Notes from Africa: Day 3

Day 3
July 12, 2011

Another spectacular day in Tanzania! Today we spent at the Ngorongoro Crater. Our hotel sits on the top of the rim. This crater, at about 12 miles wide, is the largest unfolded intact crater in the world!
We woke up around 6am and stepped out onto our patio looking over the crater. The very first sound we heard this morning was the roar of a lion!! About thirty minutes later we witnessed a magnificent sunrise over the other side of the crater.
The crater has created an amazing habitat for wildlife, so they have flocked here. We got into our vehicle at about 8am and proceeded down to the crater floor. Shortly after, we came across a cave where a family of warthogs came out for the day. As we watched them, we noticed a whole bunch of mice on the floor. We then began our game drive, and certainly saw game! Within a short period of time, we came across gazelle, wildebeest (I think there were more of these than anything), zebra, hyenas, buffalo, all kinds of birds, and then the moment we were waiting for, four lions. Three of the lions were laying together near a tree, and the forth, that appeared injured, came walking back to the others after a short period. It was amazing! We then continued our ride, and saw herds of wildebeest and zebras on the move. Shortly thereafter we came upon a group of safari vehicles parked on the side of the road. We assumed correctly this meant there was something to see. We were able to watch a lion staking our it's territory and watching for prey. There were hundreds of animals in the area. As soon as a wildebeest wandered off by itself, we watched as the lion tried to sneak up on it. However, the wildebeest was able to escape to the safety of the herd. A warthog soon made the same mistake. The lion was getting ready to pounce, but again was too late as the warthog made a speedy exit. So much for witnessing a kill this time.
After driving around a bit more, we made a pit stop. (These were not the cleanest restrooms in the world, but at this point not a big deal!) Right next to the washrooms was a pond full of hippos. During the day, they tend to spend most of the time submerged so we only saw the top of their heads. But as we came around the corner, we did find some on the side of the lake.
We were now getting hungry and were ready for the box lunches that Abby, our tour director, told us we would be having. Well, we were in for a surprise! As we turned into a small clearing, we found that in the middle of the bush, they had set up an incredible spread for us. The tables were made up with china, barbecue lunch with salads and a bar set up with complimentary soft drinks with wine and beer available for a fee. It was amazing! We could not believe that the animals would not try to come over to partake.
After lunch, it was back on the road for more animal viewing. This afternoon we got to see a couple of rhinos in addition to the other animals. We also came across more lions. Finally, in the distance we saw a huge elephant with giant tusks. Our guide told us that the older male elephants come to the crater to live out the rest of their lives. He said this one was around 65 years old!
During our drive out of the crater, we came across a family of elephants with a baby. The younger elephants just walk through the crater area but do not settle here.
All in all, a truly amazing day. It is now around 4:30pm, we will have some time to relax before a Masai Tribe acrobatics show prior to dinner. Tomorrow we'll be up early to travel on to the Serengeti!