Ngorongoro Conservation Area

It lightly rained throughout the night and since I was in a tent I was conscience of the noise but still managed to get a half decent sleep and feel okay this morning. We were suppose to have a nature walk but decide against it due to the rain. We leave Kirurumu around 8am and the rain is just stopping. As we continue to drive towards Ngorongoro, it's still very overcast and misty.

We enter Ngorongoro at the south Lodare entrance and stop at the visitors centre. Ngorongoro main sightseeing area isNgorongoro crater, an extinct volcano. No one is allowed to live in the crater accept animals but the Masai people are allowed to grase their cattle and goats along the walls of the crater. Once we reach the road at the top of the crater, we stop at a viewpoint and the scenery changes as the clouds below start to disperse and we start to see a bit of blue sky. We are at 2216 metres. We head west and north and see buffalo and waterbuck. At the Malanja Depression, we have a good look at the Masai bomas and at Windy Gap we can take the decending road into the crater. Masaii men are trying to sell us trinkets as we take a photo before heading into the crater on Seneto Road.

It's not long before we see zebra up close and then wildebeest and buffalo not far off the road. A vehicle up ahead has stopped and we spot a cheetah sitting in the grass. It's obviously gotten a meal since it's mouth is bloody but it's too far away to know what it has. We skirt around Lake Magadi (1723m) a large soda lake full of Greater and Lesser Flamingos and other shorebirds. There's a large concentration of pink flamingos near the shoreline, so I'm able to get a few good shots.

As we head across to Munge River I spot a shape in one of trees lining the small river. It's a lion. A tree climbing lion, alleluia!!! Thank god for my eagle eye. I'm thinking it would be a leopard or cheetah but I'm thrilled to see a lion in the tree. Soon it climbs up to a higher point and just flopps down straddling the tree limb and goes to sleep. That made my day.

Running out of time, so story to be continued.......