Wednesday, November 12th
Itís safari time again! Twice in one week - what a privilege. Fredy was on again and today we went with Suzie, Molly, Jen, Lindsay, Jack and myself. A full car!
Our destination today was the Ngorongoro Crater just down the road from us. Bumpety, bumopety we go out to the main road. Iíve labeled the road at A Sports Bra Road, especially if you are sitting in the back. In fact I have to lean forward while driving on this road as it kills my back to sit up straight. Somehow by leaning forward it seems to take away the feeling of my vertebrae smashing into one another.
At the entrance of the crater there were already plenty of baboons. We all stayed clear of them after our picnic visitor from Manyara the other day! Driving up to the top of crater seemed a little hairy to me - the road looked washed away on many parts and it really looked like a car could go over the cliff at any time. Fredy assured us weíd be fine. We could see some huge buffaloís on the steeps sides of the road.
The crater, by the way, was an old volcano that had the middle drop out 2 million years ago. Whatís left is a huge flat area inside the volcano walls that is filled with animals and a small body of water. So we have to drive to the top and them descend into the crater. You can see several safari lodges as you drive up and around to the road in - they all look beautiful. Fredy told us that some of them run $1í000 a night! Can you imagine?
There are also lots of Masai around there too. We could see their Bomas dotting the countryside with herds of cattle grazing followed many times by a young herder. A Boma is what their little villages are called. Usually in the middle is a circular stall surrounded by lots of branches and twigs. This is where they put their animals at night to protect them from the wildlife. And then around that you will see a handful of round mud huts - the number varies depending on how many families, wives live there. Their clothing is also very bright, many reds and purples, and is very visible against the light brown dry grasses. These Masai near the crater are used to the safari cars and tourists and are doing their best to supplement their incomes courtesy of the tourists.
They charge you $10 a person to come into one of their Bomas. We declined as it takes more than an hour and we all really wanted to get down into the crater. Basically, they give you a tour of their huts, explain about their life, charge you to take their photo and then want you to buy their beaded items. They make really cool things - bracelets, huge round beaded necklaces, and anything else you can make with beads. And itís all really colorful! At the entrance into the crater - at the top - on our way down we were surrounded by at least 6 Masai trying to sell their wares. They were so aggressive that they were actually opening our windows and sticking their arms, laden with necklaces and bracelets into the jeep. The women make them and the men sell them. I took a video clip which is pretty entertaining!
So down we went. We werenít allowed to open the top until we got to the bottom of the crater. Apparently a safari car (thatís what they call them, but they are really jeeps) tipped over with tourists standing up with their heads out the roof and I guess it was a pretty bad accident. At least thatís what Fredy told us!
At the bottom, while opening the roof, there were more Masai. Suzie paid them for their photo and bought a couple things - including a spear. It was definitely his spear - he had no others to see. Fredy helped with the negotiating and got the spear down to 20,000 Schillings which is less than $20.00!
After a quick bathroom stop - we had to back up to some trees and then there was a tiny shack with 2 openings that holes in the ground, no doors - we started our safari.
Again, we saw lots of animals and birds - hereís a list:
Baboons
Jackal
Spotted Hyaenas
Lion
Cheetahs
Elephant
Zebras
Wart hogs
Hippos
Wildebeest
Impala
Grantís gazelle
Buffalo
Bushbuck
Dik dik
Agama lizard
And these birds were added to our master list:
Kori busfard
Cape rook
Black headed heron
Spur winged goose
Common moorhen
Cattle egret
Stuhlmannís starling
Pretty amazing! The highlight was definitely the lion. At first she was sitting far enough away so that we couldnít get very good shots with our cameras. But she got up and then started walking towards us and ended up about 6 feet away. She was strong and powerful with such an air of confidence. She was so impressive. It really appeared as though she was stalking for a killÖ..and she was clearly nursing.
The way out of the crater was a very steep road, certainly not of Swiss construction. A little hairy to say the least. We stopped at a lodge at the top and had a coke. The views from up there were amazing.
As we drove back down around we went past the first viewing spot that we stopped at on the way. There were a several rangers with guns walking around which we had not seen earlier. When I asked Fredy about this he said that this one spot was notorious for bandits taking advantage of tourists stopping to take photos.
As it had rained a little, the road was pretty muddy (itís all red clay/dirt) and there was a truck that had slid off the road. We were all glad that it wasnít us!
While driving down we were all coveting the Masai spear that Suzie had bought so we asked Fredy if we could stop somewhere so we could all buy one. Sure enough, when we were back on the main road, Fredy eye spyed a friend of his on the side of the road. He jumped in and off we went to his store. We all managed to get a spear - for $20! Great deal!
It was a great day!
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