a rough narrow road in order to enter the crater. There was a lot of fog and mist. One of the drivers (not the one of the vehicle I was in) was apparently driving too fast and was not close enough to the edge of the road. At a sharp curve there was a vehicle coming the other way and they managed to collide. While it could have been worse if there was a straight head-on, one passenger in our vehicle suffered a serious broken bone in his upper left arm. Another of the passengers hit the side window with her head an actually snapped it out of its mounting. The person with the broken arm was the Dean of African Studies at MSU. He was in serious pain. He was taken to a hospital but will need surgery. It has been a scramble to get him out of Tanzania and back to Lansing, MI for surgery. Fortunately the University has insurance for such an incident and a protocol in place for its international travelers. It’s really a shame as he is a very nice person and I had just had breakfast with him that morning.
The wrecked vehicle. Note the window laying on the running board.
Of course, the incident casted a pall over the day. Aside from that, the crater was a magnificent experience. We saw the usual zebras and wildebeests but also saw a number of lions, hippos, impalas, cape buffalo, hyenas, ostriches and flamingos. At the end of the day we ventured into the more forested are of the park where there were several elephants. The crater is different than the Sarangheti in that there are few trees at the floor of the crater so there are no giraffes.
For our lunch stop we went to an area where there is a large watering hole that had numerous hippos residing there. We had to eat inside the vehicles as birds would sweep in and snatch any food available.
As for vehicles, you see hardly anything other than Toyota Land Cruisers. While there were about 100 Land Cruisers at the lunch stop I saw less than 5 Land Rovers all day. Toyota owns this country.
It was a long day over dusty roads but definitely worth the experience. Back at the hotel we had a group dinner and prepared for a working visit to a village tomorrow.
A lioness that was on the prowl.
A cape buffalo that only wanted to pose for photos.
Coexistence of the species.