Day 19: Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania (January 26, 2011)

Today we went down into Ngorongoro Crater. About 2.5 million years ago, it was a giant volcano whose ashes spread to the west and formed what is now the Serengeti plain. Today the Crater is extinct and is chock full of animals. I don't think the photos show it, but it's a near perfect circle about 20 miles (that's a guess) in diameter. The rims aren't quite cliffs, but the roads have to switchback because they are very very steep hills.

This might have been my favorite park so far because everywhere you looked, there were animals. Basically, if you stood in one spot and turned in a full circle, you'd see animals in every direction. I think the Serengeti is more famous because of the Great Migration, where millions of animals move across the plains twice a year. I guess the animals in Ngorongoro tend to stay inside the Crater.

Those are flamingos, way out in the lake.

The Corey Bastard.

We saw a couple of new animals today, most notably a couple of black rhinos, which are extremely rare. As in, there are only 25 in all of Ngorongoro and only 12 (twelve) in the Serengeti, which is huge. I'm not sure if that means there are only 27 in the whole world (in the wild) or if some exist elsewhere. Osmond, our guide, said that down in South Africa, people are successfully breeding the black rhino with the white rhino, which is more plentiful, in hopes of keeping the species alive. Damn poachers have killed most of them, and are still at it. :(

He looks white because he was rolling in the dirt.

And there's an elephant graveyard, too, which is just a spot on the open plains where the elephants go to die. They live to be about 65-70, so there's not a constrant stream of dying elephants or anything like that.

I got to my lodge late this afternoon and went for a swim and a bit of sun. After 18 days in Africa, I am still the palest person on the continent. That's mostly good, because it means my suncreen and hat are doing their job. But geez, I want to come home with a little tan at least! Some proof that I was right near the equator!

While I was in the pool, feeling good, I wondered if I'm making good use of my time. Shouldn't I be suffering on a bus somewhere, or getting sick from the food, or ripped off at a tourist trap? Those things make the best stories, right? But safaris are a huge reason why people come to Tanzania, so I decided to be happy to have at least one really comfortable and luxurious experience on my trip. It doesn't all have to be a hassle.