Africa

Day Eight: Tuesday

Into the Crater

Because of its proximity to Dar es Salaam, Arusha, and Moshi, three of the largest cities in Tanzania, the crater attracts almost a half million tourists a year. We are staying at the Sopa Hotel and we find the Mbalageti camp experience, it is definitely not. While the rooms are large and spacious, this accommodation is equivalent to a very nice Holiday Inn but, one that has not been renovated for twenty years and, it is very very busy. But in fairness, the location is breathtaking – perched on the edge, overlooking the crater floor – and the dining room is excellent and has a truly spectacular view. Of course, we are not here to hang out in our room all day!

The whole of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area covers some 8,288 sq kms but the crater itself (the world’s largest unbroken volcanic caldera, created 2 – 3 million years ago) is a circular area encompassing a 260 sq km valley, and home to one of the densest populations of wildlife on earth. The crater walls drop 610 m and when standing on the edge, everything below appears in miniature – a jeep, for instance, is barely a visible dot.

We have an early breakfast and witness two vervet monkeys swoop down upon the buffet table and make off with some choice pieces of fruit. We have decided not to do a full day (again, as a result of being exhausted from the previous day’s drive), but when we meet Elias in the lobby and mention this, he looks quite disappointed. “I have picnics,” he says with a smile. “Yea,” I think to myself. But, we agree that we will see how the day goes and return when we have had enough.

The road down into the crater is indeed close to the hotel and we begin the descent by winding through extremely tall acacias which we have not previously seen on our trip. Amazingly, elephants climb the inside crater walls to graze these tall trees, but no giraffes – they are one of the few animals that are not seen within the crater. There should be everything else, Elias assures us, maybe even a kill! This, I am not so sure I want to witness. However, I really hope to see a cheetah although we have heard reports that sightings in the crater have been rare lately.

Once below the tree line we are driving on the best dirt road we have been on, traversing verdant, rolling green hills. The landscape is just stunning. Off in the distant we can see the thin line of blue lake but everything else is layers of golds, greens, and smokey grey shadows.

We are barely on the crater floor when Elias stops the jeep and we see the majestic head of a male lion not fifty feet from the road. Unperturbed by us, he is perfectly visible in the short grass and turns his head several times as we snap away. What an animal – we are so awed in his presence! Elias explains that it is the female lions (several hunting together) that take down the prey and then the male moves in, eats his fill, and leaves the remainder for the females and young. He thinks this lion has already eaten … or … is he waiting for something?

Ahead on the road, Elias points to a dark mass, which, when we view through focused binoculars, becomes a cluster of jeeps. “A kill,” he says under his breath, and we are in motion again, making a beeline for the jeeps. As we get closer a small herd of buffalo, with a scattering of zebra close by on its periphery, comes into view, and all seem to be staring at the jeeps. But closer again, we see it is a tawny mass they are all staring at. It is indeed a kill – a baby buffalo – and at least six snarling lionesses, splattered with blood, are tearing and gnawing at the flesh. Five buffalo stand not four feet away – perhaps two are the mother and father – and it is hard not to project a mournful look on their faces. There is nothing they can do against this many lions. Eventually they move away and the zebras move in for a closer look. The prey animals seem to know that while the predators are thus engaged they are safe, and so, are drawn to the scene, out of what … curiosity? Perhaps relief … that it is not one of them?

We leave the lions to their feeding frenzy and drive on, catching the heads of a couple of hyenas popping up in the taller grasses. There is vulture activity as well … all are waiting their turn at the baby buffalo. I ask Elias if people ever get upset at seeing the real thing and he laughs and answers, “Once, a lady I was driving witnessed a lion snatch a baby cheetah. She was so distraught, and crying hysterically, that I had to take her back to the lodge. She did not go out again.”

The circle of life can be a gruesome thing!

Driving through the grasslands we encounter many more wildebeests, zebras, gazelles, buffalos, ostriches, and birds: vultures, hawks, ducks, geese, egrets, crested cranes, and brightly coloured little birds. Elias hands me a bird book but I will never remember them all. There is also a large herd of grazing cattle and we can see their brightly clothed Massai guardians taking a break, resting, with their spears dug into the ground.

Elias turns the jeep onto another trail that leads towards the lake and we notice a couple of stopped jeeps, the people in the pop-tops looking intently at something. All we can see are a few zebra and what appears to be a lone baby Thompson’s gazelle. “It’s a cheetah,” Elias whispers, but strain as we might, we see nothing … until … in a low clump of flowering bushes, not ten feet from the baby gazelle, the feline head appears.

My first reaction is, “Please, please, I do not want to see the baby killed,” but we are so excited to see the cheetah that of course we stop and watch. After about five minutes we surmise that the cheetah must be well fed because after the gazelle wanders off a tiny baby zebra walks within a few feet of it. We hold our breath, but the cheetah does not flinch. We wonder if perhaps it is a she and has some kittens hidden with her. So we wish her well, and move on.

The road winds close to the lake and a huge flock of pink flamingos take to the air. There are two jackals playing tag on the muddy banks and then just off the shore are two Black Rhinos – a mother and youngster. In the same frame of view, are zebras and wildebeests and, in the distant, an elephant. As a bonus, a little further back into the grassland, we see the tawny head of another male lion and not ten feet away, three zebra watching him. One zebra looks very pregnant and we wonder what the heck they are doing hanging around staring at this lion.

What a jackpot of animal activity we are witnessing!

It is early afternoon and we are starving. Elias heads to the picnic spot, a small lake surrounded by some tall leafy trees and low bushes. Fortunately, it has facilities. The lake doubles as the crater’s hippo pool and at the moment their boulder like bodies are mostly submerged with only their nostrils, eye mounds, and ears visible. This is a busy spot but David and I find a few rocks to sit on and open our picnic boxes. Elias warns us to watch out for the hawks that are dive bombing unprotected food and we watch one family that has gone to all the trouble of setting up a linen laid table, only to retreat to the safety of their jeep.  We eat in relative peace, watching the very colourful, exquisitely feathered, guinea hens pecking around our feet and the small yellow weaver birds flitting about, stealing what crumbs they can.

It’s mid-afternoon and we are ready to go back to the hotel but before we do, Elias decides we should check out the kill sight again. The lionesses are still there but the scene is much more subdued. Perhaps the male had eaten earlier and this kill was meant for them alone. There are a few zebras in the vicinity but the buffalo have all moved on.  We turn around and head back towards the winding road that will take us back up through the giant acacias. Just before the descent, we see two jeeps stopped ahead of us, and there, literally on the side of the road, a large male lion is taking his siesta. He is so close, we can count the flies on his back, smell his smell, and reach out and grab his tail (but of course, we don’t!). He is obviously lost in dreams and pays us no mind to us, so after five minutes or so we move on.

Back at the hotel we invite Elias to join us for dinner. It will be our last evening with him. First, we have just enough time for me to try out the pool (it is so cold and the tiles so slippery, shamefully, I am in for only a few minutes) and have refreshments on the deck, chit chatting with an Italian couple. It is he who tells us the secret of the many pocketed safari vest (which we unfortunately left at home at the last minute). “It’s for the airplanes,” he says. “I load up my pockets … how else can one get around their *#!*#! baggage weight restrictions!” Good point.

Dinner with Elias is interesting. We really have not shared a lot of personal information between us, our conversations mostly wildlife related or, the “when are we going to get there?” banter – mostly, because in the jeep it is either just too noisy, or we are trying to be quiet around the animals. But tonight we find out he has a wife and five year old boy in Arusha, he has been working for this travel company for about eight years, and through it he gets to do a wide variety of tours – like once hiking Kilimanjaro. Again, we find when talking with Elias, like with Mathew and Katherine back at the Mara West, that he really does not want much, certainly not the excesses North Americans have – nor can he barely comprehend it. He simply wants a steady good job, to feed his family, and hopefully to live in a corrupt free Africa. The conversation winds its way back to the wildlife we have in North America – bears, moose, and the sea creatures! I draw a picture of a lobster for him and we explain that whales are actually mammals. He finds it all intriguing and we promise to send him some books when we get home.

As we make our way back to the room, we realize the safari portion of our trip has come to an end. We are off tomorrow on an entirely different adventure that perhaps, we could do without – with all we have seen and done over the last eight days, we are ready to go home. However when suggesting our itinerary, our tour organizer thought we should end our African journey with some down time at a beach resort so, in taking her advise, we will head to Zanzibar and whatever awaits us there.