Safari in Ngorongoro crater

We both had issue sleeping this night. We ate too much or something didn't agree with us, we felt bloated and uncomfortable.

It's an early start, we leave at 7 am today for the Ngorongoro crater. We arrived there by 9am.

It's one of the most famous reserve to see, and I must say: wow! As we get up the rim it's dense forest. From the viewpoint it's an incredible landscape. You can clearly see the round shape of the crater and how just simply flat the middle is. There are a few lakes doting this wide expanse of green grass. It's about 300 sqkm. We haven't been down for the game drive yet and I find coming here for this view already worth it.

But it only gets better from there. We have to drive a road that goes around the rim to almost the opposite side of the view point. We lose sight of the crater itself. Along the way, Masai villages are sprinkled, recognizable by their round huts, the herds are scattered all around the road. It's easy to spot the shepherd, he always wear something bright and almost always red.

At one of the village, we can see that a celebration is being prepared. People are creating huge barbecue pits in the periphery of the houses. Donald thinks that it's probably a wedding.

Finally we reach the gate to the crater and start our descent. The road is paved and steep but what a view!

As soon as we reach the flat area, we are welcomed by a herd of Buffalos. They look much bigger than the ones we saw in Botswana, more menacing. And there are many of them! We spot out first elephant on the last gentle slopes.

Then, it's big groups of wildebeests and zebras mixed together. We got lucky to see the very first steps of a baby wildebeest. We first spotted the scavengers fighting for the after birth and then saw a couple of meters away the trembling baby struggling to stay standing. Barely a couple of steps and a few minutes later, he was running behind his mom.

Afterwards, we just enjoy the overall landscape and observe the gazelles and warthogs. We slowly make our way to the lake where hundreds of flamingos are  along the shore. But as we near, Donald says, wait. There is something more interesting, we will come back later. He gets us near another car and in the bush is a Caracal ! How lucky ! This is a beautiful smaller cat that is rare to see.

Jackals are then walking towards us. It's a pair and they are blond color, different from the ones we have seen in Namibia.

We continue this very nice drive, and come across spotted hyenas. They are walking around, solitary. From very far, we spot lions.

During this day, we also came close to some very big and old male elephants. Their tusks were huge and long. Apparently they stay down there. The female only make day trips from outside the crater. Too many predators are in this small enclosed area for their liking.

This day is pleasant and the crater is dense with wildlife that there is always something to see.

To our hunting list, we will add a rhino ( but from super far ) and hippos at the place we had lunch.

Since there is only one loop into the crater and one way in or out, everyone is doing the same circuit and the lunch place is fairly packed. I counted, about 50 cars. The 200 Donald mentioned in high season doesn't seem farfetched anymore. It's just difficult to wrap my mind around what this place would look like with so many.

We exit the crater with some elephants in the trees and start the steep road up. It's only 2:30pm. But it's already been pretty intense. We still have about 4h to our camp in the Serengeti for the night.

We drive along the Masaï villages to see the ceremony is now in full swing. A lot of people With bright and colorful clothing are walking towards the place or are already there.

Once we are out of these hills, we enter the plains. And they are immense. It's a sea of tall green and yellow grass. Gazelles are around but we don't see much more until we reach the official boundary of the Serengeti.

As we continue on this wide expanse, we come across our first huge herds of wildebeests. It's too soon for the great migration, but these groups are the first clusters. The largest one crossing in from of our car was already a few hundred individuals and it's quite impressive.

At some point, we take an undescriptive jeep track. It's a narrow path through the grass. And it feels that we are drowning in the vegetation. Crossing our path, we see warthog and hyenas. Then they disappear rapidly in the tall grass.

We also come across a big herd of elephants as the sun is going slowly down.

After a while, we get to a hill with many trees and what seems like camps doting its side. I assume we are getting near. It's nearly dark.

Along these last minutes of driving, we see a huge flight of white egrets dancing in the sky. It's beautiful.

Our camp is really nice. It's facing the forest, unfenced and our safari tent is huge! I am absolutely appreciating that we ended up choosing the mid-range option. It was painful when we had to pay but now, we are liking the extra comfort after these long days of safari.

We have rules: no walking alone in the dark. We need an escort, lions have been known to roam near as well as other wildlife.

During the night, we heard the lions ! It's very nice to sleep with the sound of nature in a super comfortable king size bed. The temperature is very pleasant as well.