Prehistoric craters, dung beetles, and lions, oh my.

The Ngorongoro crater (named after the ringing sound the Maasai cow bells made as they grazed the lowlands) is 260 km², and part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and the larger Serengeti ecosystem. I wasn't here for the annual migration across the plains, but even so, the herds of animals in all directions across the crater floor were stunning. This area holds a population of about 25,000 large animals. It's the city of the animal kingdom. However, during the migration, several million animals come through the plains area of the reserve.

The crater itself was formed two to three million years ago by the explosion of a giant volcano, and is the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world. The Conservation Area Authority estimates the height of the original volcano to be between 4,500 to 5,800 metres high.

We stopped to look out over the crater, and our guide pointed out groupings of little dots he assured us were animals, then the lakes, and interesting landforms.

It was quite a winding steep road to get along the rim and down into the crater, past Maasai villages and herdsmen with their cows, but once we got into the crater, there were animals everywhere. The Maasai in this area are allowed to graze their cows inside the crater, but have to take them out at night, where they pen them in reinforced villages with wooden spiked walls to keep out lions and other predators. The local economy has of course changed over the years, and if your jeep is stopped for any length of time, Maasai people will come up and attempt to sell you jewellery or decorated weaponry.

My favourite animal sighting was actually the dung beetle. Those little things are so funny. And they're pushing dung. And apparently I'm still a 12 year old :)

There were some amazing zebras. I even saw several that were massively pregnant, and while looking at one, I'm pretty sure the baby kicked, because her stripes wobbled. Oh, and they also matched my sunglasses fabulously (except for the minor pink staining from Holi festivities in India) :)

We did see a majestic lion pride, which was extremely exciting--although, they were in rest mode rather than hunting mode. . . which suited me fine. The male lions lie off to the side by themselves, while the females and the cubs tumble into a nap pile. Looks wonderful.

We had lunch by the hippo pond. Strange to be out of the car having just seen a pride of lions.

Other things we saw included ostriches (Jessica Marcy, I thought of you and your painting), wildebeest, black rhino, water buffalo, a jackal, flamingos, spotted hyenas, crested crane, elephants, and many many Thomson and Grant gazelles.

A fabulous day, however it got pretty bumpy, and the constant shaking had me kind of ready to get out of there and settle down for the night.

Onwards to Tanzania and elephants peeing.

Our first stop on safari in Tanzania was Lake Manyara National Park. This area is known for gathering animals together--everyone needs water. This is less pronounced in the rainy season, but there was still an abundance of animals that I hadn't really expected.  The below picture is looking out towards the lake . . . you could see (but not discernibly without the binoculars) little pink dots which were thousands and thousands of flamingos along the water's edge.

On our way there from Arusha, we went through many small villages and again I was struck by the colours and life we saw. I took fewer pictures than I'd wanted, as it always felt a little wrong (even though throughout India I was a walking photograph).

Our truck was outfitted with an awesome opening roof, allowing us to stand and look out across the jungle/plains with windblown hair, while still remaining shaded from the sun. Oh how colonial I felt.

We saw many different herds of elephants throughout the day--very lucky, really. The photographs that follow are just a selection of the elephant bonanza photoshoot that went on.

An elephant stand-off

A little elephant love going on in front of our jeep. Adorable.

Then some elephant tree-eating.

Then some peeing. Love the wide-legged stance, and the modest facing of the bushes.

This area is really well known for baboons, and it was so much fun watching them interact in their family groupings. Such personality. You could even see them in groups across the plains.

Here's an example of my photograph/binocular technique. . . makes it feel a little Hemingway-esque, like I'm hunting game. Incidentally, Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa is written based on his trip to Lake Manyara. However, you won't find anyone hunting a rhino here these days, thankfully.

More hippos for Sarah Galbraith!

There were interesting birds that were quite friendly, especially while we were eating our lunches :)

That night we drove back into a wee village to camp for the night, safely surrounded by a walled structure. The camp had a cat, which decided to sleep by my tent in the middle of the night. If I hadn't seen it when I got up to go to the bathroom, I would have been pretty scared by it scratching on the wall of the tent by my head--wanting to be petted at 6am. First cat sighting of the trip :)

 Yup, a little cross-eyed.