Ngorongoro Crater

The Ngorongoro crater is a truly amazing and awe-inspiring natural marvel, the world’s largest intact and unfilled caldera. The walls rise over 600 meters, sheer and difficult to climb. The floor is flat, roughly 250 square kilometers, with a small rise in the center thought to be the peak of the original mountain. There are two roads, often used one-way (a “down” and an “up” road most of the day, although they switch directions to meet traffic demand). Apparently these were originally elephant paths; having enjoyed the ride in both directions, that seems plausible given their width! There is a density of wildlife in the crater that is rarely duplicated elsewhere, and it is known for being the only site in Tanzania where black rhino can be found. (I believe there are nine of them in the crater, of whom we saw two. Or possibly one of them twice.) There are omissions, however; while there are giraffe on the rim of the crater in the conservation area, there are none on the crater floor. Perhaps they dislike the descent? Similarly, there are no impala (no forest) and no topis or oribis. There are only very rare cheetah and leopard spottings, but a very dense lion population.

In order to make the most of the day, we started very early to reach the crater just after dawn, at which time it was actually cold! We enjoyed breakfast at a small pond populated by somewhat anti-social hippo, although after seeing the large group of tourists that arrived we couldn’t really blame them. There are few places to stop in the crater, and it’s a popular site, so the density of wildlife is only rivaled by the density of Land Cruisers! This was the one place we saw the black-backed jackal, a lovely if a bit skittish creature. We then came upon a lion busily engaged in eating his dinner (buffalo). We also caught a secretary bird enjoying a slithery lunch of some kind of small snake, slurping it down like spaghetti. In one very small section of the park, we saw seven lions, including two who were in the midst of mating right next to the road (!), a group of hyenas fighting over the lower limbs of…something… and a huge group of hippos. You hardly knew where to look; do you admire the posing male lion on the left side of the road, his mane beautifully picked out in the sun? or wait for the mating couple to wake up and start again? or perhaps turn a bit and try to figure out if that’s a wildebeest or zebra acetabulum being gnawed by a happy hyena? It was a very happy (and photographically dense) hour or two on a stretch of road that couldn’t have been more than a couple of kilometers.

The prior night when we arrived we had noticed a wildfire on the crater floor from our hotel room balcony. We were told this was likely a controlled burn, done to control the thick grasses and encourage new growth. In the afternoon we drove past the edge of the fire, then passed into the recently burned area where a number of browsers were enjoying the newly bruleed grass. (Apparently the burned grasses taste sweet.) After a wonderful day in the crater, we enjoyed the ride up the crater wall as it slowly became cooler, and then a relaxing evening in the hotel watching the sun set over the crater. My sole regret was taking the time to hose off my trusty Keen hiking sandals, which sadly didn’t have time to dry in the cold temperatures on the rim, leading to some squishing the next morning.