Tanzania 3: The Ngorongoro Crater
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Our first view of the Ngorongoro crater, from the rim. The lake is about 500m down in the middle of the crater, and the far side is visible about 19km away. Notice how the weather is quite different in different parts of the crater.
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Not long after we got into the crater, we came across three cheetahs. There was a gazelle nearby, but they didn't seem interested.
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The cheetahs really didn't seem to be bothered by a big car full of people.
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Almost close enough to scratch behind his ears!
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A maribou stork, which is roughly five foot tall. They do look a bit silly standing there in their tailcoats.
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The crater has a lot of these striped horses.
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Including some small ones!
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We nearly had to push the car out of the mud to see a couple of hippo backs.
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The trip wouldn't have been complete without a zebra crossing.
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There's that storm again.
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This hyena was rather tired. He kept lifting his head to look, but then dropped it again.
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Our first rhino, again through binoculars.
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We didn't expect warthogs to be so cute.
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Here's the daddy next to his little hole.
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We happened to see this pair of zebras, err, comparing stripes.
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In this bush is a lion with a zebra he's recently killed.
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More lions near the road...
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...and their paw prints.
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Distant hippo with open mouth. Yasmin heard one of these break wind.
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Leftovers... Our guide thought this ex-buffalo had probably been dead for about 2 days.
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The lioness was struggling to get anything else edible from here.
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This pair of rhinos came close enough we didn't need the binoculars.
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We were ignoring this elephant as we were watching the rhinos.
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Another panoramic view, from half-way up the ridge to our hotel.
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This was the view from the hotel balcony the next morning.
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This is a Masai village.
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Here are some of the people in the village.
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Some of the Masai warriors did some songs and dance for us.
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Some of the children, next to the traditional Masai house made of wood, mud, and other brown substances.
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A slightly contrived lesson in the primary school at the back.
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School is obviously very popular here.
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Not quite a cathedral...
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We think this is the same pair as was on the road earlier.
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Must have been a romantic view up there.
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That's about how long it took.
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Yet another group of lions.
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Here's the male.
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