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Ngorongoro Crater (Part 1).

2009.01.07
"O, hai guyz! I herd you was hazzing a piknik!"

(Silver-backed jackal and hyenas.)

Piknik hazzing wildlife of the Serengeti.

[Hint: mouseover.]

Tawny eagle, I think. Have to check the bird book when I get home.

[Edit: yes, it appears to be a Tawny Eagle, woot!]

Dario, Sean, and Andy risk their lives in a big ol' field of giraffes. Seriously, they were legion!

[Hint: mouseover.]

(Not our vehicle.)

View of the crater from a different part of the rim from a few days ago. Wow. Just amazing!

I don't know if this is true or not, but it seems to have its own climate inside. Clouds that descend or form below the edge of the crater, rain squalls... Just so awesome.

Road down into the crater. Doesn't look too bad in this picture, but it was *narrow* and STEEP and sUpeR bUmPy!

Tree along the rim, thick with weaver bird nests!

Tanzanian lawn ornaments. Not sure how flamingos got so popular.

Way cooler than a gnome, for sure.

And they come in different poses!

These don't really work for a small yard. You need some acreage if you want to use zebra ornaments.

Will have to look this up in the bird book, too. Still, much more decorative than simple pink, dontcha think?

[Edit: It's a Grey Crowned Crane, ooo!]

Female ostrich. (Not to be confused with the "ossifrage" of King James' Deuteronomy fame. ;)

Male ostrich.

Another hartebeeste. :)

Oo, look! It walks like a camel instead of a horse. Neat!

We were able to get ever so slightly closer to the pink horizontal line of flamingos this time. Closer than at Lake Manyara, that is. But they were still soooo far away we had to take Fabian's word that these were, in fact, the inspiration for lawn decor throughout North America.

There are only 14 black rhinos in all of Ngorongoro -- and this is one of them! (We later notcied that there were 2 of them there, actually.) It was nearly as far away as the flamingos, however. Not to worry. We found another one later. ...Stay tuned!

Proud mama warthog.

Talking to the bebes.

[Hint: mouseover.]

"No! Flee the photographers! FLEE!"

Yay! More hippos!

I just found them so fascinating to watch. Really, though, it's amazing that folks are allowed to get so close. They are pretty darned aggressive towards humans. According to my very scientific studies of Wikipedia "...it is claimed that they kill more people than any other animal except mosquitos." ...Daaaang.

They come out at night and graze, once the sun has stopped beating down on their delicate hippo-dermises.

If you were thinking of using them as stepping stones to keep from getting your feet wet while crossing to the other side, don't. They are far too toothy and bitey for such an endeavor. Gnashy, gnashy teeth!

Cattle egrets, aka hippo egrets, with blacksmith plovers in the foreground.


Doth mine eyes deceive me or be that a pelly-can?!?

[Hint: mouseover.]

Wow! Who knew? Oh, these folks, I guess. And these folks, too. And they have this to say: "The great white pelican is one of the largest flying birds in the world, with a wingspan of nearly three metres."

Purty lil' egrets. :)

Gray heron.
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(To make sure we're trackin', this was actually the 4th of January.)

After waking up at Ikoma Wildcamp on the far side of the Serengeti, we did an express trip through the park on our way to Ngorongoro Crater. The official schedule had us doing another half day on the Serengeti and the crater on the following day. This schedule, however, only allowed a half day in the crater and we wanted to be there for longer, having heard how wonderful it is. We were pretty satisfied with our Serengeti experience and were willing to forgo a brief morning trip if it meant quality time elsewhere.

Andy, our Swiss safari partner (sigh. long story -- nice guy, but not really happy about the tour company pressuring us to take an extra passenger) had rejoined us the previous day. He had put in a special request for "real African" food the night before. Sean and I were pretty full on snacks by the time dinner arrived, so we only ate a little. Dario and Andy, however, tucked in and ended up cleaning their plates. Silly us! We thought a bunch of wazungu would be able to handle African food. D'oh!

Half way through our crater excursion Andy politely but urgently requested a trip to a restroom. Aww, poor Andy, we thought, part of his lunch disagreed with him. It wasn't until later that night -- say 3 a.m. or so -- that Dario found out he was likewise afflicted. (I would call it Montezuma's Revenge if we were in Mexico; not sure whose revenge it would be in Tanzania.) Sean and I got milder cases that didn't show up until later. But more on the drama, if not the gorey details, later. For now, enjoy the pics of the crater!

Btw, now when I play World of Warcraft and visit Un'goro Crater I can laugh with scorn. "Ha, I say, HA! The real crater looks nothing like this!"

More pics from today now showing on the next page! -->
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