Today we went down in the Ngorongoro Crater. which is an ancient caldera about 20 x 20 km in area at the base with walls about 1200 m high. We saw lots of gazelles, zebras, and wildebeests, of course. Cape buffalo were all around, we saw some hippos lolling in a watering hole, and we saw some black rhinos- but very far away.
At our lunch stop, black shouldered kites swooped down on us to take our food if we weren't very vigilant about protecting it. These are very large animals that we are competing for food with!
On the way out of the crater, we saw very old elephants- they come in to the crater and stay to graze on the soft grass (their teeth are worn out). We also saw baboons and vervet monkeys.
That evening, we stopped at our old buddy Chief Oliduro's boma (group of houses for him and his wives and children) and got a tour. They live in huts made of cow dung mixed with ash with acacia leaf roofs. About 5 of us could go inside one of his bomas at a time, they are very small. He had a small calf in there- they keep them inside for their first year. We took pictures of one of his wives and a bunch of his kids- they giggled like crazy when we showed the images to them.
Finally-back to camp to a hot shower, a really nice meal, and our last campfire together as a group. The chief joined us for a while but he was very busy text messaging one of the wives for much of the time.
At our lunch stop, black shouldered kites swooped down on us to take our food if we weren't very vigilant about protecting it. These are very large animals that we are competing for food with!
On the way out of the crater, we saw very old elephants- they come in to the crater and stay to graze on the soft grass (their teeth are worn out). We also saw baboons and vervet monkeys.
That evening, we stopped at our old buddy Chief Oliduro's boma (group of houses for him and his wives and children) and got a tour. They live in huts made of cow dung mixed with ash with acacia leaf roofs. About 5 of us could go inside one of his bomas at a time, they are very small. He had a small calf in there- they keep them inside for their first year. We took pictures of one of his wives and a bunch of his kids- they giggled like crazy when we showed the images to them.
Finally-back to camp to a hot shower, a really nice meal, and our last campfire together as a group. The chief joined us for a while but he was very busy text messaging one of the wives for much of the time.
PART TWO
Photos:
1. Crowned crane
2. Hyena
3.Lioness intent on her stalk
4. Hippos in a watering hole
5. Zebra and a warthog
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