Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Lion Sleeps Tonight*
























Ngorongoro Crater
Tanzania
May 5th, 2009

The world famous Ngorongoro Crater was our next destination. Hearing so much about it we were curious what we would see. We arrived at the park around ten and paid our hefty park and vehicle fees and crossed our fingers that it would be worthwhile. It didn’t disappoint. Driving through the park towards the crater we admired the stunning views and beautiful thick green vegetation. It was also striking seeing so many people walking about either with cattle or goats or just walking. We almost wanted to stop and say “you know there’s lion out there right?” but we didn’t.

We went to the park office and picked up our mandatory guide, Daniel who turned out to be a delight. His English was fantastic as was his knowledge surrounding the park. Driving down the steep descent into the crater we were glad the brakes were working well.

The crater itself was stunning. Absolutely stunning. Views of grayish and red soil with faded green grass and pale green bushes were beautiful. The wildlife sightings were equally impressive. We saw a male lion drinking at a water hole, loads of elephant in the distance, a black rhino, tons of zebra, impala, gazelle, hippo and a huge amount of birds- including a kite who wanted to share my lunch and several hundred pink flamingos. All in all we spent about seven hours in the crater.

That night we camped at the only public campsite in the conservation area- called Simba (which is Swahili for lion). We set up our camp, did our laundry, enjoyed a cuppa and went to bed. In the middle of the night I woke up after hearing a roar. I knew it was a lion. I woke up Karel. There’s a lion I said. Karel thought it was just baboons. We heard it again and got the torch. Opening the tent window we shone the light. Five metres away from our tent was a lion. Amazing. I love the bush.

*actually we slept, he roared

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