Ngorongoro

The trip to Ngorongoro was something of a logistical challenge by this point, as the stricken Land Cruiser from the previous night had not been fixed. Hence, we were trying to pile 25 people into the vehicles that had previously only had 20 in them (note that this is still chronic under-crowding for Africa - I've seen minivans loaded up with 20-odd people on their own). Unfortunately, as mine was one of the stricken vehicles, I ended up in the front seat of one of the landies, which meant I hadn't got any roof access for taking photos - still, at least we were moving.

It was another deadly early start, and still near enough dark when we got moving. Plus, our friends the clouds from a couple of days earlier were down on the crater rim again, so visibility was pretty minimal as we crawled along the crater rim. We then made the vertiginous descent down the approach road into the crater itself, at which point, luckily, the clouds were starting to clear and the light was breaking through. It still made for a pretty muted view of the crater, and one that was almost severely curtailed for me, when a branch flicked through the landie's window and hit me in the face. No harm done luckily, but not really the way I would have chosen to have been roused from my slumber.

As we reached the base of the approach road, we saw a pack of hyenas feasting off to one side of the road, then two lions in the distance the other side. Up ahead were a herd of wildebeest, with zebras off to the left. And this pretty much set the tone for the day. Due to its topography and the fact that it has food and water year round, Ngorongoro supports a large resident population of herbivores, which of course attracts the corresponding carnivores. It also has a large alkaline lake in the middle of it, which gives off an ammonia-like smell that reminded me somewhat of Rotorua in New Zealand (that delightful rotten-eggs smell). Obviously nothing drinks from it, but the flocks of flamingoes that live in the crater feed from it.

So we drove on across the crater, and within about an hour struck the jackpot - a whole pride of lions lounging right by the road, with four immature lions (bigger than cubs but not full-grown) in a playful mood. To the point that they were pawing against the side of one of the cruisers ahead of us, and later one decided to muck about with the spare tyre on the back of another vehicle. This was both fantastic and slightly unfortunate, as the only pose whereby I could get photos of anything from where I was seated was to hang out the side window. Deciding that the lions seemed perfectly content with the other car and I'd have time to react, I ended up perched out the side to take a few photos, which apparently nearly gave some of my travelling companions heart-attacks. And is probably giving Mum one as she reads this. They are almost certainly the best photos I've taken so far, though.

This good day of viewing got even better when we saw a black rhino - although I'd seen a white rhino last year, when I was in South Africa, I'd never seen the black ones at all before! They have a much more prominent double-horn, which makes them very distinctive. They're also apparently far more grumpy and aggressive, so I was relatively glad we only saw it at a distance (especially as I was hanging out the landie to take piccies again). Still, that's now 4 of Africa's infamous "Big 5" spotted so far - only the pesky Leopard to go, which is apparently usually the hardest to see.

I'm going to have to hurry this along now, as I only have a few minutes left. We saw more of the usual (elephants, giraffes, etc) as well on the game drive, then made the amazing ascent back up the exit road (very sensible system - separate roads for up and down, with no opportunity for the usual African games of chicken between oncoming vehicles). Another (somehwat delayed) lunch up at the campsite, then we broke camp, loaded up the vehicles (including our stricken cruiser - though Jon was ever so slightly perturbed to see that part of the jury-rigged repairs to get us back to Arusha involved some cardboard...) and headed back down the road. The road between Arusha and Ngorongoro, it has to be said, is one of the best I've been on so far in East Africa - apparently it was surfaced by the Japanese government. Bizarre. Time for a few more souvenir stops en route home, then back for a slap-up BBQ dinner at the Snake Park. And a night of moderate carnage, but that'll have to wait for another time.

Until then, mis amigos, adieu!