Hey guys! It’s McKenna, and I’m back with another blog. Today’s fixings include sodium, AK47s, and dung.
We left Ecoscience Lodge this morning and drove to Ngorongoro. On the way, we stopped in town and stocked up on snacks. I got salted cashews, a 1.5-liter bottle of water, and chevdo, a Tanzanian kind of trail mix. I’ve been a hungry hungry hippo this whole trip, so I’m excited to have things to munch on in a pinch.
On today’s episode of Survivor, we all got a visit to the sanctuary (Ngorongoro Forest Tented Lodge). The feasts have been incredible and rejuvenating. Marlo and I got a room with a beautiful balcony view of the border of the Ngorongoro Crater.
Ngorongoro Lodge balcony view
The challenge course today took the form of a hike to Endoro waterfall in Ngorongoro Forest. We were guided by very knowledgeable (and armed) park rangers. Some of the obstacles included safari ants, various kinds of fresh dung, tsetse flies, stinging nettles, and a nearby female leopard in heat. We stopped at the elephant caves during the hike, and although we had planned on going into them, we had the rare and insanely awesome opportunity to see elephants at the site. Elephants pretty much just eat grass, and their nutrient-poor diet causes them to seek supplements elsewhere. The elephant caves act as a salt lick, and the sodium-rich walls of the caves have been licked by elephants for hundreds of years. We got to witness elephants crouching into the cave, scraping at the walls with their trunks and then licking it off and eating the dirt. This display of learned behavior was amazing, and I am so glad the elephants were in the cave instead of us.
Group hike!
Stunning view of the forest and Endoro River
Elephant at the salt lick!
After walking under huge bush banana trees, we made it to the Endoro waterfall! We could feel the mist on our faces at the lookout, and the pictures we took all look green-screened because the scenery was so surreal. The hike back from the waterfall was very treacherous, but I knew I would make it through thanks to my immunity idol (a handful of cashews).
Huge banana trees
I look pretty cool next to that waterfall
We didn’t see any Antilopini species today, and this is likely because the Ngorongoro forest is too dense. Some antelopes prefer habitats with plant cover and less open space, but the evergreen forests we saw today would be pretty inaccessible to small/medium antelopes due to the thick understory brush.
After dinner, we all got together in the lookout tent at the lodge for tribal council (taxon lectures). It was a unanimous vote to kick filth and sleep deprivation off the island (take showers and go to bed).
Today has been another awe-inspiring day of surviving. Tomorrow, we’re going to grab our backpacks and snuff out our torches at Ngorongoro Forest as we move on to Olduvai.
