Another day. Another safari. Today my SFS group went to
Ngorongoro Crater. We started off the day with an extremely bumpy car ride and
a lecture about how Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a multi-use area set aside
for both wildlife and humans. We then proceeded to drive down the steep sides
of the crater (picture the steepest road you can think of with no guard rails
and LOTS of red dust) to get down to the wildlife area. It was like my first
day at Disney World, only awesomer.
Picture sesh before we descended into the crater
We saw an unbelievable amount of lions, including a juvenile
male who was just starting to grow his mane and a beautiful old woman who walked right up to the road. We even saw a group of lions so passed out that all of them were entirely on their backs sleeping.
We were able to get really close to this lioness. She was old and beautiful.
The young male- he was pretty far away so the picture is not great.
There was even a massive safari car traffic jam near where a
waterbuck had just given birth (the baby was adorable and I have photographic
evidence). The cars in this traffic jam lacked proper safari etiquette (they
were blocking the entire road) and so naturally our driver, Nina, got out of
the car (probably illegal) and organized an escape plan.
I also got to see my first wild hyena today. I’ve been
hearing them at night outside our camp, but had yet to see one up close. Two
hyenas starting pissing off some wildebeest and an elephant, but I’m pretty
sure they would have lost that battle.
Just chillin like a villain
We also apparently “saw” a rhino and a serval, although I’m
pretty sure it was more our driver assuring us that the tiny specs we were
seeing in our binoculars were those things. It really is amazing what the staff
members can spot while on safari while driving a vehicle filled with
overexcited college kids. We still got Kenya for more up close rhinos and I
have yet to give up hope on seeing a serval much closer to the cars. Our driver
(Nina) was also attacked by a feisty baboon today when he was trying to shoo it
away from another car. I’m lacking in photographic evidence, but the hilarious
mental movie is forever engraved in my mind.
Pumba family!
Just enjoying the safari and the zebra butts.
Beautiful view of the side of the crater and some very large cape buffalo.
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