“Down, two, three, four…”

The past few days have been exhilarating, first at the Ngorongoro Crater, then at the Serengeti as we have finished off our safari time.

It is now late Saturday afternoon in a hot and steamy Zanzibar, and I am trying to frame the experience of the days since my last post. Since then we have been in some very remote areas, and of course no internet. But in Tanzania, there is always mobile phone coverage. Jenny managed to call her dad from the middle of the Ngorongoro Crater, surrounded by thousands of wildebeest, and zebra.

Wednesday saw us move from the beautiful and park like surroundings of the Country Lodge. I was still feeling very unwell, sweating profusely, chilled, coughing and wheezing. Because we were to have several days out of reach of any medical aid, Walter insisted that we find a proper dispensary and arm ourselves with something strong to fend off the disease. Eventually we found a Duka la madawa, which had an actual pharmacist – Walter said he was the doctor, and he seemed fairly knowledgable. He gave me some antibiotics which tasted really, really bad, and some syrup, which despite the taste,together seem to be slowly working their magic.

The drive to Ngorongoro is a long steep climb to the crater emit about 2,600 metres, so fairly high by Australian standards, then a slow descent to the crater floor, about 600 metres lower. The crater is home to a bewildering diversity of animals. For sheer numbers, the wildebeest and zebra dominate. But our hunt was for the cats, particularly the lions. To our delight, we did come across an old and very well-nourished lion, lying on the side oft eh road, watching us with seeming nonchalance.

 

A well fed crater lion

Jenny was very apprehensive and closed her little side window tight. He was covered with flies, attracted, according to Walter, to the blood and juices sticking to his beard from a recent feeding. We soon came across the reason for his well-fed look, a large black Cape buffalo lying in the grass, being savaged by some lionesses, allowed to take their turn once the king had had his fill. About 30 metres away a family of hyenas sat in the grass keeping an eye on the prize and waiting their turn. If the hyenas have sufficient numbers they might try to intimidate the lions, but these were too few in number, so kept a respectful distance.

Continuing our journey, we keep our eye out for species that had eluded us. In this regard, Walter is an excellent guide, as he has eyes like an eagle, and what seems like a dot on the horizon is identified. We had been keen to see the black rhino, but they are few in number and scattered. We did manage to see a small group of about six but out of camera range. (Note to self: check on cost of a new lens).

 It was getting late in the afternoon as we headed for the exit road, when Walter exclaims: look! And there, far on our right, but heading in our direction were two rhinos. They tacked this way and that but never strayed from their purpose which seemed to present us with perfect photo opportunities, as they trotted across the road, not 50 metres from us.

Our day was complete. The only other excitement was to see a hyena trotting along with a large steak, keen not to share it with his colleagues.

The overwhelming response to seeing this is the sheer abundance of life contained within the crater, living in essential harmony, but also depending on other species for food when needed. The climate creates an abundance of food for the grass feeders.

We made our bumpy way up the crater wall and along the rim to our tented camp where we were booked for the night. The camp sits on the edge of the rim, and it turned out that being the end of the safari season, we were the only guests. But this did not mean the warmth of the hospitality or the generosity of the meals was any less. Actually there were some other guests, as some buffalo came through the site during the night, leaving plenty of smelly evidence.

The tents are very well appointed, but there are some limitations. One is that the camp authorities do not allow the land to be levelled for the tents, so we had a bit of a slope to contend with. You will not be surprised that Jen took the high side! Another is that the cisterns for the toilet have to be filled after each use, and one of the staff seemed to have drawn the short straw to fill the cisterns during the night. He does this by filling a bucket outside the tent which then has a slow trickle into the cistern. However, it seems he may have forgotten his unlucky role, so I was reduced to filling the cistern from the water needed for hand washing, and when that was used up, by raiding the water needed for the shower. Still, we can’t complain, the service and meals were fantastic, and everything is delivered with a smile.

Next stop Serengeti.