The Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater



I spent three wonderfully amazing nights in/around the Serengeti and the Ngorogoro Crater!! Between both areas I saw the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo)!! The Ngorogoro Crater was incredible...a crater so enormous with semiarid land at the base to lush greenery towards the rim and many species of animals living together! Driving into a volcanic crater is something I never thought I would be able to say I did! The rim of the crater is about 3000-4000m above sea-level and the base...well I'm not certain on that stat, but can tell you its hella deep! It's honestly a giant bowl and it's amazing to see the sky over such a wide expanse of land!
The Serengeti...again a mind blowing sight! An area of land so vast and semiarid, with again a number of animals, little shade and water. We are driving along in the safari vehicle with the top raised and eyes peeled for anything that looks like an animal and our first sighting...WILDEBEEST!!! So many migrating from Kenya to Tanzania...or maybe it was the other way around...sorry can't remember. Anyway, herds and herds of these funny looking scaredy cat looking creatures, but to see them run with such force would scare anyone! Other animals I saw were ostriches, hyenas, pumbas (warthogs), all kinds of antelopes, elephants, zebras, and hippos. We were very lucky those two days to see full grown male lions (yes full mane and all) devouring what appeared to be a buffalo. Two males three lionesses and a few cubs were having their late lunch that afternoon. Also when we thought the only cheetah we were going see was the one so far off in the distance it looked like a dot, luckily as we were exiting a lovely large cheetah just strolled across the road without a care in the world! The grace and beauty of this creature is definitely a sight to be witnessed with your own eyes, not a nat geo show or discovery program, but definitely with your own eyes! Last but not least when we didn't think we were going to see the Big 5 we saw not only one but two leopards just casually relaxing in a tree on the branches, keeping cool. Cats do climb trees and these kids didn't need any firefighter to bring them down!
So my favorite animal...GIRAFFE!!! See Michelle, Lex and I have a common interest! ;) The funny animals are just so cute, the print is so pretty and I'm a fan of the awkward ones!
Two of many of world's greatest sights and I witnessed them...Thank you!!!!

2 comments:

katiekat said...

Lions, and leopards, and hippos...OH MY!! lol! getting quite jealous over here in rainy Canada, but enjoying all these blogs! You are an inspiration to me, Manali! Because of you, I may one day visit Africa! Stay safe!

btw, where are all your pics?

lori said...

Giraffes are my most favorite animal also!!! so funny!
that is amazing that you got to see them and so many other gorgeous creatures in their natural habitat.
the closest i have come is a zoo :(

see my blog post about the giraffe:
http://officiallythelaw.blogspot.com/2009/01/if-i-were-animal.html

haha.
be safe and soak in more of this amazing adventure :)