Hello World,
Day 6 was spent in the largest caldera in the world! The group was off to Ngorongoro Crater early in the morning in order to get through the crowded front gates. At the gate, we were greeted with baboons. They were cool to see but very naughty monkeys. They found amusement by chasing one another on the roofs and running in between cars. The walls of the crater were covered in a blanket of clouds as we climbed up and over the rim. Descending into the caldera, the clouds parted ways to reveal a striking view of the savannah interior below. Along the road into the crater there were massive candelabra cacti that towered over much of the other vegetation. These cacti have very thick succulent flesh with thorns that line the square edges of the stalk.
There were 3 new wildlife spottings during the drive. The first (very exciting) sight was the greater and lesser species of flamingos. The shoreline of the lake in the center of the caldera was inundated with varying shades of pink. The group was in disbelief because we did not expect to see them in the dry season. The next icon of the savannah was the hippo. We saw a large group of hippos with approximately 30 individuals. They were escaping the mid day heat with only their twitching ears and eyes peering out of the water. Despite their massive size, we had to keep an eye out for them because it was easy for them to resemble a large rock. Last but not least was the king and queens of the savannah. Laying out in a small dried up wallow was a bachelor lion. He was rolling around as my house cat would. I wanted so badly to give him a pat but had to continuously remind myself that I would be easy prey given the chance. Later on we found a full pride of lions with around 10 lionesses and one male. They were chilling in the heat of the day as a nearby herd of gazelles watched in angst. During the day we did see some elephants both in female herds and a lone male.
Everyone tells you to avoid the hippos and the lions, but it turns out those animals are not the only concern. The group enjoyed lunch at the hippo pool in the crater. We had some chicken wings with pasta and had been warned of the shrikes (hungry birds). We were watching the birds swoop at the picnics of other tourists, and got a bit too confident that they would not target us. Little did we know our time had not yet come. Dr. Prendergast was working on a chicken wing, and before we knew it a bird swooped down and knocked it out of her hand. I was in sheer disbelief as the shrike bushed my back. I thought my time was up LOL! In the end, we won because the shrike did not fly away with any goodies.
Thank you for tuning in!
