Two nights at the Ngorongoro crater

Where thousands of animals live in an extinct volcano

Hello ~ I’m Scott and welcome to your 5-minute vacation for March 12th. I share these snippets of our travels in the hope that my photos and stories will allow you to go on a vicarious vacation and “get away from it all,” if only for a moment. I appreciate you inviting me into your inbox today.

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Tens of thousands of animals live down there, in the caldera of an extinct volcano.

Imagine tens of thousands of animals living at the bottom of an extinct volcano, add a WWI U-boat/zeppelin/triplane, then top it off with either Doug McClure or James Mason. It sounds like I’m describing a movie adaptation of an Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel or maybe even an episode of Jonny Quest. But I’m not ~ at least the tens of thousands of animals living at the bottom of an extinct volcano part. I’m describing the Ngorongoro crater: over 100 mi.² of mostly open grassland lying 2,000 feet below a heavily forested caldera rim in northern Tanzania.

A Maasai village on the outer slope of the Ngorongoro crater.

The Maasai came to the crater in the 1800s and, according to Wikipedia, named the area “Ngorongoro” after the sound produced by the bells (ngoro ngoro) worn by their grazing cattle. I don’t know if this is true but it sounds good, almost as good as “Ngorongoro” sounds rolling off the tongue. The Maasai still live in the area but aren’t allowed to graze their cattle the on the crater floor anymore.

Our comfortable room at the safari lodge.

Our lodge, hugging the western rim of the caldera, was situated so that every room had a view of the caldera floor. From our balcony, watching the sun rise from behind the opposite side of the caldera as we were preparing for the day’s game drive, we heard the cowbells ring (ngoro ngoro ngoro ngoro) as the cattle were led to graze, birds calling (to who exactly?) and the zebras braying. In the evening, after returning from the game drive, we watched the setting sun paint everything orange, pink and finally purple before disappearing. The sun’s departure revealed a second, equally spectacular, light show; the night sky, unbothered by light pollution, was bursting with stars. We now plan to buy a telescope in retirement.

But we weren’t there to hang out on the balcony, we were there to see the animals. And see them we did. Of the Big Five (lions, leopards, elephants, African buffalo, and rhinoceroses), we saw four (leopard sightings would have to wait):

Three youngsters of different ages show that this is a prosperous herd.

We saw three rhinos ~ three! ~ this solitary one and two others grazing side-by-side. Unfortunately, we saw them from afar. The vehicles aren’t allowed to leave the road and the road network isn’t very extensive, so this zoomed-out-to-the-max and closely cropped photo is the best that could be done. Still, we were fortunate to see any rhinos at all because there are so few in the crater.

Lions, on the other hand, are plentiful. The crater has one of the densest known populations of lions (65–70 in April 2020). However, this lion population is significantly inbred because few migrating male lions enter the crater from the outside. Those who do enter the crater are usually chased away (or killed) by the crater’s male lions. While the lions are protecting their territory, as lions do, the net effect is that new bloodlines are rarely introduced into the gene pool.

Unfortunately, our lion viewing mirrored our rhino viewing: we saw several but from too far away to be photographed well. But no worries, we saw (and photographed) dozens of lions later on the safari.

We also saw the more plentiful animals, like this beautiful masked weaver bird;

some playful wildebeest;

and zebras. So many zebras. Zebras are quite vocal and their braying reminded me of a dog’s bark.

We also saw a few unexpected things:

An African porcupine;

A zebra that high-centered on the only rock for miles. How did he manage that? And who would he call for a tow: an elephant or a rhino? (In reality, this zebra was scratching its belly on the rock.)

And a ballerina, attempting a plié in her feathery tutu while masquerading as an ostrich.

We entered the park at 6 am, which meant we missed breakfast at the lodge. Instead, we had a mid-morning picnic in the park at the edge of this hippo pond. What a place to have a picnic.

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Here’s a travel suggestion: If you’re planning a safari in Tanzania, go to the Ngorongoro crater. It’s a stunning, unique place and a great beginning to a safari. Ask for an early game drive (the park opens at 6 am) because the animals are more active then than during the middle of the day. Two or three nights are enough because the minimal game road network prevents a lot of close-up game sightings. Make it your first stop and then go to other lodges in the Serengeti where, as you’ll see in future postcards, the game road networks are more robust and there are oodles of animals to see. Up close.

Next time, we drive past the Olduvai Gorge into the Serengeti where, in the first half hour after entering the park, we came across a cheetah on the hunt. It just got better after that.

Until then ~

Tschüss!