TRAVEL BLOG December 8th, 2021 - SERENGETI SAFARI NGORONGORO

 

12/8/21- We don’t leave until 9am, giving us plenty of time to sleep in, eat breakfast and work on the plane ticket fiasco. I cancel my hotel booking for Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, which was our next destination. Why you ask? Because they now have a mandatory ten day quarantine for all travelers, which doesn’t work with our plans. I contact the airline for the flight and they change it for a minimal charge. Relief can’t even describe what I’m feeling.

With that done, we set off for Day #3 of the safari in the Ngorongoro crater. Unlike the Serengeti, the crater has fewer predators in a vast area full of wildlife. It takes an hour to get there and another half hour to travel down but the views are amazing.

Instantly, we’re met with some small elephants grazing the trees from the road, and when we reach the bottom there’s nothing but wide open plains full of zebra, wildebeests and more. They don’t even flinch as we drive by, allowing us to get very close and personal.

Half way through the crater, we encounter a pack of lions resting on a cliff. Watching intently, they slowly leave their spot and one by one filter down to the terrain below. It’s obvious they're in attack formation as one lion will walk out a ways then lie down, waiting for another to pass him and do the same. There’s probably about ten or so taking turns and quickly we see where they’re heading as three warthogs are drinking by the nearby stream. The incredible part is the entire pride walks right by our vehicle like we weren’t even there, literally feet away.

We have our cameras ready knowing what’s about to happen, we just don’t know when. At one point the warthog walks right in front of the lion, lurking in the grass; and not a moment later the chase is on. Unfortunately for the lions, they miss out on the kill. The entire ordeal unfolds in front of us as we gasp at what could’ve been.

Lunch time comes around and we picnic at a lake in the crater, which has elephants, hippos and water buffalo in our view. The place is packed with other groups as most eat in their vehicles, however, there’s one couple that tries to enjoy their meal outside when a bird swoops down and takes the guys sandwich out of his hand. He chases it for a bit, not sure why as the food is gone at this point, but ultimately throws his hands up in failure. Funny enough, they continue to eat when more birds attempt to grab their food. Finally, they wise up and move underneath the big tree.

With lunch over, we drive out of the crater and back onto the main road to go back to Arusha. It takes three hours, as we doze off, and when we arrive the town is a madhouse of cars, bikes and people everywhere. The traffic is so bad that it takes almost an hour to go only 2 kilometers to reach our hotel.

What an adventure, and one that will never be forgotten. Our driver says we’re lucky to see all that we did, especially in three days, as many stay a week or longer and still come away empty. I’m just happy that we survived and ready for the next part of our trip.