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stop: Ngorongoro Crater
 I
first got the idea to travel on safari ten years earlier when I came
across an amazing website chronicling a high school trip to Kenya. But
what sold me was Ngorongoro
Crater. The world's largest perfect caldera, created by the collapse
of a volcano, it measures roughly 10 miles in diameter. Its 100 square
miles is home to a wide variety of animals, and conditions are so favorable
that they never migrate. I began to notice that nature shows about wildebeests
and zebras and lions were often filmed in the crater. It was the reason
I took this trip, to see this incredible crater. I was not disappointed.
Animals
Everywhere
 The
animals were so close it defied belief.
Herds of zebra and wildebeest mingled by the lake, crossing between
our vehicles
without a care. A lazy hyena sat alone sleeping, peering over at the
herds from time to time but paying us no mind. Pink flamingoes dotted
the lake while warthogs foraged near the shore. We made our way to the
hippo pond, where a large group lay in the shallow water splashing with
their tails and rolling in muddy bottom to keep cool. There was very
little movement apart from the small birds hopping from back to back.
Eventually a baby came into view, a cute little sausage next to the
immense adult hippos.
We continued on,
seeing all manner of animals including massive Cape buffalo almost  hidden
in the tall grass and the largest herd I had seen yet, a mix of zebras,
wildebeests and Grant's gazelles. As we prepared to leave the crater
we got a rare treat - two black rhinos in the distance. Rhinos are so
heavily poached that only six remain in the vast crater. Even at a great
distance, it was exhilarating to catch a glimpse of these very endangered
creatures.
Ngorongoro
Serena Lodge
 All
the accommodations on this trip were as spectacular as they were unique,
each a treasure unlike any  other.
Ngorongoro Serena
Lodge was remarkable in how it blended into the surroundings. From
the road and the crater floor it could not be seen. Every room looked
out onto the crater, the alkaline lake gleaming white as a snow-covered
field.
After a safari drive,
it's Kili time - time to meet in the hotel bar to enjoy our new favorite
beer, Kilimanjaro Lager. The waiter brought us
tray after tray of warm cashews and homemade potato chips fried in sunflower
oil. Before dinner, a band played traditional music while a Maasai group
performed. Males in their mid-twenties sang and leapt, then young girls
from 9 to 13 sang an answering chant, their high voices wailing. At
the end of the night, I returned to my room to find the beds turned
down and a hot water bottle in the foot of the bed. Every day brought
a new surprise.
White
Morning
I awoke find the
 lodge
enveloped in a shroud cold fog - a typical morning on the crater rim.
A hearty breakfast warmed us up as we walked through the dense wet mist
to our vehicles. Every day we switched driving parties, so we all got
a chance to know each other very well. One the big selling points of
Thomson Safaris was the small ratio per vehicle - just four in each
Land Rover, with everyone guaranteed a window seat. As our vehicles
descended into the crater, we dipped below the fog and the crater opened
up before us.
Encounters
Close and Rare
Not long after beginning
our drive we turned a corner and suddenly I was staring at a  sleeping
male lion less
than 20 feet away. He was huge but young, his mane lacking the black
fringe of an older lion.  His
hindquarters were covered in scars, evidence of a battle fought over
control of a pride. He must have been victorious, for a group of three
females slept nearby. After a while he sat up, looking majestic atop
his small hill. He stood up to stretch, then turned around and plopped
right back down. A few of the females popped their heads above the grass
to watch him, then returned to their own lazy slumber.
Before lunch we
saw a few new animals, like a bat-eared fox and a large group of crested
cranes displaying their mating dance. We had our picnic lunch on a grassy
 area
beside a hippo pond. We were advised to eat in the vehicles, as the
large black kites that flew overhead had been know to swoop in for a
snack and injure picnickers. The fog had burned off and the sun warmed
us as we relaxed. Back on the safari trails, we stopped to watch
a large group of frisky wildebeest. Young males ran wildly among the
herd, butting heads and chasing females. With their large numbers, wildebeests
had seemed common and ordinary, but it was fascinating to pause for
a bit a watch the scene. I came away with a fondness for these social
creatures.
One of the saddest
losses in Tanzania is the black rhino. Because their horns are thought
to be aphrodisiacs in the Middle East and Asia, they fetch a high price
and  poachers
have nearly killed them off. We were lucky enough to see another today,
though at a very far distance. As we prepared to leave the crater floor,
I had our closest encounter of the trip - a large male elephant standing
between two trees, his face not more than 12 feet from my own. He nonchalantly
chewed on acacia thorns and paid us no mind, but my heart was racing.
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